An American in Britain

It’s August Bank Holiday weekend.  We are avoiding going out today.  The traffic report on Friday was enough to convince us that this is the biggest travel weekend.  Of course, the 35-mile traffic back-up outside Bristol was not related to an accident, but to a man on a bridge, yet the amount of traffic speaks volumes.

Nevertheless, we opted to head for the beach yesterday.  This time, it was to Camber.  We figured it wouldn’t be as packed as more popular places, like Brighton or Eastbourne.  And, we were right.  The traffic was pretty bad in a few spots on our way down, but it was very clear on our way back.  We wanted to stop first in Rye, but couldn’t find a parking spot, so we went on into Camber instead.  It would have been nice to stop and look around.  Maybe next time.

Camber is located just to the east of Rye, a small medieval town.  It is in the Walland Marshes and very nearby are “Danger Areas” that are fenced off.  From what I understand, it is where they did some testing during WWII and there may be landmines still in there.  But, Camber itself is just a small seaside village.  There is a Pontins there.  To those Americans who may not know what that is, it’s like a chain holiday resort.

Camber is the first beach we’ve been to with sand dunes.  I’ve seen images of beaches with sand dunes and I’ve been to some with one or two dunes, but this is the first one I’ve experienced with dunes stretching the entire length, with a golf course on the dunes at the very end.  It was also very low tide, so the beach stretched out very far.  We went wading in the water and found lots of shells.  Even in the small shallow pools in the sands, my husband and kids spotted little fishes.  And, guess what?  The water was lukewarm.  On the opposite end to the golf courses was a shingle beach and the people there were engaged in parasurfing.  It seems to be a very popular sport along the southern coast of England, but there were many more people doing it in Camber than we have seen at the other beaches.

The kids played horse and camel in the sand dunes.  They had crawled up the dune and down to the beach.  They did not change into their bathing suits and got their clothes very wet while they went wading (they wore capris).  Afterwards, when they got down on all fours again to play in the dunes, they were extremely filthy.  But they had fun doing so.

They have a parking lot at the beach, though there really are no marked parking bays.  Pretty much, you park somewhere on the grass and try to keep some order.  It is gated, you pay at the front, and they lock up after hours.  Considering that you have to pay everyday, including Sundays and Bank Holidays, we were surprised to find that the entrance was closed before closing time, which is 6:00pm.  We didn’t park there, objecting to having to pay to park everywhere we go.  We parked on the street outside Pontins and walked down.  I don’t understand why the area had to be gated.  Do they not allow anyone in after 6?

I have two job interviews this week and I’m a little anxious about them.  It’s been over 6 years since I’ve been on a job interview, so I’m a little out of practice.

Having been on interviews on both sides of the Atlantic, my husband has concluded that the interview process is much more serious and gruelling in the UK.  He recalls being shortlisted for a job and was put up at a 5-star hotel for two days during the interview.  The weekend comprised a series of panel interviews and tests. Not a story to reassure anyone.

I do know that at the end of the second interview, I would receive an answer at the end of the day or the next day.  Seeing that it’s a Friday, I may have an answer by the end of the day.  However, my job preference is for the one on Thursday and at this point, I don’t know when they would inform candidates of their success/failure.  All I know is that I will meet a panel of three interviewers.

My other dilemma is that I still have not heard from the many other positions I applied for, and since some of them have not closed on their applications, I may not hear from them for a while.  Yet, some of them are for positions I prefer over the one on Friday.  Therefore, if I do not get the Thursday position, how do I approach the Friday one?  I wouldn’t want to lose out on the chance of a job, but I also don’t want to rush on an acceptance if there’s a chance at my getting a better one.

The only certainty right now is that we will have to move.  And the girls start back to school in a few days.

The kids’ holiday is almost at an end.  Because it is so short, compared to what they are used to, we really had to take them to a lot of places to compensate.  Yesterday, was probably the most jam-packed day we’ve had. They wanted to go to Scotland and the Isle of Wight this year.  We already did Scotland and northern England (I have yet to write about it) and yesterday, we went to the Isle of Wight.

