Day Fourteen - Margate and Leeds Castle

Photos:

From Top: Margate and the Kite Festival, followed by Leeds Castle and Jousting, at very end: Dinner at The Little Brown Jug


We left our hotel about 8:15 this morning under very cloudy skies with a feeling of cool dampness in the air. By the time we reached our destination in Margate however, the sun had burned through the skies and the temperature was hovering around 70 degrees. A lovely day for a kite festival. Even the announcer quipped “It doesn’t get much better than this”. The kites were amazing. Huge and colorful, all shapes and size This was an
exhibition which attracted fliers from all over the world, even from as far away as France, New Zealand and the United States. There were demonstrations of precision flying as well as an amazing display of single line kites much resembling balloons you would see in the Macy’s Day parade. Huge three dimensional kites!!! The precision flying was done to music and would have up to eight kites in the air all at the same time and all flying in cadence to the music. Spellbinding… One flyer actually had three kites up at the same time performing to a classical piece of music. The announcer said that only four people in the world can do this. This festival was well worth the drive.

While we were in Margate we purchased a bag of mini doughnuts from a vendor who made them to order and walked through the town absorbing some of it’s history. Back in the early 1800’s this seaside village was originally designed for the common folks of England and became quite popular. Prior to this time most seaside resorts were the realm of the aristocracy. Today it is a bustling beachside community with a fairly nice beach, the nicest we have seen so far.

We left Margate about one and headed back to Leeds Castle. This was Medieval Fair weekend and they were advertising jousting at 2:30. This is something we had to see.
I have to say, watching knights dressed in lavish colors wearing a helmet and shield and carrying a lance and riding on a horse which displayed similar colors and pagentry and all staged before a gigantic castle was pretty impressive. After the jousting we walked around the grounds giving Leeds Castle one more look before heading for home.

On the way home however, we just had to make a stop at our favorite Pub – The Little Brown Jug. The food here is superb and it is the most charming restaurant we have ever been in. We ordered a bottle of wine and sat back to enjoy a delicious dinner and reflect on our visit to Kent England. We have certainly seen a lot. The odometer on our rental car shows over 1,100 miles. We feel much more confident in our ability to navigate the roadways here. We have really enjoyed our time in Kent. This area is referred to as “The Garden of England” and we now feel this is truly an understatement.

Tomorrow we head west for points unknown. Internet may not be as available however rest assured we will keep the blog going and you will hear from us as soon as we have internet access again.