Our campsite was on the coast about 40 minutes walk along the coastal path from Folkestone Harbour
On our tour of the town we came across a number of exhibits of Folkestone Artworks. This is the name for the collection of works originally commissioned by the Creative Foundation for the Folkestone Triennial that are now on permanent display in public spaces around the town
Cornelia Parker created a Folkestone version of one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world, Copenhagen’s ‘Little Mermaid’. All women of Folkestone were offered the opportunity to model for the mermaid. Cornelia Parker chose Georgina Baker, mother of two and Folkestone born and bred.
‘Carrancas’ is inspired by Brazilian boat figureheads, used as symbolic talismans to protect sailors. The various Carrancas can be found in the inner and outer harbour
Along the seafront we came across this bell suspended high above the beach. It is a 16th-century tenor bell from Scraptoft Church in Leicestershire, which had been removed for not being in tune with the others. It is suspended from a steel cable strung between two 20m high steel beams, placed 30m apart. Why? A good question!
It is another exhibit from Folkestone Artworks. Since the 1990s Norwegian artist A K Dolven has worked with the idea of being at odds with one’s surroundings, and more specifically, for the past few years, with disused bells - so now you know!
We could not resist taking a ride on this funicular railway - The Leas Lift. It was originally installed in 1885 and is now Grade II Listed. The Lift carries passengers between the seafront and the promenade. It is one of the oldest water lifts in the UK and operates using water and gravity.
On June 1991, one of the lifts was seen in an episode of The Darling
Buds of May. David Jason, Pam Ferris, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Philip Franks, Anna
Massey and Moray Watson all appeared in the Lift. In June 2009, Shepway District Council’s lease
ran out and it was decided that the lift was too expensive to run. Campaigners protested
against the closure and in April 2010, it was announced that the lift was to be
restored. It re-opened in 2011.
We left Folkestone on the wettest day of our tour. Undaunted by the rain we visited Sissinghurst Castle Gardens
Sissinghurst's garden was created in the 1930s by Vita Sackville-West,
poet and gardening writer, and her husband Harold Nicolson, author and
diplomat. It has been owned and maintained by the National Trust since 1967 and
is grade I listed.
The garden is designed as a series of 'rooms', each with a different character of colour and/or theme, the walls being high clipped hedges and many pink brick walls. Nicolson spent his efforts coming up with interesting new interconnections, while Sackville-West focused on making the flowers in the interior of each room exciting
They clearly achieved their objective - even in driving rain!
When Sackville-West and Nicolson found Sissinghurst in 1930 it was derelict but they purchased the ruins and the farm around it and began constructing the garden we know today. The layout by and planting were both strongly influenced by the gardens of Gertrude Jekyll and Edwin Lutyens
The gardens were first opened to the public in 1938
For more photos of the gardens click Sissinghurst
Moving on from Sissinghurst, we travelled to Bodiam Castle - it was still raining!
This is a superb example of a moated castle.
Bodiam Castle was built in 1385 by Sir Edward Dalyngrigge, a former knight of Edward III. It was the home of the Dalyngrigge family and the centre of the manor of Bodiam for many years.
Possession of Bodiam Castle passed through several generations of Dalyngrigges, until their line became extinct. The castle then passed by marriage to the Lewknor family. Descendants of the Lewknors owned the castle until at least the 16th century
By
the start of the English Civil War in 1641, Bodiam Castle was in the possession
of Lord Thanet. He supported the Royalist cause, and sold the castle to help
pay fines levied against him by Parliament. The castle was subsequently
dismantled, and was left as a picturesque ruin until its purchase by John
Fuller in 1829. Under his auspices, the castle was partially restored before
being sold to George Cubitt, 1st Baron Ashcombe, and later to Lord Curzon, both
of whom undertook further restoration work. The castle is protected as a Grade
I listed building and has been owned by The National Trust since 1925.
This concluded our tour of the Garden of England - well worth visiting
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