Charing - the tale of a Christmas Tree

It seemed approriate that at this time of the year we take a short walk close to home so we went to Charing close to Ashford and on the road to Canterbury. Charing settles on the pilgrim's way and part of the North Downs Way and was once a resting place for the Archbishop of Canterbury. The old place was built there as a way station for the Archbishop of Canterbury on his trips between London and Canterbury. It was sold in 1629 and since then has deteriorated to the point where no self respecting Arch bishop could live there any longer. I believe in 2003 or thereabouts there was an unsuccessful attempt to gain funds to refurbish it and of late the Trust has collapsed which means that the place will be likely to fall apart even further.

Above: The arch leading to the Palace

- fat pigeons in hole to the right.

However, we stopped in the car park beside it and the church and saw an sign offering Christmas Trees so we went in through the arch, guarded by a couple of plump pigeons, and had a rare opportunity of seeing the ruins. My sister was looking for a tree and found one to her liking complete with roots for an exchange of monetry goods to the tune of ten pounds. It was a good looking tree and hopefully can be planted instead of chucked out for re-cycling.

Above: The old Palace Barn and store rooms

with Christmas trees on display.

Charing is a charming place and after we had explored the area around the church we headed for the village stopping at the millenium sun dial which didn't work - note there is a sundial on the church as well (that didn't work either) - maybe we needed to wait for the sun to shine?

The residents we met were very friendly including the people in the palace, and were willing to talk about their home village and some in particular were proud of the Christmas lights. There are a few shops in the village including a most comprehensive village store, a butcher's shop that also sells bakery products, a cafe where we had home made soup and local bread and a gem that nobody should miss. A chocolate shop! I can personally recommend the chocolate mice hand made by the owner. The chocolate is not only smooth, solid to the crunch and sweet but it is not sickly and affordable. A family went past us as a we were gobbling our mice and the children were running to get to the chocolate shop - I cannot blame them.

As a nice little stop on the way to somewhere Charing offers the charm of a historic village and a pleasant place to stroll - there is a pub in the high street and crossing the main Canterbury road there are some walks up to the hills and down again. It is a typical Downs village and one that many people would pass through but can offer some good walks - we will do some in the warmer weather and post them here.

It appears that a certain Mr Cackett was a manufacturer and engineering inventor who devised the diamond frame bicycle and made a motorcycle from parts he named the Venture. When we bear in mind that Ashford was once a railway workshops town and also had a thriving manufacturing industry that included making bicycles and mopeds one can understand the connection.

Wakeley House