ROCHESTER

ROCHESTER TOWN – DICKENS' CITY OF GREAT EXPECTATIONS

As a travel writer, I have a passion for visiting birthplaces of writers and poets of the past.

I believe there must be something 'inspirational' in their birthplace that had inspired them to write awesome novels which later became a 'hit' in modern era.

On my visit to London in 2012, I made it a point to visit one of the less traveled birthplaces of writer named Charles Dickens, who lived in the Kent City of Rochester.

I knew little of Dickens except through my readings of Dicken's “Bleak House” and “Oliver Twist”, from the English Literature text books.

MERRY ROCHESTER

The great opportunity to visit 'Dickens' City of Great Expectations Tour' arrive when I was introduced by tour agent to see Rochester in a one-day trip, which promised schedule which included viewing a castle overlooking the Medway, Charles Dickens Connections and the entertaining High Streets, here.

ROCHESTER ARMOURY

The merry yet colorful town, is surrounded with charming Georgian and Victorian setting and Evidence of Dickens' time is reflected in a number of plaques found on buildings giving details of how the writer incorporated the site into his novels, and a walk around graveyards will further reveal the names of the many of his characters found in his books.

ROCHESTER IS CHARLES DICKENS' HOME

The little town not only feature a lot of 'merry making' activities and shopping, in addition it has its share of historical places worth visiting namely – Rochester Castle, Rochester Church, The Six Poor Travelers' House, St Margaret's Church, Eastgate House & Gardens, Guildhall Museum and the Restoration House.

Shopping is fantastic here, where one can see a variety of craft shops offering handicrafts, souvenir, fossils, dinosaurs stones, insects and books. This is the only town which has left behind genuine fossils and dinosaurs' stones for sale, and sure enough I bought one such stones for remembrance.

FOSSIL AND DINOSAUR'S STONE

At the High Street, do drop over the Guildhall Museum which offers its visitor a 10-minuted film about Charles Dickens and Rochester or enjoy the 19^th century prison hulks experience. Or one can view Victorian toys, ornaments and furniture and costumes on display in the museum, including costumes used by the writer himself. Have fun operating the Rochester Riverside Eye, which gives one a bird's view of Rochester. Explore Tool Shed, an exciting new contemporary craft installation. The Guildhall Chamber is mentioned in the Great Expectation.

GUILDHALL MUSEUM

CLOTHES & TOYS USED BY DICKENS

Obviously, the main objective of visiting Rochester is to follow the Dickens' Trail – in order to get to know the writer's livelihood.

 

THE SIX POOR TRAVELER'S HOUSE

I started off with The Six Poor Travelers' House which is in the form of a Tudor almshouse, which was the inspiration for Dickens' short story entitled “The Seven Poor Travelers”. The house was founded in 1579, by local MP Richard Watts to provide free lodgings for poor travelers for a night unless they were sick. The house and beautiful herb garden are open to public.

THE SIX POOR TRAVELERS' HERB GARDEN

Next, I stop by the Eastgate House where Dickens used it as “The Nuns' House” in “The Mystery of Edwin Drood”, and as Westgate House Seminary in “The Pickwick Papers”. In the gardens of the Eastgate House is the Swiss Chalet form Gad's Hill Place, which was Dickens' last home. It was in this chalet that he was writing the final chapters of “The Mystery fo Edwin Drood” just before he passed away on June 9, 1870. The chalet was then bought by the Dickens' Fellowship in 1960 and presented to Rochester City Corporation.

EAST GATE HOUSE

CHARLES DICKENS' CHALET

In the list , is The Restoration House – an amalgamation of two medieval buildings – a combination of the late 16^th and early 17^th century – to create a mansion which is also the Satis House of Dickens' Great Expectation, the home of Miss Havisham.

THE RESTORATION HOUSE

The Coin Exchange dates back to 1698 – it has two main rooms The Princes Hall and the Queens Hall.

Apart from High Street, one can visit the Rochester Riverside – to view the Rochester Castle and Rochester Cathedral, here.

ROCHESTER CASTLE

Rochester Castle is one of the 'finest' and 'best preserved' castles of Norman architecture in England, which is also one of the 'tallest' castles in England standing at 113 feet high, which had served as a defensive building and a palatial residence. Today, the castle offers spectacular view over the River Medway and it also runs events such as costume competitions, weddings and tea party.

ROCHESTER CATHEDRAL

Next to the castle, is the 'second oldest' cathedral in England called the Rochester Cathedral, which served as a regular place of pilgrimage for historians and worshippers since it was founded in 604 by Bishop Justus. The present building was started in 1080 by Bishop Gundulf. The first real fresco to be painted in an English cathedral in 800 years is on view to the public.

The Vines is also located at the Rochester Riverside – an ideal place to have a picnic with friends and family.

Rochester's Dickens Festival is celebrated every June, in memory of Charles Dickens.

CHARLES DICKENS' FESTIVAL

 Rochester is a town and was a historic city in the unitary authority of Medway in Kent, England. It is at the lowest bridging point of the River Medway about 50 km from London.


JANUARY 12, 2012

LEEDS CASTLE, KENT

LEEDS CASTLE - A NO ORDINARY CASTLE

Mr brother Chong drove us to Leeds Castle on a fine sunday morning.

The journey from Staines to Kent is about 3-hour.

This is our first trip (mother, brother and myself) and hopefully this will not be our last one to Leeds Castle.

Upon reaching the castle, I can't help but keep starring at the magical castle, even before reaching its entrance.

