This is the twelfth and final route in a series of routes that make up a road trip across southern England from Dover to Land's End and back to Dover.
Just 5 minutes from the start of the route, you have the opportunity to visit Sissinghurst Castle and Garden.
Sissinghurst Castle is most famous for its garden. In fact it is world famous. Thousands of visitors a year come to Sissinghurst to admire the beauty that Vita Sackville-West a poet and writer and her husband Harold Nicolson author and diplomat created when they bought the property in 1930.
The site that Sissinghurst Castle Garden sits on was once a Saxon pig farm, it would have been originally called 'Saxenhurst,' with 'hurst' having meant woodland.
The Tudor buildings were used as a prison for up to 3,000 French sailors who were captured by the British during the Seven Years War, between 1756-63. Held for months at a time in vile, stinking conditions, the prisoners lived in 'cells' with little access to fresh air, clean water or adequate food supplies.
The sailors referred to Sissinghurst as 'le chateau' hence 'castle' being adopted into its name. Today, it is a much different place!
The garden is divided into a series of rooms filled with informal arrangements of plants around a theme: the White Garden, the Purple Border, the Rose Garden, the Herb Garden, the Lime Walk, and the Cottage Garden.
Next comes Biddenden, a typical English Village, set in the picturesque countryside of Kent. Tax on the export of wool in 1331 brought Flemish weavers to Biddenden. The high quality cloth that was produced was in great demand and the weavers cottages are evidence to the wealth that was made. In 1100, conjoined twins, Mary and Eliza Chulkhurst, were born in the village. They became known as the Biddenden Maids and became the symbol of the village, their images are everywhere in Biddenden. Can you spot them!
I have suggested a coffee stop in the village of Lenham. Lenham is a picturesque market village being granted its original Market Charter by King John in 1206.
You’ll now be in the Kent Downs (AONB) a nationally protected landscape stretching from the white cliffs of Dover to the Surrey and London border. The AONB status was awarded in 1968 and covers 326 square miles.
On the outskirts of Faversham, you’ll see Maison Dieu at the side of the road. It is believed to be the oldest village museum in Britain, the Maison Dieu was originally a Mediæval hospital commissioned by Henry III in 1234, many English Kings and Queens stayed here on their visits to Canterbury, Sandwich and Dover because of its position on the main road (then) from London to Dover.
Faversham, recognised as nationally significant by many is mentioned in the Doomsday Book and by the 19th century the area became the centre of the nation's explosives industry and manufactured gunpowder for the battles of Trafalgar and Waterloo. The town is home to Britain's Oldest Brewer - Shepherd Neame, which has been brewing beer since 1698 (however, history suggests that the drink was produced in Faversham for several centuries before that). The Brewery has a Visitors Centre and offers guided tours which include an exciting tasting session.
On the way out of Faversham you’ll see the former St Saviour’s tin church. The 19th century saw a rapid growth in urban population, resulting in a widespread call for new churches, often referred to as ‘tin tabernacles’. They were designed and made in kit form with timber frames and externally clad with corrugated iron. The ‘flat pack’ churches were easy to erect and transport and were light, strong and relatively inexpensive compared to conventional building materials. Deconsecrated in the 1950s it was then used as a primary school, then a shop and today it’s a café during the day and a music venue at night.
You’ll head to the coast now, across Graveney Marsh.
This innocent area of flat marshland was home the last action involving a foreign invading force to take place on mainland British soil. The Battle of Graveney Marsh, occurred on the night of 27 September 1940. The fighting took place between the crew of a downed German Junkers Ju 88 bomber and a detachment of soldiers from the 1st Battalion London Irish Rifles who were billeted nearby at The Sportsman Inn.
The British were keen to capture the complete aircraft as it was equipped with a new and very accurate type of bombsight.
Following the crash, they rushed over to capture the German crew and ensure nobody pillaged the valuable remains of the plane. However, when they neared the aircraft they found that the four-man crew was still alive, and that they had armed themselves with machine guns from the aircraft, as well as a submachine gun.
After a 20 minute fight, the crew surrendered. One German crew member was shot in the foot, but apart from that they sustained no injuries.
One member of the crew warned that the plane would explode at any minute because of an explosive charge. Captain John Cantopher immediately returned to the aircraft and removed an explosive from under the wing - an act of bravery that earned him a George Medal. The Ju-88 was a valuable aircraft that only been in service for two weeks. The British gained a major advantage in capturing it.
