Three counties and a picnic

Today we drove down to Kent, or as Jane Austen might have it, today we went into Kent, via Middlesex and Surrey. The M25 has its uses, but it's not a bundle of laughs. We were collecting my Aunt Margaret from her home In Aylesford, near Maidstone and the journey got off to a bad start by a huge delay owing to roadworks south of Esher.

A joint decision was made to return the old-fashioned way, along the A25, which meandered through the wonderful Kent countryside. I'm constantly amazed at the green-ness of Kent, with extensive native woodlands everywhere, a very well-wooded county in spite of the development and population.

We stopped for a picnic lunch in the village of Bessel's Green, between Sevenoaks and Westerham, and shared a seat under a huge lime tree, one of two on the north side of the green. The busy road was a bit of a distraction, made worse by roadworks which were holding up the traffic, but we couldn't do much about that. We drove on after a cup of tea in the  village pub to enjoy the sun in my sister's back garden! A good day!