A tiny hamlet in the Faversham area of Kent, Thorley Forstal is literally just a scattering of pretty little houses amongst humongous fields of agriculture or animal husbandry…hence the long, long roads and vast distances I have to walk.
The name is recorded in the Doomsday Book as Trevelai, which corresponds with a Brittonic origin, where “Trev” means a settlement or farm house and “Elai” typically relates to a fast moving river or stream.
I have yet to see a river or a stream, but perhaps I haven’t yet walked far enough…..there are however plenty of flooded roads, especially atm with all the rain 🤪🤪
For the word ‘Forstal’, various descriptions are found ; a small opening in a lane too small to be called a common, a green before a house, a paddock near a farmhouse.
In the case of ‘Throwley Forstal’, all 3 options could apply since there are a few small lanes, two fairly decent greens, and a farm looks out onto the green.
The houses are mostly white clapboard and so pretty. Many of the houses and barns in the area are listed and circa 15th, 16th and 17th century.
Throwley Forstal Forge Farm – literally right out of Beatrix Potter – did you spot the puddleducks? 😄😄
I love them all 🤫🤫😊
A pretty little place, there’s literally nothing more than a scattering of houses and a church. If you need supplies, it’s a 15 minute drive to Faversham.
Hoorah hoorah hoorah!!! Woke to snow this morning 👏👏👏👏 My client and I were literally talking about snow just yesterday, and this morning to my absolute delight I woke to a light dusting of snow.
Room with a view….snow snow snow
Of course I immediately got dressed and dashed out of the cosy warm house into the freezing wet cold to capture the magic 😁😁😁❄❄❄
I cannot lie, I love snow. Even though it’s just a light dusting and as I write, its almost all gone because it’s now raining….urgh.
Hopefully……❄❄❄❄🙃🙃🙃🙃
and I’m absolutely delighted that my grandson has experienced his first snow and built a snowman
Living in the countryside you expect to have the odd mouse or two scurrying about the place causing mischief and mayhem as they look for stray morsels carelessly abandoned.
I was warned by the outgoing carer that there was a bit of a mouse ‘problem’ and to be sure to not leave food in any form out the cupboards during the night, and that I would have to clean all the cupboard tops in the morning.
This has proved to be true. Who knew mice could poop so much!!
I’ve even seen a wee flash from the corner of my eye while watching TV and on one occasion spotted a teeny tiny little body hiding behind a leg of the table….I saw you!!! 🧐🧐
But on the whole they’ve not bothered me, and I’m not really bothered by them 🐀🐀🐀🐀 and think they’re quite cute..beyond the pooping of course.
Until last night…..🤨🤨🤨🤨
I’ve been here a WHOLE WEEK and brought a few treats with me in my suitcase, which until now have gone unnoticed by the mice.
But yesterday we had a Tesco home delivery and one of the items was a packet of crisps; may I add ‘of the cheddar cheese and red onion flavour ‘. The cheese part should have been a red flag…🚩
I put said packet of crisps in the drawer of the bureau in my room so as to not to tempt said 🐀🐀 I’m not sure why I thought they’d be safe there. 🤔🤔
During the night I heard the unmistakable sound of a packet rustling. You little bastards…!!! You’re not going to eat my crisps!!
So I jumped out of bed and removed the crisps from the drawer and put it in my suitcase…and neglected to zip the suitcase….I blame nighttime brain fog!!
Not long after settling back to sleep I was once again roused from my uneasy slumber by the rustling crickle crackle of paper….even though I could tell it tried to be quiet. I listened carefully to determine the source, and realising it was coming from my suitcase I jumped out of bed and gave the suitcase a solid thwack then lifted the lid, and had the satisfaction of hearing a small body bounce against the radiator as it jumped, terrified, out my suitcase and into the radiator. Got ya, you little rascal.
I zipped up the suitcase and back to bed.
At this stage I was annoyed, but still amused….but not for long.