The British soldiers marched the crew to the pub where they drank a pint before being taken to a Prisoner of War camp.
Whitstable is next.
Whitstable is most famous for its maritime heritage and oysters, which have been collected here since Roman times. Around the mid 18th Century, increased goods and passengers began to travel between London and Whitstable and a toll road was built to Canterbury. Around this time Whitstable became known as a seaside resort and the first advertisements for bathing machines appeared around 1768. There was also smuggling taking place at this time and many of the alleyways around the town may have been used by smugglers.
Today, this delightful and historic harbour town with its pastel-painted shopfronts and lively arts scene is well worth a visit.
Herne Bay is just 4 miles along the coast. The town began as a small shipping community, receiving goods and passengers from London en route to Canterbury and Dover. The town rose to prominence as a seaside resort during the early 19th century after the building of a pleasure pier and promenade by a group of London investors, and reached its heyday in the late Victorian era. Herne Bay’s claim to fame is it’s clock tower, the very first free-standing, purpose-built clock tower in the world, built in 1837.
As you leave the seafront of Herne Bay, you’ll pass a statue of Barnes Wallis, the man behind the invention of the bouncing bomb used in WWII. The final practice drops took place a few miles from here along the coast at Reculver and that is where the route takes you next.
I have suggested a lunch stop at The King Ethelbert Inn in Reculver.
Reculver once occupied a strategic location at the northern end of the River Watsum Channel, between the Isles of Thanet and the Kent mainland. This led Romans to build a small fort here at the time of their conquest of Britain in 43AD.
The nearby imposing twin towers of the medieval church at Reculver dominate the skyline acting as a landmark for mariners known as the Twin Sisters.
The military connection resumed in the second world war when Barnes Wallis's bouncing bombs were tested in the sea off of Reculver while the pub offered food and drink to the servicemen stationed nearby. You'll find lots more about the history of this area in the pub.
After lunch the route takes you by the Stodmarsh National Nature Reserve on the way to Sandwich. Stodmarsh is a unique area of wetland with marshes, reedbeds, lakes and woodland that is home to a rich variety of wildlife especially water birds.
Sandwich is a lovely town in an attractive setting. Its ancient streets, confined in the walls that once defended the town from marauding French and other invaders, carries the visitor back to the days when it was a busy port. At one stage all travellers leaving England’s south coast had to sail from Sandwich. Little appears to have changed within Sandwich's wall since Queen Elizabeth I visited the town in 1573. Many of its medieval streets and buildings remain with much of the town protected as a Conservation Area.
The origin of the word 'sandwich' for an item of food may have originated from a story about John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich. He didn't really 'invent' the sandwich but he may have made it popular. It is said that in approx.1762, he asked for meat to be served between slices of bread, to avoid interrupting a gambling game. So there you have it, the origin of the humble sandwich.
You can discover more history when you reach Deal and then Walmer.
Deal Castle was built in 1539–40, and was the centre of a network of three Tudor artillery forts that included Walmer Castle to the south and Sandown Castle to the north in response to threats of invasion from Europe. Deal Castle remains one of the finest Tudor artillery castles in England. The walls had positions for 200 cannon and gun ports and were rounded to deflect enemy cannon fire. It is possible to walk around the perimeter of Deal castle without having to pay.
Walmer Castle, just a mile south developed over the years from a coastal fort into an elegant seaside retreat for politicians, aristocrats and royalty. There is plenty to see at Walmer Castle so I would allow 3-4 hours if possible. See the rooms where the Duke of Wellington spent the last 23 years of his life, and discover previously untold stories about the many well known former residents of the castle from Prime Minister William Pitt to Winston Churchill. Outside, see the tranquil bastion views across the beach and out to sea. The eight acres of gardens offer year round colour and variety, from the Queen Mother’s contemporary garden, to the herbaceous Broadwalk borders, the kitchen garden, greenhouses and woodland walk.
The end of the route at The Plough Inn, in the village of Ripple is just 10 minutes away.
So there you have it, the end of the Southern England road trip that has taken you from Dover to Lands End and back again having travelled 1,387 miles or 2,232 km. The ferry port of Dover is a little over 6 miles from The Plough Inn.
Enjoy.