Ashford & Smarden

This is a shot from Smarden, which we visited later in the day, of one of the extremely old cottages.

Today was extremely windy, so rather than go to Dover Castle as we'd planned (didn't fancy wind sailing off the cliff), we decided to visit Ashford since we were right next to it and hadn't bothered up to this point. Er yeah. Well it wasn't really worth bothering with. We did find a nice place for lunch (The George Hotel, real food!), and erm... clothes shops (ew). There were a select few historic bits which all closed at mid-day (really useful). After trying to follow an incomprehensible map to find the few interesting bits, getting sniggered at by a pair of chavs, being helpfully informed by a tobacconist (yes, an actual tobbaconnists complete with wooden pipes) that Ashford is not "a tourist place", and observing a few gangs wandering the streets, we decided to leave. A real friendly place.

Smarden made the day for me - a mostly preserved historic village! Packed with more medieval buildings than I've ever seen in one place. Mum and Dad went there before I was born, which is how we knew about it (another tucked away place!).