No sooner had I settled back to sleep than I could hear the sound of gnawing!! Wtf. Guys no!! Get out. So I switched on the bedside lamp and peered over the end of the bed towards my suitcase, and there, for all the world, innocence personified, were two little mice…sitting on my suitcase looking totally confused….’who put the lights on?’….
Oh gosh they are ever so cute and ever so tiny. 🤭🤭
However, cute or not, my slippers soon flew through the air, a wasted effort really since I can’t throw straight anyway, but it did the trick and I could hear the sound of bewildered scurrying behind the dresser.
Right, you wee critters. Out. Before you lose your heads!! 🪓🪓😳😳☠☠
I lifted the suitcase onto its wheels, checked it was securely zipped and back to 🛏 🥱🥱🥱😴😴
Whether they visited again or not, I really don’t know, since by then I was exhausted and fell into a deep sleep. I’m pretty sure they snuck back “oh look, she’s sleeping ” as they tiptoed across the capet to try and gnaw their way through the suitcase to get at my crisps. 😠😠😠
No further disturbances and I slept.
On investigating this morning and checking to see if they’d used the 🚽 in my suitcase, I discovered that in fact the wee devils had gnawed through the netting of the inner pocket and attacked my gingerbread Santa 😱😱😭😭😭 I was saving that you little munchers.
Santa had his head chewed…😒🎅
So I guess that Santa is going to lose his head today. And the rest of him will be eaten today at 4pm teatime….by ME!!! And not those two bad mice 😁😁🐀🐀 Not sure why I was saving it anyway, except that it was in my xmas stocking and I get sentimental about stuff like that!🤪🤪🎄🤶🏻
As for the crisps, they didn’t even look at those!! 🧀🧀 or not, they were rejected in favour of 🍚 and spice, and all things nice. Cheeky little meeses.
Seeing those teeny tiny bodies sitting on my suitcase last night I wished I’d had my camera to hand, I would have loved to get a pic of them ☺☺ And seeing them reminded me of many years ago when I worked at a B&B in Greyton in the Cape, South Africa. It was called The Posthouse (original incarnation) and subsequently turned into a b&b. There were 12 rooms across from the main building and they were all named after Beatrix Potter characters…Benjamin Rabbit, Jemima Puddleduck, Jeremy Fisher, etc and the honeymoon suite was called…you guessed it- ‘Two Bad Mice’ 😄😄😍😍
That was one of the best jobs I had in my entire life, although it came at the tail-end (unavoidable pun 😆😆) of a very bad period in my life.
And so this morning while I was bleary eyed and thinking about those little blighters waking me up….I thought about The Posthouse. It’s funny how memories work.
And I realise I could have told the whole story in xi words: “two mice got into my suitcase and ate my gingerbread santa” but where’s the fun in that?? 🤪🤪🤪 andddd if you’ve read this far, bravo 😁😁👏👏
Oh, and p.s. please read “who put the lights on?” to the tune of “who let the dogs out?”🎶🎶🎵😁😁
In other news, my booking has been extended by 3 weeks, so I’ll be here till 8th February. It’s going to be a challenge to find new routes to walk, but st least I won’t be distracted by different scenery and stopping to take photos. I can just put my head down and push up the kms.
And we may get snow ❄❄❄❄ now that would be awesome.
And in case you were wondering…
The Tale of Two Bad Miceis a children’s book written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter, and published by Frederick Warne & Co. in September 1904. Potter took inspiration for the tale from two mice caught in a cage-trap in her cousin’s home and a doll’s house being constructed by her editor and publisher Norman Warne as a Christmas gift for his niece Winifred. While the tale was being developed, Potter and Warne fell in love and became engaged, much to the annoyance of Potter’s parents, who were grooming their daughter to be a permanent resident and housekeeper in their London home. The tale is about two mice who vandalize a doll’s house. After finding the food on the dining room table made of plaster, they smash the dishes, throw the doll clothing out the window, tear the bolster, and carry off a number of articles to their mouse-hole. When the little girl who owns the doll’s house discovers the destruction, she positions a policeman doll outside the front door to ward off any future depredation. The two mice atone for their crime spree by putting a crooked sixpence in the doll’s stocking on Christmas Eve and sweeping the house every morning with a dust-pan and broom. Ref wikipedia with thanks as always.
