Canterbury Cathedral, and a Concert :)

Outside The Marlowe Theatre.

Earlier in the year my friend and I were lucky enough to buy tickets to see Justin Hayward perform at The Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury.

Statues outside the main entrance of the Cathedral.

Doorways in the Cloister.

We got to the venue too early, and as it was a lovely July evening, we decided to walk round to Canterbury Cathedral before the concert started.

The ceiling in the Cloister.

Entry to the Cathedral and Grounds was free at that time, but there was a Service being held in the Cathedral, so we just wandered round the outside of the building, finding our way to the Cloisters, and from there on to the ruins behind the Cathedral.

It was lovely amongst the ruins, so peaceful.

I believe the ruins are the remains of some of the Monastic Buildings, dating back centuries, but I have been unable to identify exactly which buildings they are.

Beautiful arches.

The second set of pillars from the left are very worn.

We thoroughly enjoyed our walk around the grounds, and made our way back in time to the Theatre to enjoy a fantastic concert from Justin Hayward, with backing from Mike Dawes, who is an extremely talented young guitarist, and Julie Ragins.

The archway leads into the Kings School I think.

A fantastic evening all round

Leaving the Cathedral on our way back to the Theatre

Kittens

Back in April we had to say a very say Goodbye to our lovely old cat Misty, who was the good age of 16 and a half, she was much loved and missed terribly by us all.

Merlin sitting up, Loki is lying down.

We had said that we would not have another cat, well my husband did anyway! My son and I had other ideas, so after a lot of discussion we thought of getting an older cat, and definitely no kittens!

Loki, he was so small.

Merlin was tiny too

My son Joe and I went to various Cat Sanctuaries with no luck, especially as we were looking for a long haired older cat.

I like lying on shoes and playing with them.

I like my Mum’s knee

Finally we paid a visit to our local, very lovely Kingsdown Cat Sanctuary. I had already been in touch with Clare,the owner, asking about a long haired older cat, but there were none available. My son thought it would be a good idea to ‘go and see’ anyway.

Sleepy kittens

We were looking at a couple of tiny kittens when one of the helpers pointed out that there were two more kittens in the pens on the other side of the garden, we went to have a look and I was handed a beautiful fluffy black and white kitten. It was love at first sight on my behalf, so we asked about adopting him. Clare wanted the two kittens to be adopted together, and we just could not say ‘No’.

Merlin and Loki have now been with us for about 6 weeks, they are adorable kittens, and have made our home feel complete again.

Here is looking forward to another fun filled 16 years or so with our fur babies

 

Remembrance

 

Bodiam Castle, the Interior

Bodiam Castle is a quadrangular (square) shape, with towers at each corner topped with crenellations.  It is unusual in that it does not have a Keep, all the interior buildings were built against the outer defensive walls.

Towers to climb

Fireplaces

Graffiti, it looks like it has been there a long time!

The kitchen area

A costumed member of staff giving a talk.

I love looking round ruins, and this one was wonderful, with towers to explore, steep spiral staircases to climb, with spectacular views of the countryside and the inside of the Castle from the battlements.

Beautiful countryside all around.

On the battlements

Looking down into the castle from the top of one of the towers, you can see the fish in the moat.

My husband and sister in law declined to climb the towers, but if I can go up anywhere I will! I had wobbly legs for a few days after our visit, but it was well worth it

I would have loved to see it with all the buildings complete.

Looking towards the main entrance.

You can only imagine what this looked like when the castle was lived in.

The visit to this fantastic castle, and the journey on the steam train from Tenterden, made this a fantastic day out, we all really enjoyed ourselves. Roll on next summer

Holes for pouring boiling water or oil onto intruders.