The weather forecast had said “sunny intervals”, which usually means a mix of sun and clouds.  We were supposed to have rain Monday and Wednesday.  Well, it didn’t rain on Monday.  It came in early Tuesday morning.  However, it cleared up by the time we arrived in the IOW.  Driving through the downs of West Sussex, however, the clouds were worrying.

We took one of those humongous car ferries over.  When you see the number of cars and lorries crossing, you think to yourself, “How in the world will all these get on there?”, but once you drive through, it looks a little like a multi-storey car park.  It also explains why it takes 40 minutes to cross the Channel.  The kids have been on boats before, but not on a ferry like this, so it was a new adventure.  It was quite windy sitting on the deck, so we moved inside.  The rain came and went, forcing people in and out, several times.

Our first stop of the day was Osborne House, Queen Victoria’s family retreat, now an English Heritage property.  Parking was free, even for nonmembers.  We didn’t see all of it, because we wanted to make our way around the island, but we could have stayed all day.  The house was absolutely wonderful, though many rooms were unavailable.  But, like many of these stately homes, you have to line up as you walk around all the open rooms.  You cannot just view things at your leisure, and it would have been difficult with so many people.  Although, I must say it was not as crowded as when we went to Windsor Castle over 10 years ago.  We also went inside the Walled Garden.  Though the blooms were on their way out for most of them, it was still very nice.  I loved being around the fragrant flowers, especially the lavender.  They had several kinds of apples and pears growing in alternate trellises.  The highlight of this garden was when I spotted a hummingbird.  It was so small I thought it was a large bee at first.  But it made no buzzing and as I approached I could see the fluttering of the wings as it flitted from flower to flower.  My husband took several pictures and I hope at least one turns out well.  It was very difficult keeping up with it.  We did not take the little carriage ride, nor visit the Swiss House or walk all around the grounds.  The views across the Solent were absolutely wonderful.  Parts of the ground have been given over to a golf club.  We also learned that as members, we could book a cottage on the grounds, but there is an 18 month to 2 year waiting list.  Wow!  Like we can ever plan that far in advance.

We took the main road that forms a ring around the island.  We did not stop in Yarmouth, though it looked like a very nice town to visit.  Instead we went on into Alum Bay.  That was a mistake in a way, but we learned for next time.  Alum Bay is very touristy.  That says it all.  We paid to park – not too bad if you planned to stay all day, but with “one price fits all”, it was not ideal for us.  From there you could walk up a steep hill and get a great view of the entire place, or even visit the old Battery at the end, which is now a National Trust property.  They have monopolised the area, so that if you are a member, or willing to pay, you could get in and get good views and good pictures.  The kids did not want to do much walking, so we went into the center of the little tourist hot spot, where they had amusements and shops.  We wanted to walk down to the beach, but the kids saw the chairlift and wanted to ride down on it.  It was again more money out (we always like to limit our expenditure on unnecessaries).  At first we couldn’t see a footpath to the beach (it was cleverly hidden).  On our way down the chairlift, we could see the path and it may have been arduous, but it looked like a nice walk.  Anyhow, the kids enjoyed the little adventure and the thrill as we made a steep drop down.  It was quite windy at the top (several people lost their hats) and they both got a little scared.  The view of the Needles as we rode on the lift was amazing, but we couldn’t get any pictures.  we were told there was not much beach because it was high tide.  There was very little room to move, but we saw the coloured sands of the cliffs – shades of red/pink/yellow/white/green.  After riding back up (we had a moment when the lift stopped and we were at the very top), my husband went on his own to the top of the hill and took some pictures, while I stayed in the car with the kids while they ate some hot soup.  I should mention that every time I passed the candy shop there, I could smell the candy.  They must make it on site.  I didn’t want to explore it because I know the kids would have wanted some, and we really have to cut down on their sweets.  Next time, we would park in the free car park in Totland and take the bus up to the top, explore, and walk back down into the town.  It would have been more of an adventure and encouraged the kids to do more physical exercise.  Of course, we would need better walking shoes.