The Tale of Two Bad Mice
And yes, I have most of the Beatrix Potter books….and when he’s older, I’ll read them to my grandson when he visits me in my new place. Of which I coincidentally take occupation on 8th February 🙃🙃
Really excited to receive my first postcard from my Alps to Ocean virtual challenge today.
Stage 1
I started the challenge on 30 December 2020 – I so enjoy reading the information that comes with the postcards; learning about places I never knew existed until I started these challenges.
I was 20kms ahead when I arrived at my current assignment on Monday but if course with limited time and 2 days a write off, I’m going to be hard put to keep up to speed 😉🚶🏻♀️🚶🏻♀️🚶🏻♀️ I’m going to try get up to date with the blogging and postcards as well….so here goes.
Alps to Ocean, New Zealand
Imagine crisp alpine air, snow-capped peaks, glaciers, milky lakes and starlit nights. The training ground for Sir Edmund Hillary’s climbing skills in preparation for Everest. The legendary story of Aoraki and his three brothers. These are just some of the highlights of Mount Cook.
At 12,217ft (3,724m) tall Mount Cook is located on the South Island and the tallest mountain in New Zealand. It sits within the Mount Cook National Park which runs 37mi (60km) in a southwest-northeast direction. Home to more than 400 flora and fauna the national park is part of the Te Wāhipounamu South Westland World Heritage Site. The park is also home to 35 species of birds, including the only alpine parrot called Kea.
When I was looking into Mount Cook, I was wondering about the 98ft (30m) height discrepancy between different written sources. Further investigations revealed that in 1991 an avalanche of 350 million cubic feet (10Mm³) of snow and rock followed by twenty years of erosion had shrunk the mountain’s elevation by 98ft (30m).
Of the twelve largest glaciers in New Zealand, eight of them are within the park with Tasman Glacier being the longest at 15mi (24km). The glacier terminates in the Tasman Lake which up until the 1990s never existed. The lake was formed due rapid glacial melting whilst the glacier itself continues to recede annually by as much as 2,697ft (822m). It is anticipated that within a few decades the glacier will be completely gone and the lake fully formed.
The lake’s primary outflow is the alpine braided Tasman River which flows south for 16mi (25km) through the Tasman Valley and into Lake Pukaki. The glacier, lake and river were named after Dutch explorer Abel Tasman, who in 1642 was the first European to sight the northwest coast of NZ’s South Island.
My journey begins at the base of Mount Cook, northwest of the river. Needing to cross the river to connect to Rotten Tommy trail, I took a short helicopter flight. The aerial view of this glacially-fed river and Mount Cook was a sight to behold. From Rotten Tommy, I took a southward bound route alongside the Tasman River. Although part of the route was quite rough and I had to cross several creeks, eventually the track changed to gravel road and made it easier to navigate towards my first overnight stop. Being a clear and sunny day, I had the treat of seeing Mount Cook in the distance rising above the lower snow-capped peaks in the National Park.
Before I go let me tell you about the Ngāi Tahu legend. The story goes that once the “Gods existed in the midst of a great sea of nothingness” and Raki, the Sky Father and Pokoharua-te-po, his wife had four sons, all living in the heavens. Raki left his wife to be with Papatuanuku, the Earth Mother, and together they created the world. Aoraki, the eldest son of Raki, along with his three brothers came from the heavens with a canoe in an attempt to persuade their father to return to their mother. Upon seeing him together with his new wife, the brothers knew Raki would never return. The brothers decided to go home but unfortunately their canoe wouldn’t rise and following strong winds and rising seas, the canoe overturned tipping the brothers into the water. Climbing atop the upturned canoe they waited for help. As time passed with no help coming, they eventually turned to stone. The canoe became the Southern Island and the brothers became the Southern Alps with Aoraki (Mount Cook) being the highest peak.
