A Trip to Canterbury

The road to Canterbury passes our Castle. When I say Castle, I actually mean bungalow, but I was trying to impress! Anyway, from the end of our drive, turning right and following the main road finds you in Canterbury after about 13 miles. Turning left, and then right 500 yards down the road also takes you to Canterbury after about 15 miles or so. Both are scenic rural routes and both pleasant.

One of these routes is via Stone Street, the old Roman road from Lympne (a one-time Roman port, now 1 mile inland), to Canterbury. Throughout much of its length, Stone Street is straight as a die, and passes through the oddly named locale of "Six Mile". Odd, that is until you put two and two together and realise that it was a Roman fort 6 miles from Lympne to protect the road. They say nothing changes, well, maybe change is a little bit slow in some parts of the world!

With Canterbury so close, it is perhaps surprising that I rarely visit it these days. In the past, I was often there, frequently for shopping as it has some of the best shops in the area. These days though I don't shop very often, buying only what I need, as I need it. My days of traipsing round the shops looking for something to buy are long gone.

We've spent the last year getting rid of stuff that I bought needlessly over decades, which simply cluttered the place up, and wasn't really used. As a bachelor, I was a bit of a hoarder, but five years ago Anna and I surprised ourselves by getting married, as both of us had decided that we'd stay single. That was before we met each other!

Anyway, my hoarding bachelor lifestyle ground to a halt as the place now had a new mistress, and nowhere for her stuff (always far less than mine!). Eventually, she called time, and so a year or so ago we began a spring-clean that involved two skips, at least another skip's worth by car to the tip, and several trips to charity shops. At last the place is tidy, (oddly, just how I like it, although nobody will believe me having seen what I had let it become!).

Perhaps surprisingly, the place doesn't echo, but then it still has all we need within it. It's a pleasure to pull open a draw and find it empty instead of stuffed to the gunwales with all sorts of tat.

I have digressed! This was supposed to be about a trip to Canterbury, so I'd better get back on track.

With the need to shop now a distant memory, driving to Canterbury, parking up somewhere (and isn't parking always a problem?), and then wandering the streets and shops seemed like a self-imposed nightmare. Added to which, the thought of choosing a crowded town centre as opposed to open countryside as a place to visit seemed a no-brainer.

Until recently. About three weeks ago Anna wanted to see and show me an Italian cafe in Canterbury that she used to visit in the past, and so (somewhat reluctantly) I drove us over there, and parked up near the shops.

Canterbury is a very historical city, most of it is very old. Some of it was bombed in the Baedeker raids of the Second World War, and in my youth, the bombed parts had been replaced with the sort of lightweight modern buildings that were everywhere in the late 50s and early 60s. The sort building style that epitomised 60s secondary modern schools, and hospitals, brick walls with wood and glass infill.

Many of these buildings have themselves since been replaced with far more substantial buildings close to the original (a great deal of Canterbury is original, most of it, in fact). There is also an up-to-date shopping centre, with architect designed high quality shops, built over the same recent period.

The city has become one of England's most popular tourist attractions. It's within easy reach of Dover and the Channel Tunnel, and a constant stream of continental coaches arrive daily. Many foreign students and schoolchildren visit each day, and columns of them pass you by in the street, almost everywhere, it seems, at times.

It is very easy to see why Canterbury is so popular, always lots going on, and so much history at your fingertips. We enjoyed our visit. So much so, that we intend to go far more in future.

A couple of days ago, we went again, this time to a different part of the city, and then walking in towards the centre from another direction. As previously, lots to see, and as ever I had my camera with me and took a few photographs. At one point, we wandered into the Cathedral precincts. Canterbury Cathedral is an impressive building built on a grand scale, and towering above us mere mortals at its base.

Sometime later, we walked up to the new Marlowe Theatre, a modern architect designed edifice, but Canterbury Cathedral, it isn't. I guess it has "presence", but I'm not sure it has "character". No doubt it's a technical marvel, but I wonder if it's perhaps a bit "cold" rather than "warm, and welcoming"? I really have no idea, having not been inside. We had intended to go in and maybe get a program, but as we approached, a security guard was rapidly locking the doors whilst another put up signs making it clear they were closed.

Naturally, we must reserve judgement until we attend a performance there. Having been to the Devonshire Park Theatre in Eastbourne last week, which is a characterful and friendly place, the Marlowe has some steep competition for our affection. Looking through its acres of glass window, the one thing that struck us was the number of stackable plastic seats, something that didn't really show a lot of promise, but as I say, we will have to wait and see.

As I write this, it's just a few minutes to midnight, and probably time I was looking to turn in, so I'll leave it there. I've gone on far more than I planned, meandered off piste a little, but hopefully there's something worth reading amongst this text.

Thanks for reading, if you've made it all the way to the bottom, you probably deserve a pat on the back! As ever, if you feel like making a comment, I'd be interested, whatever you think. Dan