Birthday travels and Books galore

The Church Oast at Herne Hill - our base for two nights

Today is my 54th birthday and for the last couple of days (well Thursday and Friday to be exact, with the return on Saturday morning) SWMBO and I have been staying in a converted Oast House in the heart of the North Kent countryside. We stayed in the tiny village of Herne Hill which is within easy distance of Faversham (the home of the Shepherd Neame brewery), Whitstable (famed of its Oysters) and of course, Canterbury -famous for being, well, Canterbury. We had a super time traveling around, eating some delicious food and enjoying the hospitality of the 700 year old Red Lion public house - located around 2 minutes from where we were staying.

The church from which the Oast takes its name - directly opposite where we were staying in fact. Its claim to fame is that it has buried within its ground some of the victims of the Battle of Bossenden Wood in 1838 - the last 'battle' fought on British soil.

The village green. The church is directly behind from where this picture was taken with the Red Lion in the distance. Note the Oak tree on the right.

The Red Lion -  every bit as good as it looks. The food was outstanding!

One of the many 'ye olde worlde type building' for which Canterbury is renowned

The main entrance to Canterbury Cathedral. Sadly we did not have time to have a look around but it is certainly one for the future. I have visited previously - back in around 1972 as I recall!

Birthday booty. Really pleased with this little haul for a variety of reasons - needless to say the project list has not gotten even more problematic....;-)

Whilst on our travels we visited a number of secondhand bookshops and the odd charity shop and so I am now the proud owner of the three titles you see above. I should point out that the Barbarossa title actually came from the Canterbury branch of the Works and I was really pleased to get this - especially as it was only £6.99 rather than the £30 cover price. Essentially is is a slightly revised and expanded version of the three Osprey campaign titles covering Barbarossa being the North, Centre and Southern sectors. The Blandford was most welcome and I was also pleased to pick up the Sharpe Companion - both of which for a couple of ideas I have kicking around. All in all then, the last few days have been very relaxing and enjoyable - with a great mixture of good food and drink, history, scenery, new books and most of all the chance to get away for a couple of days with my beloved!