Sat 28 Sep - Headcorn, England

Lazy lazy Saturday in the south of England... We needed it!

There had been a lot of running around, seeing and experiencing things lately, but today it was downtime big time. No driving anywhere, just pottering in the village of Headcorn and relaxation.

We start off though with a few pics from outside and inside where we stay. First off, this is the house from the street... And the cars of the inhabitants...

The property is really two properties...

  • Hollydene at the front is where Richard and Ruth (John's daughter) live together with Will (John's grandson from another of his daughters).
  • Hollyberry at the back is where John lives... And where we are staying at the moment in John's bedroom

Work is underway to build a new garage. We have seen the local builders coming and going while being here, noting that start of work day is 8.30am rather than the 7am that is the norm in Australia. When we mentioned this to Ruth, she joked that the builders also probably started with a cup of tea once they arrived...

The two conservatories from the garden. Di is in the back conservatory in John's part of the building while we've seen Richard working from his laptop within the front conservatory.

John's living room where we had our dinners the last two nights, and also our breakfasts.

The window to the left of the above picture contains an array of John's travel memorabilia.

OK, another pic of Max sneaked in here, doing a bit of a scratch...

Around 11am, John, Di and Hans took a stroll through the village of Headcorn. Proof below...

Headcorn cemetery, in front of their lovely village church.

Headcorn High Street looking east...

...and looking west. Krishna to the far right below is the Indian restaurant where we had our dinner when we arrived on Wednesday night. George and Dragon is a Pub a bit further up High Street and is where...

...Will is working. Doesn't he just look very boss-like in this picture? We managed to walk past just when he was out on the sidewalk setting up even more blackboard signs. Clearly, the owner loved those.

Across the street from the pub are two old and crooked houses. Must feel weird inside if the outside is anything to go by. Or maybe it is all straightened up inside... Who knows?

We stopped for a cup of tea at... The tearooms, which is in one of those buildings that was created in an era when people were significantly shorter than they are today. Hans managed to maneuver through without hitting his head, but John took one soft hit from the ceiling. We had our tea and coffee in an outdoor garden to the side of the building where headroom was plentiful. Very nice indeed.

We stopped at the local bakery to get some fresh bread rolls for lunch, which was conveniently located next door to the local butcher where we got some fresh ham and pate.

After a lazy lunch from the goodies back at the ranch, we had a lazy Saturday afternoon doing very little but to read, snooze and chat. Oh boy, we needed that. It had been a bit of a runaround lately.

Richard and Ruth seemed to have endless energy though. Doing all the chores that we remember doing on Saturdays when we were working, but perhaps not giving the dogs a combing...

Later in the afternoon, we had a cuppa and chatted in the garden, accompanied by the whole spectrum of animals (well, both of them at least).

A dog is a man's best friend...Chloe knows...

Feeling very Northern European..

Will came back from his morning shift at the pub, but due to staff shortages (only 5 of 8 staff turned up), he was asked to come back for the evening shift as well.

Around 7pm we all wandered down to the village centre. An initial drink or two at the George and Dragon pub was on the cards before potentially moving onto the Italian restaurant, which of course never happened. The pub was too nice.

Yep, here we are, looking very comfortably set in at the pub. Will, our friendly family bartender, took the photo.

A second photo when all the food had arrived. We never moved onto anything else, surprise, surprise. George and Dragon was a very nice pub with a very friendly and homely atmosphere.

Well, we had discussed Tripadvisor's power with Will earlier in the day, and he had mentioned about how the management of George and Dragon was very keen to get some positive reviews after having had some summer fill ins working in the pub showing a somewhat relaxed attitude to service shall we say.

In fact, they were so keen to get some positive feedback that our first round of drinks were free if we did a Tripadvisor review. No pressure about the review itself, nudge nudge wink wink, but we didn't need to be guided as we thought the food, drink, environment and Will's service towards us were all tops. We would have given George and Dragon a very good review regardless, but free drinks are always... Let's say... Welcome.

Hence, as soon as we got back to the ranch, Di was on the iPad giving her review - a 5 out of 5. Here she is in action with Ruth looking on and learning from a master reviewer...Maybe.

Time for a bit more wining and for Di trying out various home brews of fruit flavoured spirits, and laughing and chatting. Very social and fun. We called it a day around 11pm. Geez, we've had a good time here in England's south... Again.

Tomorrow, we are off traveling again. We are due back north to Derby and then to return the car in Newcastle on Monday, but of course, we are also very conscious about the old saying about 3 days, I.e. After 3 days, both visitors and fish go off. For now though, good night.

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