Rochester, Kent

Over Easter, Kay and Darcy came to stay with me a couple of nights. On Good Friday we went out to my favourite Italian restaurant where I always order the same thing - Razza or, as we English say, skate wing. You never see that fish in supermarkets and can only get it in fishmongers. Few restaurants ever have it on their menu either, so it is  real treat for me to have it in that restaurant.

On Easter Saturday, we took the train to Rochester in Kent. Although not far from where I live in South London (about 25 miles) I have never actually been there, so decided it was now or never. I was quite surprised by how quaint the High Street is. I suppose I was expecting a modern drab sort of city centre like any other, but the High Street was full of old buildings dating back to the Victorian, Georgian and even Elizabethan times.  It was home to Charles Dickens for many years and featured in his novels. There wasn't a chain store in sight, but many coffee houses, charity shops and sweet shops. We wandered along the High Street stopping at some of the older buildings to take photos.

Elizabethan Eastgate featured as Westgate in various Dickens' novels

A town crier on his rounds

Look at the front door on this - not at all straight - in fact the whole building is listing to one side

We moved on to the Cathedral which is literally off the High Street. 

Unlike a lot of cathedrals and high churches these days, there was no entrance fee and you could wander around at will. I suppose being an Easter Saturday helped too, as no doubt Good Friday and Easter Sunday would be busy. There were lots of elderly ladies arranging flowers around the Cathedral and decorating a scene from the Garden of Gethsemane at the entrance.

The High Street is in the foreground

Peaceful cloister garden

The choir

aerial view from the castle

After grabbing a snack of coffee and cake from one of the many cafes in the High Street, we moved on to Rochester Castle, also a stone's throw from the High Street. This was quite impressive and took a lot of stamina to climb the many stairs - most of them cobbled and quite steep in places. The inner floors of the castle have crumbled away so the stairs in the corner turrets are the only way to reach the upper storeys and see across. It was built just after the Norman Conquest in 1066 and was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. Its history is fascinating - including the Barons' Uprising against King John in 1215 and also the place where in 1540 Henry VIII first clapped eyes on Anne of Cleves, his fourth wife, as she travelled from Germany to London to marry him.

no floors exist

You can get an idea here of what the stairs looked like. It was quite lethal coming down them.

After such a busy day on our feet for most of it, we decided to take the late afternoon train back to London and feasted on a Chinese takeaway for our supper.