So far along this challenge I’ve walked from Ramsgate to Faversham over a few days and 3.5 days in Throwley. I wonder where else my journey will take me!!
Last night, after standing outside looking up at the starry starry sky….I thought for sure we would have frost this morning…🌠🌠🌠🌌🌌
I went to sleep in Kent and woke up in Narnia ☺☺☺ its beautiful and magical and ☃️☃️☃️☃️☃️☃️
I popped out early before it heats up to capture some of the magic – its freezing ☃️☃️☃️☃️
I went for a short walk up and down the road……
The Nothing….
I’m hoping to get out for a proper walk during my break coz my kms are lagging behind now. Although the visibility at road level is good, I fear the surfaces are a tad slippery, so I’ll have to walk with more caution and less zeal 🚶🏻♀️🚶🏻♀️🚶🏻♀️🚶🏻♀️
So tonight my client decided we should watch the film ‘Psycho’. Thanks very much. The freezer is in the garage across the yard in a very dark dark area…I had to put the ice-cream back…I went quickly before watching the movie…😱😱🥺🥺 otherwise the ice-cream would be cream by morning.
30 minutes later and…..
Thank the lord he’s gone to bed!! So Norman is back in his box and I don’t have to watch it… I did however go outside to see the stars once my client was in bed….oh my gosh…I haven’t seen that many stars in years. The area where I’m working is very isolated with a scattering of houses some distance from us, so its very very dark and incredibly quiet. The sky is crystal clear tonight after 3 nights of fog and the stars are just stunning. Lucky me.
My latest assignment has not taken me too far afield this time and I find myself in the depths of Kent. Not too far from where I’m located are villages familiar to me; Charing for instance….I stayed there on my pilgrimage to Canterbury in September. 🙂 so that’s been a fun discovery. I am of course familiar with Faversham having stayed there in 2017 during my Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales walk from Southwark Cathedral to Canterbury Cathedral, as well as which I finished my latest stretch of the English coast there last Saturday – from Whitstable to Faversham. The Sun Inn; 14th century inn, was the perfect place to stay and I’d love to stay there again sometime.
The Sun Inn, Faversham – 14th century inn with the best room and bath ever
However, the house where I’m working is toooo far from Faversham for me to do any proper exploring, but I have a few country roads I can follow and so far I’ve had 2 good days to get out and about. Of the 5.5 days I’ve been here so far, 1,5 produced rain and 2 produced fog…so I’ve only managed 2 proper walks since arriving on Monday 4th. The sun looks like its burning through the fog so hopefully tomorrow will be a good day for walking.
a foggy day in Kent
In the meantime the two walks have unveiled some gems as far as churches are concerned and some amazing houses…..some of which date back to the 15th century. In fact the house I’m working in was built in 1435!!! It’s pretty awesome with some fabulous beams and a huge fireplace. The floors are really wonky and sink in the middle and without heating, its VERY cold!!! I’ll let the photos do the talking
the long and winding road…..
St Michael and All Angels Church, Throwley
circa 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th centuries
St Lawrence’s Church, Leaveland, Kent
St Lawrence’s Church, Leaveland, Kent
St Lawrence’s Church, Leaveland, Kent
St Lawrence’s Church, Leaveland, Kent
a charming little church with the loveliest nativity scene
wonderful architecture
quirky features and a village sign
winter trees without their clothesThrowley Airfield 1917-1919The Old School 1873-1935houses at Throwley Forstal
Although I haven’t been able to get out that much, I have walked far and wide, clocking up 16.3 kms over 2 days. Its something of a challenge to find different routes when you’re limited to long stretches of road and a 2 hour break. If I had longer, I’d walk to Faversham for sure. It’s only 5 miles away but would take 1hour 35 minutes to walk there and no time to return before my 2 hours is up!!
