Another few fab days spent with our dear friends in sunny (as it turns out) Kent.
Highlight was probably our visit to the Drop Redoubt in Dover. Built in the late 18th century and extended in mid Victorian times it is an awesome structure. A team of dedicated volunteers keep it running and give guided tours on certain weekends, they also maintain and if possible renovate it. They can't dig mores the pity , its English Heritage owned and they'd have to grant a license for any digging, their usual position is leave well alone certainly if any amateur group is asking anyway. The group can tidy things up and get some finds that way. One of the volunteers showed us a particularly fine swagger stick top in silver coloured metal with the badge of the East Surrey Regiment clearly shown on it. That was vital as through their records they found a battalion of the East Surreys had been stationed there between 1922-26. Unable to find the owner of it of course but to narrow it down is pretty good!
The tour was a around two hours and very good it was too, the guns were taken out years ago but I think I recall being told there was Ack-Ack guns there during world war two when this whole area was then known as 'Hell Fire Corner.'
From the top of the redoubt you look over the bay where cross Channel ferries now go to and fro, look to the left & there on the next hilltop is the splendid Dover Castle, but that's a trip for another day.
The weather was glorious as it often seems to be down on the South Coast of Kent. We pottered along the beach a couple of times and had a very good time over at their friends Pat & Pauls who live on the only fisherman's cottage still in existence down here. Paul , a keen birder and lover of all things of the natural world has a blog that I highly recommend called 'Plovers.' Follow this link to find out more http://www.plovers.co.uk/ As ever we had the best time with our friends, roll on the next time!
Highlight was probably our visit to the Drop Redoubt in Dover. Built in the late 18th century and extended in mid Victorian times it is an awesome structure. A team of dedicated volunteers keep it running and give guided tours on certain weekends, they also maintain and if possible renovate it. They can't dig mores the pity , its English Heritage owned and they'd have to grant a license for any digging, their usual position is leave well alone certainly if any amateur group is asking anyway. The group can tidy things up and get some finds that way. One of the volunteers showed us a particularly fine swagger stick top in silver coloured metal with the badge of the East Surrey Regiment clearly shown on it. That was vital as through their records they found a battalion of the East Surreys had been stationed there between 1922-26. Unable to find the owner of it of course but to narrow it down is pretty good!
The tour was a around two hours and very good it was too, the guns were taken out years ago but I think I recall being told there was Ack-Ack guns there during world war two when this whole area was then known as 'Hell Fire Corner.'
From the top of the redoubt you look over the bay where cross Channel ferries now go to and fro, look to the left & there on the next hilltop is the splendid Dover Castle, but that's a trip for another day.
The weather was glorious as it often seems to be down on the South Coast of Kent. We pottered along the beach a couple of times and had a very good time over at their friends Pat & Pauls who live on the only fisherman's cottage still in existence down here. Paul , a keen birder and lover of all things of the natural world has a blog that I highly recommend called 'Plovers.' Follow this link to find out more http://www.plovers.co.uk/ As ever we had the best time with our friends, roll on the next time!
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