In Kent - 16 June 2008

Kent is not a county I know well but very good friends live there and on this visit David and Barb drove me around to visit sights I’d never seen before.  We visited some lovely gardens which were open to show off their delphiniums

And the beautiful Eastwell Manor – just the place to relax for a weekend getaway – and with a variable price range to enable the locals to pop in and enjoy its offerings.  The photo I took of the front didn’t really do it justice but here’s one of its back entrance and I’ll leave the rest to your imagination!

Many moons ago, Barb and I played hockey together.  She was, without doubt, the best centre half (what are they called now, I wonder) I’ve ever seen.  She represented England and played all over the world, including in an IFWHA tournament in New Zealand (I won’t say when!).  But many years ago she developed a virulent strain of rheumatoid arthritis and has been in a wheel chair for over twenty years.  You’d never know it to speak to her over the telephone and even on a visit, both she and David and their lovely daughter Michelle, are unfailingly cheerful.  Here we are enjoying a fabulous dinner out at Trattoria Romana in Ashford, one of their favourite haunts.

A few years ago two of their friends from Ashford Rotary Club had visited us at Plimmerton Rotary so I’d coincided my visit with their Monday evening meeting and experienced another great Rotary meeting in yet another part of the world.