I have though seen 2 beautiful sunsets and enjoyed the lengthening shadows of the graveyard. Hopefully tomorrow will bring fine weather so I can get out again…
walk 1 sunset
walk 2 sunset
lengthening shadows
p.s. there may be a problem with the photo galleries…..if there is I will fix them later…..they look fine via my computer, but on my phone there seems to be an issue….sorry for that.
Following on from my recent walk from Margate to Whitstable via Reculver, researching the Roman fort uncovered the information that Reculver too had been mentioned in the 1086 Domesday Book. 😃😃👏👏 Roculf: Archbishop of Canterbury. Church, mill, 5 salthouses, fishery.
By no means a huge number, and considering that 13,418 (settlements) : cities, towns, villages and hamlets are mentioned….150 is not that many, but it’s way more than most have visited.
It’s still astounding to discover that many English people who have grown up in the country, have no idea of its existence.
1086 is only one of the most significant dates in English history following on from the 1066 Battle of Hastings, and yet…..
My original intention was to visit 101, but it seems that my travels and my job will take me to many more than I anticipated.
I’ve wanted to walk to Reculver from Broadstairs ever since we first visited the place some years ago, but never seemed to find the time, it also did not seem doable. But now with my crazy decision to walk the entire English coast over the next 5 years, it became doable ….😁😁 and in comparison to the distances I’ve since covered on my various walks, it was easy peasy
When I set off from Margate last week I could see the ruins of the church farrrrr away in the mists of time and remember thinking ” oh gosh, it’s so far, will I be able to do it ?” But it was easier than expected, and voila
St. Mary’s Church, Reculver
St Mary’s Church, Reculver, was founded in the 7th century as either a minster or a monastery on the site of a Roman fort at Reculver, which was then at the north-eastern extremity of Kent in south-eastern England. In 669, the site of the fort was given for this purpose by King Ecgberht of Kent to a priest named Bassa, beginning a connection with Kentish kings that led to King Eadberht II of Kent being buried there in the 760s, and the church becoming very wealthy by the beginning of the 9th century. Ref wikipedia
Will this too be eaten by the ever encroaching seaA Roman fort, now long gone The remains of the Roman wall, and where the fort once stood
It’s a fascinating place and I’m certainly going to follow up on more of the history and I feel another visit is warranted. I noticed on my way to Reculver that there is a walk along the River Wantsum; which once cut off the Isle of Thanet from the mainland.
The River Wantsum
I 🔮 another walk in the future 😉😄😄 except it will not be in winter!! And I’m not walking across any mudflats….more of that later 🤪🤪
I started a new assignment today and the house…well cottage actually is a 15th century abode.
It’s got a massive fire place, wonky floors that slope down in the middle, low door frames and tricky stairs.
The ceilings are held up by fantastic wooden beams older than methusela, and the walls are held together by more fantastic wooden beams.
There’s a working well in the garden and we’re so remote that I can hear and see absolutely nothing….makes a change from the b&b I was staying at the last 12 days.
The food freezer is in the garage and I have to use a torch to navigate.
As luck would have it the heating has failed in a few of the radiators and its absolutely freezing in some rooms of the house.
My room is upstairs and all I have between my head and the sky is a thin sloping roof through which I can hear scuttling…I’m guessing its mice. Now and then I hear the thud of a bird landing…
The room is lovely and I have a small sitting room nook with a tv which is a luxury, but the mattress is probably older than Noah’s ark 😝😝 and sinks in the middle. I’m guessing my back is not going to be too happy.
The client has lived in the house for 50+ years and I can’t even imagine what that must be like. The longest I’ve ever lived in one place is 3.5 years.
So tonight our feckless PM put the country into lockdown again and of course it’s the fault of everyone/everything except himself for not listening and acting on the advice of the sciences.