The older one wanted a sandy beach to play on, so we drove on, enjoying the wonderful scenery of countryside and seaside as we went from the western edge to the southern tip and around to the east.  We stopped in Shanklin and they ran around the sand like crazy kids just released from bondage, making sandcastles and digging for treasure.  Despite the chilly wind and the late afternoon/early evening hours, I was surprised to find that the water was quite warm.  When we lived in New Hampshire, I don’t think the water ever got warm.  And, in England, I have found that the water may not be very cold, but I couldn’t describe is as warm.  Afterwards, they played in the amusements, had a bit of dinner and we were on our way again.

It was getting dark, but our ferry was leaving very late.  We stopped at Ryde and while the kids played on the sand, my husband took some night shots of Portsmouth, lit up across the channel.  Then we walked around the little paddling pond where they had swan boats and literally, dozens of swans making their residence.  The swans swam towards us as we walked (they must have hoped for food) and our younger daughter got scared.  She is easily frightened.  It didn’t help that we saw a big rodent walking along the edge of the pond, then running into the grass.  We also saw another rodent popping its head in and out of one of the holes in the grassy verge along the pond.  I wouldn’t want to be that person we saw sleeping in one of the benches.

We were tired but the kids wanted to continue playing on the sands. We debated waiting out for our ferry or arriving early and seeing if we could cross.  Either way, we’d be arriving home very late, but it was a two-hour difference.  We tried to call the ferry office, but they had just closed.  They allowed one free change of itinerary, but after that there was a small administrative charge.  We chanced it and arrived early.  We had no difficulty getting on.  This time, we were aboard a newer designed ferry with TV screens showing ads for the Isle of Wight. It seemed to help pass the time.  The kids were still playful, but by the time we got out of the port, they were asleep.  They were tired and a little sad that the little injured butterfly, that they picked up in the grounds of Osborne House and named Leopard and tried to revive with a piece of grape, finally died.  They had carried this butterfly all around with them all day and refused to let it go.  We reached home at about the same time we would have arrived at the port had we waited for our ferry.  We were exhausted and went directly to bed, after carrying the sleeping kids in, nearly 19 hours since I woke up.

We didn’t do everything we would have liked, but we had a little taste of what the island offered.  Next time, we’d need several days, possibly a week.

Well, England has won the Ashes.  I felt that coming into the last match, it would more likely be England or draw than Australia.  After all, the results were Draw-England-Draw-Australia-…  To complete the pattern, it should have been draw, but I still thought England had a better chance because it’s hard to win two in a row.  That’s just me, using the fatigue factor.  Of course, it rarely factors into the equation.

Anyhow, before the final match, there were rumours floating around about a conspiracy, as evidenced by irregular betting patterns.  Though it’s been done before, I cannot conceive how a game can be thrown unless everyone was involved.  I’m not a big fan of conspiracy theories, so I couldn’t swallow it.  But, apparently, a certain part of the Australian press are claiming otherwise.  To say they were disappointed is an understatement.  The Australians had been cricket leaders for a long time, so to lose is very bitter.

Well, the next Ashes will be in Australia, sometime in a little over 18 months time.  Already, we know several players won’t be back – I can’t believe how young these guys are when they retire.  Wonder if they’ll continue in the amateur league once their professional careers are over?

We had gone to a jumble sale when we stopped at a playground for the girls.  While we were there, the local cricket team was preparing for a match, so we stayed to watch for a while.

You might hear about a softball team here and there in the US, but there were no organised amateur sports.  Here, each town/village would have a cricket team and they would form leagues and play against each other throughout the year. It’s not just cricket, but football and rugby as well.  Every time you drive through a town, regardless of size, you’d find lots of cricket greens and football and rugby clubs.  It’s a part of life. 

