Otherwise, we might've gotten tuckered out.
Today was to be a downtime day, no big adventures or road trips, just relaxing and vacationing kinds of things. So... we took a little circle road trip instead.
Started out with a leisurely getting-up, having-tea, and breakfasting. We did a little planning for tomorrow's trip to Sissinghurst Gardens, and Mom and I looked at the logistics of going to Salisbury rather than Sunderland next week. Little stuff. Easy stuff. Leisurely stuff.
Next was a walk to the Rye Pottery and Tile Shop. It's about two blocks away, and we've been walking past that shop for a week now. Time to peruse the wares. Mom, Dorie and I all got tiles, which the shopkeeper packaged up most thoroughly in bubble wrap in anticipation of us getting our purchases safely out of the shop and across the ocean.
Then -- since we were so close, after all! -- we made our way to the Mermaid Tea Room for lunch. Wonderful lunch. Mom and Dorie tried the 'mature cheddar and chutney' sandwiches, Catch went with an egg mayonnaise sandwich, and though I originally order a cheddar and chutney sandwich as well, there was only enough cheddar for two sandwiches, so I switched to the Cornish pasty. The sandwich makers must have felt bad about me not getting my first choice, because I got my pasty with crisps (in this case, tortilla chips)... AND potato salad... AND carrot salad... AND mixed salad. Pretty cool. And it was ALL delicious. Dorie had another amazing cider as well, this one featuring organic apples of most interesting names, not the least being Pig Snout.
After lunch we walked back to the cottage and collectively decided that a short road trip, more a drive in the country really, was in keeping with our downtime, so off we went again. First stop was in the town of Lydd, a stop we made primarily because there was a very large, old, castle-ish and beautiful (in a very solid, 13th century, Norman sort of way) church that caught our eye. Turned out to be The Parish Church of All Saints, Lydd, also known as The Cathedral of the Marshes. As we walked from the car toward the church, Mom stopped to chat with two elderly women sitting on a park bench, a small dog at their feet. One of the women told Mom the dog was Daisy, and the conversation turned to dogs. Then the woman told us "We're twins, she's three minutes older." Then they headed off down the walk with Daisy in the lead, and we went to explore the church.
The church is in or at least very near the center of Lydd, and has a graveyard adjacent to it. Near the main entrance of the church is a headstone that reads: "Sacred / In memory of Edward Greenland who fell from the rigging of H.M.S. Barosa of Yokohama and was drowned on the 28th February 1870, aged 17 years. / This stone is erected by Lieutenant C. E. Drake, of H.M.S. Barosa, as a mark of esteem and regard felt by himself and the crew."
Near the church is The Galleon Inn, across the street from a sign pointing toward the blacksmithy, and kitty-corner from The Olde Pette Shop.
After Lydd, we meandered on down the road to Lydd-on-Sea and then to Dungeness Beach. From a bit of a distance we saw two lighthouses and what we presumed to be a power plant. This after driving along for quite a bit beside what we presumed to be a military base. (Turns out both presumptions were right; the power plant is actually the Dungeness Nuclear Power Plant, and the military base is currently used in part for tank training.)
We turned off the main road onto one that seemed to lead toward the lighthouses and then also saw beach cabins, many of them with old fishing boats -- hole-y old fishing boats -- in their yards for ambiance. Near the biggest of the two lighthouses, big enough that at one point it probably had a lighthouse keeper to look after it, was a car park. Before parking, though, we drove a bit further, past The Britannia Inn (a possibly slightly overambitious name for the pub that went with it) and a cafe called The Cafe. We also located the station for The Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway, self-described as "a 15-inch gauge working railway with a fine fleet of one-third scale steam and diesel locomotives." There were passengers in the cars, two adults to a seat, four seats to a car, and not much room to spare. In fact, as we parked back at the head of a wooden walkway out to the beach, we could hear the little engine that could beginning to chug along toward wherever its next stop would be.
Dungeness Beach is a shingle beach, windswept, somewhat barren, with extra-extra-large sand (ie, easy-to-collect stones or, as Catch put it, "gravel to the uninitiated"). The beach also has several large dunes/"sandbars" before the actually sea, with a wooden walkway that leads out across the flatter part of the beach to maybe 100 yards from the first dune. Catch ensconced herself on the end of the walkway, and the others of us walked along, all of us looking for stones and shells.
Up and over the last of the dunes were waves restless with the turning tide. The sky wqas partly sunny, partly cloudy, and the clouds were those big grey, white, and silver clouds that seem so prevalent here. Sometimes the sun was glinting off the waves, sometimes the waves were darkened with cloud shadows. Gulls strolled along the dunes and flew high overhead. Out to sea were a half dozen or so freighters carrying important things to important places. Other folks came to walk, some singly, a couple, and a young family with a baby in a pram. The wind was brisk but not cold. There was a slight salt tang in the air. It was an absolutely beautiful day.
After maybe an hour at the beach, we got back on the road, this time on our way to New Romney for tea. To get there, we drove through Great-Stone-on-Sea and Little-Stone-on-Sea. In New Romney we got distracted by trying to mail a package home (would've cost about $80 to mail a 7 pound package; we passed) and so missed the chance to have tea there, since the tea shops we saw all close down at 4 pm. Intent on having cream tea (tea, scones, clotted cream, butter and jam), we hurried on back to Rye, where we went to Simon the Pieman Tea House on Lion Street near St. Mary's Church. As we were pulling up, we saw a wedding party -- bride, groom, maids and groomsmen, all fashionably dressed -- and The Town Crier complete with bell. As we watched, the party made their way down the hill to their reception, led on by the Crier being very solemn and official, ringing his bell and making way for them to follow.
While we were having our tea at Simon's, Mom overhead another diner ask the server about the tea used in the shop. She replied that their tea is not available to the public, being bought by them directly from the supplier. Exclusive stuff. Also very good stuff.
After the afternoon of driving and beachcombing and salt air and cream tea, naps were needed. We returned to the cottage and rested for a while. Later we went to The Ship's Inn for dinner, and were directed to the table marked "Reserved." I don't think it was really reserved just for us, but it was nice to not have to arm wrestle anyone for a table, given how busy they were. Dinner that evening was spiced parsnip soup with bread all around.
After dinner, it was one last time back to Cyprus Cottage, our snug home away from home. Since we had to check out the next morning, we got mostly packed up before we SkipBo-ed but then out came the SkipBo cards again!
