Scotney Castle, and hops

Day 17   Croyden     Wednesday, Sept 27, 2017

The moat and ancient tower of Scotney Castle, which we toured after a lazy morning and lunch at an old country pub. Another great day visiting with David and Hilary in the English countryside.

The day started with a late breakfast as we lollygagged about. The highlight was the tour David gave us of their garden.They are REALLY into their garden, and spend much quality time keeping it up and adding to it. They frequently buy new flowers to plant, or take cuttings from places to transplant. They have a fountain, greenhouse, shed, and so many memories since they bought the home in 1985.

Once we got underway at about 11:30, our first stop was The Vineyard, a 17th century tavern in Lamberhurst, in County Kent.

Give us this day, our daily pint (our 1st one, at least).

We loved the antler hat rack just above our heads.

Speaking of heads, this warning was found in numerous places during our visit in England. It's an iconic British phrase, as was "mind the gap" whenever we stepped on or off a train or subway car.

And then they served our fancy entrees, much more upscale than typical pub fare. Mine was guinea hen, and theirs were unique pies.

The pub was next to the Lamberhurst vineyards, so when we finished, Janet, David, and Hilary went for a walk to see the grapes. I walked down the road a bit to photograph these "oasts". They are used to store and process hops, for beer. Kent had always been a major hops producer until the EU trade favored other countries. In the previous few days, we had seen many of them around, and David told us everything about them because he had worked in one during a college summer. It was hard work, shoveling the hops from here to there and into huge bags. Nowadays, most oasts have been converted into apartments, as these have been.

On my walk back to the pub, I passed this mail box which I liked with the "ER". I wonder how many such items around Britain will need to be changed when the monarch changes. Perhaps they can just scrape off the middle of the "E" to make a "C", and it will be all done (unless Charles decides his regal name will be something else, like Henry IX).

As we were getting back in the car, the others decided to take my picture since there hadn't been one of me yet that day. In the background is the vineyard where the others had been walking.

We then drove nearby to the Scotney manor home and castle. This photo is the mansion (or the "new castle") built in 1836 by Edward Hussey II, some 60 years after daddy, Edward Hussey I, bought the estate. We enjoyed the tour, in part because the final owners (Edward Hussey III) moved in the year Janet and I were born and renovated it to be a modern residence, so to speak. The wife lived there until she died only about 10 years ago, and therefore the furnishings were more modern and the books on the shelves were from our lifetimes! (No photos allowed inside.)

In 1970, when Hussey III died, the estate was left to the National Trust. Several apartments on the estate were rented out by the Trust, including to the wife , but also to tenants including Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who rented a room for a time during the 70s and 80s when it served as a weekend escape for her. 

A nice picture of those three, and in the background is the original castle residence built in the 14th century. The families lived in it until the new mansion was finished in 1836, and then they deliberately ruined the old castle to give the estate a certain ancient "charm".

Nice reflective view of the "romantic ruins" of the medieval castle, complete with a moat.

Because they deliberately ruined this old castle to provide a romantic charm, they refer to it as a "folly." That tower is the oldest part of the castle, dating to 1378. There's the new home on the hill behind. 

We got to tour what still was not in ruins in the old castle, but this was the only furnished area. They had many old and new books for sale, including one about oasts, with photos, so David could show us what he used to do when he worked in one. 

The old castle was lived in by only three families over its 458-yr history, the Husseys being the third. This picture is out the window of an upper-floor room, which was now empty.

This is Father Richard Blount's hiding place, a little room off to the side on the stairway. The story here is that Blount converted from Protestantism to Catholicism during the late 16th century when it was frowned upon to be Catholic (during Elizabeth's reign, following Catholic Bloody Mary's reign). He became a priest in Rome, and had to smuggle back into England, posing as a returning sailor prisoner-of-war. 

The family living in Scotney Castle at the time was Catholic, so they kept Father Blount to be their priest, but they had to hide all this from the authorities during his years there, 1591 to 1598. But the local authorities raided the castle looking for him, and he hid successfully in this little alcove. But during the week-long search, there arose some problem, and he had to escape. His servant announced to the men in a separate room that thieves were stealing their horses, and during the commotion, Blount jumped into the moat, swam to the side, and escaped. 

He remained outside the law until 1608 when King James was on the throne, and he no longer had to hide his Catholicism. He practiced as a priest until he died in 1638, and had a royal funeral in the Queen's (Charles I's wife's) private chapel.

Here we are relaxing outside next to the moat, with the tower behind us. This is where we also took the photo at the top of this posting. 

As we were departing the old castle, I noticed this old stairway up to the doorway in the side of the  tower, the oldest part of the castle. I wondered what was behind that door...Rapunzel??

On our walk back up the hill to the walled garden, we passed this massive tree trunk. I should have put someone in it to provide perspective on how wide it was.

Four photos of the walled garden with not only flowers, but fruits and vegetables. Those avid gardeners, David and Hilary, kept looking at the plant tags so that they might obtain them for their own garden.

When we got home, we got to see their Jaguar sports car, and take exhilarating rides. The color is racing green. David drove me first, showing me as often as he could the acceleration power it had, and then Hilary did the same for Janet. We had fun!

We had a nice dinner, preceded by Czech beer for happy hour. We visited warmly during the evening with our buds, who never ceased to interest us with their lives and stories.