It makes me wonder why they keep reporting that the UK is the least active country in the EU. Yes, I can see that obesity is on the rise (the size makeup in this country is definitely larger than it was 10 years ago).  But, seeing that adults are still staying active, I don’t understand how kids can grow up couch potatoes.

Now, I’ve talked about the falconry and birds of prey, but I didn’t mention all the other things at the heavy horse show.  Unlike the regular horse shows, this featured draft horses.  These animals were built to do heavy work, not for show and display.  Yet, the idea was to show that these animals can perform feats of agility and grace as well as doing work.  You can see their power and the lack of speed.  My girls have always loved horses, so it did not matter that they were draft horses or showier ones.

The first display we witnessed was the dressage.  It was quite playful.  Then we had the dog and carriage training from the British Carriage Dog Society.  These were dalmatians trained to run along behind the carriage with their head under the carriage.  They had up to three dogs under the carriage at the end, with a couple running alongside.  There were supposed to be some minnkhounds but they were suffering from diarrhea, so they did not come.  Later, they had the hunting beagles.  They were so adorable and my kids went out to play with them when they were invited.  One particular beagle was not very well-behaved.  We were warned that beagles were easily distracted by food and this one kept running out of the ring looking for food.  He was finally sent back to the pen in disgrace.  Then there were the competitions.  They were timed courses.  The first involved different tasks performed by horse and rider.  One of the tricks was a jump.  I did not see all the competitors, but one horse was obviously too big to jump so he tried to step over, but the sticks were knocked over.  The last was the cone driving competition.  There were one-horse and two-horse carriages and they had to go between about 10 sets of cones.  I also did not get to see all of them.  The kids went around to look at displays and spent a lot of time just petting the beagles.  The older one experienced driving a draft horse, while the younger one and daddy went on a wagon ride.  The line for horse rides was so long that they did not get to do it.  We finally left right after the cone competition and just before they were ready for the grand parade because it was getting so drizzly and cold and the girls were sneezing a lot.

All in all, it turned out to be a very interesting day with a lot to see.  We were glad we had decided to come at the last minute.  And it was much cheaper than a regular horse show.

We don’t always have our weekends planned out, so many times, we go places at the last minute.  That happened a couple weekends ago when we decided to go to a heavy horse show in Eridge.  We had seen the signs for a while and didn’t know what to expect.  It wasn’t the best of weekends, cloudy and all, but we didn’t want to sit indoors.  So, we decided to check it out. 

I looked on the internet first to see the start times.  I found out they had dogs and birds of prey in addition to the horse show.  It was a charity event for the Working Horse Trust.  We arrived just after some competition had ended and were worried that we had missed the main event.  It turned out they had quite a lot planned, some had to be cancelled due to illness, etc.  But, we got there just in time to see a “Bird of Prey” demonstration by Chris Neal.  Apparently, he has done some nature programs on TV previously, and it really shows in his performance.

I’ve always had a fascination for birds of prey.  I used to love watching them circle in the sky.  When we were in New Hampshire, we happened on a bird of prey display in support of a wildlife rescue program.  It was amazing to look at the birds close-up.  But it was just a display.  In Ohio, watching the buzzards return in the spring was a major event for some locals.  I never saw it, but I always saw them sitting in trees, on barns, and even in front of some people’s yards.  Again, it seemed I had a morbid fascination with them (even though buzzards aren’t technically birds of prey, they’re always included).

Chris Neal did things differently.  He invited photographers out onto the field with him so that they can photograph the Harris hawks as he flew them here and there.  He also challenged them to photograph the birds as they attacked a “prey” (fake).  He said that if they got a good shot, he would take them out on a day with him in the Shropshire moors.  My husband didn’t show him his pictures, but he hopes he has a good enough shot to send to him and perhaps get invited.  I don’t know if my husband has ever had a fascination with these birds, but after that day, he showed some serious interest. 