I read in the papers that
“…..even takeaway services are shuttered in an attempt to beat the new Covid variant.
More than 550,000 business will be forced to close in England as of tomorrow, according to real estate adviser Altus Group, which includes 401,690 non-essential shops, 64,537 pubs or restaurants, 20,703 personal care facilities and 7,051 gyms or leisure centres”.
This is going to absolutely devastate commerce. Who knows what sort of country we’re going to be left with after this.
I’ve started reading the book my daughter gave me for Christmas; ‘Walking Home – Clare Balding.’
In the very early pages Clare talks about how she was taught to ‘walk mindfully’; to feel her feet hitting the ground, to hear the birds or background sounds, to feel the wind on her face. So today on my daily perambulation, instead of rehashing the same self-talk that goes over and over around my head (mostly coz its unresolved), today I practised mindful walking….
I felt how my feet scrunched on the beach, I observed how my poles felt as they supported me over the rocks or sank in the sand, I really listened to the seagulls, felt how the wind ruffled my hair and sneaked down my collar (I forgot my scarf at the b&b🤨🤨), and in particular I listened to the songs of the sea…it changed my whole mindset. I felt uplifted, invigorated and tingled from the cold icy air, and barely noticed that I was soaked from the softly falling rain. What a difference.
My issues are still unresolved, but I can breathe…and I got in 10.26 kms by the time of the real downpour, which spoilt my plan to sit on the bench in Broadstairs to eat my croissants… instead I ran for the bus (the driver kindly waited for me 😃😃) and took the quick way back.
It was dark when I left the b&b, the streets were quite deserted and I only saw 4 people enroute. I got to the harbour just before 7am.
Town centre at 06:55Still and quiet at 7am
It had started raining but I barely noticed it until looking at the lights shining on the rain.
Oh…its raining 😄
By then I was quite wet, so I sat under the shelter at the Royal Victoria Pavilion and watched the sky lighten…
A blue sky My view from under the pavilion
Debating a return to the b&b to dry out, instead, as soon as the rain eased off, I meandered down to the waters edge and collected some more sea glass – found some lovely pieces.
Sea glass and pottery pieces
Then turning my head north for Broadstairs watching the sunrise while I listened to the seagulls and the incoming tide I walked…..as I walked the colours of the sky changed and depending on which way I was facing, was either that early morning cold blue or the golden colours of the sun cracking through the clouds…
Passing through Broadstairs I phoned ahead to order my almond croissants from The Old Bakehouse and stopped to photograph the boats in the little harbour – I never tire of seeing them
Pretty wee boats in the harbour
A few dog walkers and early morning strollers passed me by and suddenly, or so it seemed, I reached my turning point at Stone Bay.
A good place as any to turn around
How far I’ve come….
Looking back across Stone Bay
One last photo of Viking Bay
Viking Bay, Broadstairs
Having phoned ahead earlier, The Old Bakehouse kept 2 almond croissants aside for me 😊😊🥐🥐. As I left, the rain I’d seen crossing the channel reached our shores and the heavens opened…🌧🌧🌧
There comes the rain…
I drank my coffee, then made my way quickly up the High Street towards the bus stop. Suddenly down the road…the bus approached. I ran – fast!! The driver (bless his heart) waited for me. 😃😃
Then it was back to the b&b for tea.
Brilliant walk: 10.26kms. And thus ends my holiday/Christmas/New Year break. Back to work tomorrow and limited time to walk for the next 2 weeks. 🤔🤔🤔 I’m hoping the area I’ll be working in has some interesting walks. Meanwhile, I’ve reached 20% of the Alps to Ocean NZ virtual challenge and got my 3rd postcard of the route.
I’ve started uploading the Mt. Fuji postcards and information and will post those asap and then I’ll get the Alps to Ocean postcards uploaded and share those too. The organisers have done an outstanding job of creating the postcards and the relevant information. It’s totally impressive
Not Just a Granny 
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