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Wednesday, 4 April 2012

St Mary’s Church, Betteshanger, Kent

 

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Some of you will remember this beautiful little country church from previous blogs. It is a hidden gem in the East Kent countryside, well off the road, and is now the school church for Northbourne Park School. When I first visited this lovely little church, many years ago, you could go inside and have a look around, sadly this is not now the case, but a photo of the inside and more history of the church can be found here: http://www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Betteshanger

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The ‘straight mile’ on the way to the church.

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The Lych Gate

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These photos were taken a couple of weeks ago, I finished work at lunchtime and decided to go and see how the baby donkeys were doing, as it was such a beautiful day. I missed the turning to the donkeys (those one track country roads again!!) but realized I was quite close to this church. As it is one of the prettiest and most peaceful places I have ever been to, the decision to pay it a visit was not hard to make.

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Looking towards the church from near the school grounds.

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The sundial in the grounds.

I spent a lovely hour wandering around, taking photos of course, and, apart from some of the school children riding past on bikes I had the place to myself.

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Rupert Brooke, the famous First World War poet was stationed at Betteshanger Park late in 1914, he left here and travelled to nearby Dover and then to France. This little church could possibly have been one of the last places on English soil that he saw, a beautiful last memory of England for him.

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HAPPY EASTER TO YOU ALL X

13 comments:

  1. it really is beautiful. the building has lovely detail, and the grounds and 'lane' are perfectly serene.

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  2. What a beautiful church.
    Thanks for sharing.
    Happy Easter to you too.
    Mette

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  3. Fantastic little church, so many great photo opportunities. Love these photos, great job.

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  4. Exquisite church and grounds...my gosh I love that door!!! Happy Easter :-)

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  5. Beautiful. You can feel the peace coming through the photos. So many people don't appreciate local beuaty or history, do they ? They're far more interested in going off abroad, but if they took the time to look at what's around them, they'd discover little gems like this in their own backyard.

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  6. Lovely little Church and the place is very peaceful , glad you enjoyed your walk. I was totally lost for a while . Thank you Poppy for sharing . Happy Easter Hugs Sheila xx

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  7. A good looking church - looking especially nice, if I may say, in the early Summery snap we've just had.

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  8. Lovely church and gardens. England has such beautiful architecture and gardens. We don't have anything like that around here. Have a happy week.

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  9. Well... i can not say anything besides beautiful! Just Beautiful. I love churches/cathedrals all shapes and sizes, so thank you for showing us!

    Big hugs
    Leontien

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  10. hi poppy re Boys Grave ? if you search on google under boys grave foret of dean there is a story about it, it may be true. Lovely photos in your blog.

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  11. This looks like a beautiful area, I would love to visit!
    Have a great rest of the week Poppy! :-)

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  12. It is possible to see inside if you contact the school. And they will let you have the key, during term time.

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  13. We are always happy to welcome visitors to the school and to the church. Just call in advance and we would be delighted to give you a tour.
    Sebastian Rees, Headmaster, Northbourne Park School

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