Mr. Neal then brought out an eagle owl. It was huge and graceful.  He invited the kids out to get close-up.  He had them lay on the ground while the eagle flew above them.  Then he had them form two rows and the owl flew between them.  Our older girl was game for anything and was out there in a jiffy.  She loved it.  Our younger daughter gets scared easily, so she sat out.  However, there were two demonstrations during the day, and at the second one, she did go out.  She came back smiling but said it scared her.

Lastly, a falcon came out.  That was the best part, especially during the first demonstration, not just because it was new, but because the demonstration was more rushed the second time as we started to get a little shower and he couldn’t fly the birds in the rain.  He allowed it to fly so far out that we lost sight of it.  When he came back, he was just a speck in the sky, and this guy’s eyes were so good that when people pointed out possible sightings, he knew it was a “pigeon” and not his falcon.  Mr. Neal brought out the lure and the falcon came swooping in.  It was fast!  And beautiful!

Since then, we have seen two more demonstrations, though not as spectacular.  One was at an animal farm that my older daughter insisted on going to (she was not interested in the birds, just the other animals and the play area) while we were on vacation.  Though the demonstration was not as good, they did have an amazing collection of birds and the girls liked looking at them.  We even saw a golden eagle.

The other was in the safari park (to be discussed in another post).  Since it was not the main attraction, it was a smaller collection than at the farm.  But it was still fun to watch these birds and we learned different things about them at each demonstration.  Each of the last two demonstrations also invited adults and children to come out and handle the birds.  We did not take advantage of the opportunity for various reasons.  My husband wants to take some falconry classes and become a falconer.

We went to London yesterday.  It is only 40 miles north of here.  But because of congestion charges and traffic jams, we knew we couldn’t just drive into the heart of London.  Also, we needed to stop at my in-laws because they needed groceries.  We left later than we had wanted due to various things, but it was about 8:50AM.  I had an appointment regarding work at 11:45.  My in-laws live in a southern suburb of London, so we were going to drop things off, walk to the train station, and take a train and subway to where we needed to go. That meant we had to leave their place around 10.  Leaving at 8:50 meant we were cutting it very close.  Distance-wise, they live 20-25 miles away, but it usually takes us about 1 hour and 15 minutes to get to their house.  That’s something that outsiders have a hard time comprehending about England.

Because we had to go to London, we decided to make it a family day out after the appointment, so the kids came along.  Otherwise, they would have stayed with Nanny and Granddad.  The walk to the train station was not too bad but they kept complaining because parts of it was uphill and they walk very slowly.  We were in a rush, but taking a bus to the station would have taken more time.  Somehow, we managed to make the appointment just in time.

Fountain in Regent's Park, London

Afterwards, instead of heading towards some museums which we had talked about, the kids were distracted by Regent’s Park.  What they wanted was a playground, really, not a park, but seeing “park” made them think playground, so that’s where we headed.  It was a beautiful place, and HUGE.  I wouldn’t have minded spending the day there.  There were maps of the park everywhere because you could get lost easily.  There were several gardens and avenues of trees, in addition to a boating pond and of course, the London Zoo.  But, the older girl wanted the playground, so we had to head that way.  We only managed to get to the boating pond before I had to stop and eat my lunch, the others having eaten theirs earlier.  I sat at the bandstand area while the others sat on some deck chairs that were placed on the grass.  Eventually, they joined me because the younger daughter wanted some food as well.  It was just in time because the “deck chair warden” came around to collect money for the use of the chairs (GBP 2 for 4 hours).  Several people left when he approached them, and only a few paid to continue sitting.  We never made it to the playground because we managed to convince Miss I Want a Playground to go to the museums.

We got to South Kensington and decided on the Natural History Museum. The Victoria and Albert was across the street from it and the Science Museum was a block away.  I couldn’t see the Science Museum but the V&A and the Natural History Museum were both humongous. Initially, we commented on the poor use of space because we entered a huge room with a few pieces in the middle and some displays along the walls.  We were in the geological area, an area of particular interest to our older daughter who likes to collect gems and rocks (the other also likes to collect rocks, the ordinary kind).  Next, we entered the bird room.  There was a lot more here and in a smaller space.  It was so crowded that you could not feel the ventilation/air conditioning in the room.  The day had started very cloudy and cool, but by afternoon it was extremely sunny and hot.  Indoors, it was very stuffy. It was so bad we decided to come back another day outside of the summer holiday period, so we left after only 30 minutes in the museum.  It’s a good thing that admission is free to these museums; otherwise, it would have been a wasted day.

