There once was a man from Kent....(day two)

Turned 35 today. Half way to the exceptional 70 years old. Can't wait. ;) Anyway, what better way to celebrate than to go wander around a medieval castle? So Scotney Castle was the target today. We'd heard that it hosted "the most romantic and beautiful moated gardens in England" which sounded like a fine place to run the chickens awhile.

Scotney didn't dissapoint...



After wandering around the "new house" at the top of the hill, built by the Victorians, you venture down into a valley to the ruins of the "old house" which sat in a moat pond. Very cool.



Pathways led all around the garden grounds, and around the ruins itself. Some of the paths seemed "secret" to the girls, as they were partially hidden by the creeping vines and flowers and hedges and such. So Marina was on fire, running everywhere finding the nooks and crannies. Being "the leader". No one could get in front of her, and she would repeatably come back breathless telling us to follow her.



She chose our ultimate picnic spot, through an archway and down to a little apron of grass behind bull rushes on a section of the moat. Perfect spot that we weren't bothered in at all. Great lunch of various kinds of Marina's gluten free snacks, apples and all of the airplane snacks that I had kept in my bag.



A true unintentioned buffet of miscellaneous what nots. But thank goodness we had that stuff, because we really stayed longer at Scotney than we had planned and we were all on the verge of needing to find a steak and ale pie (and beer!!!)somewhere.....allowed us to stay and enjoy the day a bit longer. We continued around the moat entirely, and then marched our way out of the Scotney grounds. Well worth the trip.



We headed back to Headcorn, got Marina and Elena some Chinese take out, and headed into the outdoor garden of a pub there that had swings and slides and little houses for the girls to play on. Perfect. So, I tried every ale on cask (it was my birthday after all...) and we ate dinner. Lori made a side trip to the store for some birthday treats for me (cupcakes and beer! What a woman) and mom and Lance picked up some wine bottles and food for our trip to see the tour the next day.



After getting home to the B&B after a long day, I sat outside with the girls while they ran around the gardens there picking me a birthday bouquet and chasing rabbits. Mom and Lori went for a run/hike through Ulcombe village. And all was well that ended well, for my birthday. Very memorable.



The Tour de France loomed for the next day......