Surprised by Wateringbury

Wateringbury straddles the A26 from Maidstone not far from East Malling and Yalding on the river Medway. Most people are passing through Wateringbury unless they have business in the village of happen to live there. There is a pub on the A26 as you approach the crossroads that is a venue for functions and has a good restaurant if yuo like Chef and Brewer style pubs. The drop of Spitfire I had there was excellent but other than that I would plump for a try at the Railway Inn near the station. We parked in the free car park and took a stroll around the village on what was the last Saturday of 2008. It was cold, frosty even and yet sunny. We chose the place at random because we felt like a walk in the sun despite the cold.

Which, the cold I mean, beggars the thought of being incarcerated in the town lock-up shown on the left. We looked inside and saw how mall it was and reckoned that in the winter one would be

suffering like the proverbial brass monkeys. Nevertheless although it may no longer be used for its original purpose and was filled with fence spiles it seemed to be a most solid and sensible building.

Our walk took us down the road leading to Nettleford and the river and bent away from there onto a pthway that led across open fields above the village to a set of tastefully converted oast houses. From there we walked down to where we could view the church and was pleasantly surprised by a cluster of houses beside a mill pond complete with ducks and a mill house.

The surprise was that we had not expected to see such a tranquil scene and view some beautifully designed gardens that utilised the old mill race. The walk then took us past the old mill and up to the A26 and along to the church.

The surpise of the day was spotting primroses in flower between the graves and some actually in full bloom, if somewhat small, and we assumed that the recent mild weather had fooled them into venturing out. The fools! do they not know that winter cold is coming?

However, below is a picture of the brave little souls.

Altogether Wateringbury was a pleasnt surprise on a cold day