Our younger daughter wanted to go to Build-a-Bear Workshop, so we gave in, after the aborted park and museum.  I don’t know why she always wants to get another Build-a-Bear because Pooh Bear is the only one she always carries with her. We took the Piccadilly line to Covent Garden.  Now, I want to insert a warning to visitors about the subway exit at Covent Garden.  Covent Garden subway station has no escalator; passengers are returned to street level by elevator or stairs. I was not paying attention, but my husband stated there was an announcement saying the stairs were quicker but it was alot.  He asked the kids which they wanted, the stairs or the escalator.  They chose the stairs and ran up.  I thought, we took two escalators down the other way, so it couldn’t be that bad.  Boy, was I wrong!  The stairs were practically empty, and as I went up I can understand why.  It was a steep spiral staircase and I was on the inside while my husband was on the outside.  I was essentially going up vertically and was so breathless, I had to stop a couple of times to rest.  I know I’m out of shape, but it was good to see that I wasn’t the only one.  My husband was puffing and the few adventurous ones who joined us on the stairs were complaining as well.  Of course, we also laughed at the whole thing because we hadn’t expected the stairs to be so steep.  The kids were well out of sight and waiting for us at the top.  By the time I got there, my legs were trembling.  That was when my husband said we had walked an equivalent of 15 storeys.

The cobbled stones of Covent Garden proved to be a nightmare on our feet after the day of walking we had had.  We all felt blisters forming.  Build-a-Bear was no better ventilated or less crowded, so I sat outside watching all the tourists and shoppers while my husband accompanied the girls.  He had to pay for the purchases anyway. A TV crew were doing a small piece on the opera outside the National Opera House, and there were several street performers.  It was quite interesting.

From there, we took a couple buses home.  Now, at the beginning of the day, when we arrived at the train station, we bought travel cards for the day for all of us.  For one price, we were able to use all the public transport all day. It’s the most economical way to travel around London.  At the end of the day, the bus driver informed us that we didn’t need travel cards for the kids unless they were over 11.  We knew they could ride on the bus for free but we had been told previously that they needed tickets on the train.  The driver said they were free there as well.  It made us wonder why the ticket operator hadn’t asked the children’s ages.  Not that we paid much for them, but any amount of savings is smart.  Also, if the kids didn’t have tickets for the trains/subways, how did they get in and out of the stations?  Something we’d need to investigate in the future.

I had meant to write about all the places we’ve been recently, but several things in the past couple of days changed my mind.  At least for now.

The first happened Monday morning when I went out to the clothes line to get a leo for my elder daughter to go to gymnastics.  That morning I was awaked by some noise outside which sounded like some metal being moved around.  It reminded me of the sound of moving metal dumbbell weights around on the ground.  I thought the farmer was doing some work outside.  When I got to the clothes line, I found two sheep eating outside the window of the bedroom.  One was making herself comfortable by lying on the ground as she ate.  They were around the rose bush and the plants we had in jars and pots around the little porch.  I frightened them and they ran towards the fence, but turned around and looked at me.  I went inside to wake my daughter but when we looked outside, they were gone.  However, I noticed that the sunflower which had taken us months to grow was uprooted.  My husband heard the commotion and came out.  We went to the living room window and saw that one jar was smashed.  It was the noise of the jars that I had heard in the morning.

