penshurst // dover castle

Hello friends—long time no…write?

So very sorry. This is the first time in a few days that I’ve had access to wifi. I’m currently in Canterbury youth hostel right next to Canterbury Cathedral. Speaking of, just read “Murder in the Cathedral” yesterday and if you aren’t familiar with that play—you should be. T.S. Elliot once again proves himself a genius.

Anyways—the past two days have been spent traveling and at Holmsbury St Mary youth hostel which was in the middle of the English country-side. Beautiful but no wifi so one can hardly consider it civilized! I jest.

Not really.

So we departed London Wednesday morning and went to Penshurst Place and Gardens. Completed in 1341, the house was traditionally a medieval hall and was built onto gradually over the next few centuries.

entering penshurst

The place was visited by several kings and apparently an inspiration to many writers: Ben Johnson wrote “To Penshurst” after touring the gardens there. And though the house is incredibly beautiful (ancient stone rooms, tapestries from the 1500’s, portraits of the Sidney family, a mead hall with still in-tact medieval tables!), the gardens stole the show. 

rose gardens stretch on endlessly

the gardener's hut

One of Britain’s oldest privately owned gardens, the 11 acres is full of private orchards, secret hide-away fountains, and rows of plump pink roses. Ponds are lined with well-maintained bushes, a plethora of floral scents float through the air, and every step promises to lure you deeper into a fairy-garden trance.

the grounds

nam observes some flowers/ she is not impressed

After a tour of both the house and gardens, we had a spot of tea and scones (jam and cream!) before heading back into the bus and trekking to the hostel.

Our courageous bus driver plowed uphill through a tiny one-way country road to get us to our hostel. It was terribly frightening but quite exciting as well, especially when a car would come around the bend and we’d have to reverse down the hill.

Thursday was spent at the hostel where we hiked the English country-side and attended classes. The English are famous for many things, but their food is not one of them. No sauce, very bland, few veggies (and if they’re present, they’re usually boiled to an inch of their life), lots of starch, mayonnaise on random things… I am craving some Chipotle at the moment.

Friday, we headed to Dover Castle, the largest castle in England. 

dover castle

 Built by King Henry II in the 12^th century, the ancient castle has layers of history packed into its bones—it’s remained an English fortress in the Napoleonic Wars, World War I, and World War II. There are bunkers, secret tunnels, a hospital—all underground! 

entrance to underground bunker, Napoleonic era

We had several hours to explore so I walked the ramparts, toured the castle (cellar, basement, throne room, chapel, gallery, ceiling!), explored war bunkers, and ducked into one of the ancient medieval tunnels. 

view from the top of the castle

 It was an amazing experience, and I discussed photography and bird-watching with a British woman on the ramparts over-looking the Dover Bay. Now, that’s not a sentence I’ll ever write again, I can assure you. I also came upon a Roman lighthouse built in 1 A.D. as well as medieval church.

country-side panorama

Tomorrow, we are headed to Canterbury Cathedral. Also, if you have never read Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, you should probably most definitely read it.

I am enjoying my time here very much and I wish I could upload more photos because the scenery here (especially in the country-side) is absolutely beautiful…but the internet connection is so slow, it takes me an hour to upload around five or six. Bugger.

Follow my Instagram for some pics: katerkakery

Cheers!