The castle is so beautiful, lively and sparkling. It is just like God sent thing.

GIGANTIC LEEDS CASTLE, KENT

While in the castle, I can't wait to explore every corner and rooms open for visitors.

This includes - a treasure house of paintings, tapestries and antiques.

The castle is so huge whereby most visitors here almost lost track of where they are and where they had been through. It is just like a 'maze' in the castle. The rooms are namely - The Heraldry Room, The Queen's Room, The Queen's Bathroom, The Queen's gallery, Henry VIII Banqueting Hall, The Chapel, The Boardroom, The Yellow Bedroom, Seminar Room, Dressing Room, Lady Baillie's Bedroom, Catherine of Aragon Bedroom, Main Staircase, Yellow Drawing Room, Thorpe's Hall Drawing Room, Inner Hall, Library and Dinning Room. Each place has a story to tell!

EXPLORING THE ROOMS IN LEEDS CASTLE

The castle's gardens is a good place to wander through the tranquil grounds and woodland walks, picnic in the parkland or play a round of golf on the 9-hold golf course.

Do discover over 70 rare and exotic birds in the Aviary area, around the castle.

Visitors can spend time relaxing in the quintessentially English Culpeper garden and the Mediterranean terraced Lady Baillie garden with subtropical flowers and plants.

SWAN ARE PLENTIFUL AT THE GARDEN AND RIVERSIDE

Do not be surprised – Leeds Castle award-winning wine is produced from grapes grown in the castle vineyard – available in the castle's shops and restaurants.

Leeds Castle is set in 500 acres of beautiful parkland, some 1000 years ago, in Kent, England.

Leeds Castle's last private owner, Lady Baillie, lovingly restored the castle to its former glory and founded the Leeds Castle Foundation in 1974.

Every visitor to Leeds Castle helps the Foundation to continue its valuable work preserving the castle and grounds for the enjoyment of future generations.

HISTORY

Originally the site is of a Saxon manor, Leeds castle has been a Norman stronghold, a royal residence of six medieval Queens of England, a favorite palace for Henry VIII and a 1920s country retreat. Norman conquered England in 1066. To consolidate their conquest they built a large number of castles all over the country. Castles were not only military base and fortresses; they were actual homes for the Normans, safe from surprise attack by a hostile population. By the end of the 12^th century, they had built over 1000 castles – and Leeds Castle was one of those castles.

LEEDS CASTLE - BACK ENTRANCE

Leed was built in stone in 1119 by the Norman owner of this estate, Robert de Crevecoeur. In 1278, during the reign of King Edward I, it became one of the royal castles and stayed in royal-hands until 1552, when King Edward VI granted it to Sir Anthony St Leger. It then passed down through five families, until 1926 when an Anglo-American heiress, who later through marriage became Lady Baillie, bought it.

JULY 29, 2007

ROYAL TUNBRIDGE WELLS

ROYAL TUNBRIDGE WELLS

It was a stop-over place for coffee while on the way to the Pashley Manor Gardens.

I did not get to see the heritage part of the town – as the coach dropped us in the town centre for only one hour.

From my short existence in this royal town – I find that shopping and antiques are prominent, here.

Royal Tunbridge Wells offers one of the most unique shopping experiences in south east England with its unrivalled combination of small specialist shops, designer boutiques and big high street names making the town a real pleasure for shoppers of all tastes.

The Pantiles – the famous colonised walkway and once the central meeting place for visiting gentry is at the heart of the historic of Royal Tunbidge Wells – where today it is full of antique shops, galleries and small boutiques.

The town historic past is very much reflected in its architecture – from Regency villas and large Victorian houses, many designed by Decimus Burton, to pretty clapboard cottages. Evidence of this can be found in the “village” area situated behind the old High Street in Mount Ephriam and in Calverley Park and Calverly Park Crescent (both privately owned).

ROYAL TUNBRIDGE WELLS

The Royal Tunbridge Wells lies in the heart of one of the most scenic stretches of countryside in England, surrounded by unspoilt beauty of the Weald. It is located in central Kent countryside. In Georgian times, this popular spa town gained a reputation as the place to see and be seen among royalty and fashionable members of the aristocracy.

Retaining much of the charm and elegance of its Georgian heyday, Royal Tunbridge Wells and the surrounding area today remain a favored destination for those who want to enjoy elegant surroundings in the countryside, just a short distance from London.

The town owes its existence to the chance discovery of the Chalybeate Spring in 1606 by a young nobleman, Dudley Lord North. Lord North felt so rejuvenated from drinking the cool, iron-rich water that he declared the spring water to be healthy, and soon spread the word among his aristocratic friends.

Visitors from London and elsewhere flocked to the small settlement which developed alongside the Spring and which later became know as Tunbridge Wells.

Queen Henrietta Maria (mother of King Charles II), Queen Anne, Queen Victoria, Samuel Pepys, Daniel Defoe and William Makepeace Thackeray all became regular visitors to “The Wells”.

In the 1740s the social lives of the high society visitors and residents of Tunbridge Wels were famously organised by the Master of Ceremonies, Richard “Beau” Nash, a reowned dandy who alternated his visits between Tunbridge Wells and Bath. In Regency England Tunbridge Wells reivalled the resort of nearby Brighton in popularity.

Over 150 years later Tunbridge Wells received recognition of its many royal visitors when King Edward VII granted the town its “Royal” prefix in 1909.

I hope to return some day – to discover more about the wealth of scenery and the heritage of Tunbridge Wells. I wish to visit – Museum & Art Gallery, castles, forest and gardens.