We Have Arrived Back In Beckenham,

safe, sound and late thanks to Easy Jet,

 but back to Thursday,

 we were out for the day,

 and going for a drive in Kent,

 to Aylesford in fact, coming towards us a sight we do not see very often, a motorcycle with sidecar, this one a V twin Moto Guzzi,

 we drove through the narrow streets of Aylesford, the village dating back over 1,000 years,

 if you drive here the High Street has traffic lights as the road is too narrow for cars to pass, so it is down to one way only depending on the lights,

 and even with traffic lights sometimes the bus gets stuck and oncoming drivers have to reverse back,

 through at last,

 and this is where we will be spending the day, at The Friars,

 so we parked up,

 and made a contribution for the car park,

 next stop breakfast,

 but a stop on the way,

 in the rose garden,

 past the end of the restaurant,

 and here we are,

 in an incredibly old building,

 I have no idea how old some of these beams are,

 but they were an age,

 so breakfast ordered,

 we chose our table,

 we were both so hungry,

 Diana tucked in straight away,

 delicious,

 and so was my scone, with fresh cream and jam,

 we started our walk from the tea room,

 in dappled sunlight,

 towards the main part of the estate,

 which is large,

 and has a lake,

 so a quick pose,

  and we were on our way,

 past the lake,

and into the main square,

 one of the notice boards that describe the Priory,

 there are so many large trees here,

 and nestled amongst them the seating area,

 where open air worship takes place,

 I was surprised to see this tree here, normally kept as an indoor houseplant, this rubber tree, (Ficus elastica), was taking over the whole end of a building,

 and it was growing well,

 with flowers in abundance,

 we walked around the main courtyard,

 everything here,

 was immaculate,

 the benches donated by followers, their names on plaques at the end of each bench,

 I made my way over to meet Diana,

 looking back at the rubber tree,

 inside the building, the altar,

 we went to the next building,

 which house a small chapel,

 at the end of the corridor,

 the main area,

 and I just had to take a panorama of it,

 we made our way past the rubber tree,

 and out of the courtyard,

 to the tidal River Medway, where many years ago at this spot across the river Duncan and myself witnessed a tragedy, we were both collecting tubifex worms, for the aquatic trade, which involved standing waist deep in mud, there were a number of crews that made a living doing this, we knew most of them, the member of one of the crews found a deep hole, and could not escape from it, both Duncan and myself rushed to help him, but being waist deep in mud our progress was slow, by the time we were 25 or so feet from him he went down for the last time, police divers found the body the next day, as we were the nearest to him when he died both Duncan and myself had to appear at the Coroners Court, and later at the Old Bailey when the widow sued the Water Board for compensation, Roy left a wife and three children, he was in his mid 30s,

 we walked along the side of the river,

 it was a glorious day,

 I had no idea that the grounds of the Priory were so big,

 along the walk,

 set into the walls,

 there were a number of pottery freezes,

 the gardens as all of the grounds were immaculate,

 bur we did not see anyone tending them,

looking past the green,

 on the other side some more freezes,

 set into the walls,

 depicting biblical scenes,

 our walk continued,

 in the shade,

 but then a rest,

 by this statue,

 a bench placed in front of it for reflection

 another of the freezes,

 I am not sure how old they are, but I will find out later,

 we walked around the side of the main buildings,

 and along the road,

 that led to the lake,

 a last look back,

 and then here it was,

 a history of the plaques,

 we are gong to visit another part of the Priory,

 when we chanced upon this

 the Aylesford Peace Garden,

 with all manner of plants to look at,

 outside I noticed these,

 Hollyhocks, (Alcea rosea), 

 in the mid 1950s when we would holiday at Westgate,

 the local bowling club had a huge number of hollyhocks growing there,

 and the friendly greensman would give Dad a hand full of seed pods to grow at home, 

 we entered another square,

 with a pleasant green in the middle of it,

 and found a map of the Priory,

 and with it,

the list of its buildings,

 as we passed what appeared to be stables,

 there was some merriment going on in the field next door,

 first a balloon,

 the number 8,

 followed by a 0, it was someones 80th birthday party,

 only 11 more years and it will be mine!

we were walking towards the pottery, when I saw this,

a Chrysler 300C estate car, much underrated, both the estate and the saloon,

and here we are,

lots of pots,

a quick look into the storeroom,

and into the shop itself,

the potter busy at his craft,

I made a short video of him at work,

next a look around the sales area,

so much to choose from,

all hand made on site,

and some,

like these,

with a personal touch,

and some totally custom made for you,

I would be frightened to use the bowl,

imagine after all of his hard work,

I dropped it!

I thought these were rather neat,

bowls,

with built in chopstick holders,

there were of course lots of styles to choose from,

like this craquelure finish, the day was drawing to a close,

so we made a move back though Aylesford,

and made our way home, where Diana started packing for tomorrow, as we are off to Scotland for another attempt at Ben Nevis, over the next couple of days I will try to get the blog up to date, so after our evening meal and a couple from Game of Thrones, we were off to bed.