My husband went out to inspect the damage and found the sheep again.  They had not gone far, probably just around the house and came back again.  They had eaten our chives and got into the carrots.  One of the sheep was on the ground again.  But when they saw him, they ran again.  Our daughter came out and they ran out our front gate.  My husband told her to shut it, but she came in without doing so.  When next they went out, the sheep were in again.  This time, my daughter shut the gate after they left.  As my husband went out with the girls, he was going to try and get the sheep back into the fields by moving them behind their gates; however, the gate at the top of the drive was open and they went that way.  He found them down by the main gates into the estate, but luckily, or unluckily, they veered off and went into the landlord’s yard.  We have seen the landlord shoo them off his yard previously, but he wouldn’t have wanted them out on the streets either.  We don’t know what became of them.  I know our landlord was busy with the electric guy because they came down to see our place and he was too distracted for me to mention the sheep.

Now, I know I mentioned using the sheep as our natural lawnmower, but we had managed to cut the grass with shears and now only the weeds are growing in between, so it was unnecessary for them to donate their services now.  Besides, they left a trail of poo on their way out the gate.  As I said previously, that was one downside to using sheep, so we had nixed the idea.  As the saying goes, “the grass is always greener on the other side”, and the sheep obviously believed it.  But, then again, the chives, sunflower and carrots were probably delicacies for them.

I hate that feeling of needing a vacation from a vacation, but that’s how it always feels like when I come back from a holiday trip.  Since we wanted the kids to enjoy a normal holiday, we went out of town for a few days.  It was nice to come back and find out that my registration for a license has been approved.  I still have to complete an identity check, but in the meantime, I can scout around for a job.  We also have some landlord issues that need resolving and hopefully that can be accomplished before our lease runs out.  Anyhow, for the next few posts, I hope to get some pictures of some of the things we enjoyed recently.

I’ll start by talking about High Rocks in the Tunbridge Wells area.  They are located in the Rusthall Commons area.  At one time, the commons were just open areas of land that were used for grazing, but over the years, houses have sprung up and many areas have become overgrown with vegetation.  However, there are some natural rock formations that have survived.  But, in order to keep them in good order, it is now run by a trust, and admission is charged.  Yet, it appears that the gate is not always manned, so some people might be able to sneak in.  We have never been ones to take those kinds of risk.

There are walking paths around the rock formations, as well as stairs and bridges to get to the top and across from rock to rock.  Various groups of rock climbers were taking advantage of the nice weather on the day we visited.  Apparently, there are rock climbing guides and High Rocks was included, with hints on how to climb the rocks.  These are not huge rocks and some of the climbers only used their hands and feet to get to the top; but there are some that are higher, requiring some ropes.  The kids imagined themselves as climbers and went up some of the smaller rocks.

There were several inscriptions on some of the rocks, dating back to the 1800s.  Of course, many visitors marked their names on the rocks as well.  But, we were on the look-out for an inscription from the 1700s.  We never found it, but we believe we located the right rock.  It was called “Bell Rock” because legend has it that if you threw a stone into it, it would make a sound like a bell ringing.  However, it is believed that it no longer makes that sound because of moss, damp and various other natural processes.  The inscription was left by a visitor, whose dog fell down the rock and died.

There was a rock called “Toad Rock” because it supposedly resembles a toad – you really have to use your imagination.  The other rocks used to be given other names as well, with respect to objects they resembled.  We’ll need to get some sort of guide book from the library.  In times past, there were huts set up between the rocks for hikers and climbers, but most of them are now lying in ruins.  There was even a tea shop set up in one of the huts, but it is gone.  A rhododendron maze attached to the rocks area is now overrun.  Despite all this, the area does serve as a very nice backdrop for a picnic.  There was even a wedding reception taking place while we were visiting.

Which brings us to the pub.  It appears that the reception was being catered from the High Rocks Inn, which is also where you need to go for tickets into the rocks.  Thankfully, there was a large public car park for visitors and it was free.  The inn is located across the street from the rocks and it has a beautiful garden.  And while you’re up there, you can see the Spa Valley steam railway making trips up and down from Tunbridge Wells to Eridge.

We have yet to explore the historic parts of Tunbridge Wells, such as the chalybeate springs and the Pantilles.  That will be for another day.