Hi, and welcome to our second road trip through Kent
taking in more picturesque villages & historic towns
Let's see if you can spot the squirrel
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We're in the southeast corner of the UK
and as I said, we're in the County of Kent
Our road trip is roughly 40 miles or 65km
and we're stopping off at 7 locations
Should you want to cycle this route
I'll pop up a national rail logo
when there's a train station within 1 mile
I'll also pop up the route
so you can keep track of where we are
as we go along
So let's take a look at our first stop - Hollingbourne
Just off junction 8 of the M20 motorway
Now Hollingbourne is a village of two halves
and has a mainline railway station in the middle
Like so many locations on this route
the speed limit through the village
is 30 miles an hour
which is just under 50 kilometers per hour
As you enter from the south
you're going to notice the village pillory
Don't worry, I don't think they use them anymore
So we park up to explore the village
and a word of warning
parking is a little limited here
and Hollingbourne is as pretty as a postcard
with its village shop, and its traditional pub
The village shop is a great place
to pick up your provisions
for the rest of your road trip
As I said Hollingbourne is a village of 2 halves
and we jump in the car and head up to upper street
where you'll find at the bottom of the hill
Hollingbourne Manor, the 16th-century seat
of the Culpepper family
The top of Upper Street intersects with the Pilgrims Way
the ancient route from Winchester
to the shrine of Thomas à Becket
in Canterbury Cathedral
We now hit the road again
and drop back down through Hollingbourne
to pick up the A20 towards our next destination
After a short hop along the A20
It's not long before we're turning off towards Lenham
and here's our route from Hollingbourne to Lenham
Once again Lenham has a mainline railway station
I like Lenham, and one of the reasons is
this little free short-term car park
in the old market square
There's actually a longer-term car park
just a few hundred meters away
I believe you can park it for up to 2 hours
which is long enough to stop at a cafe, have a bite to eat
or pick up some supplies for your road trip
It's also a possible stopover location for you
if you want to make this more than a one day trip
We found it a really interesting little place
to have a wander around
What also caught our eye
was this strange little building
on the edge of town
Originally built in the mid-18th century
as the mortuary to the workhouse
Also, a central part of the village is Saint Mary's church
and of course, if you know Janis then
we've got to go and explore the graveyard
Anyway, time to head on and back onto the A20
and my James Bond link
if anyone's read Ian Fleming's "Moonraker",
the only Bond novel to be set entirely in the UK,
this is the stretch of road, where James Bond,
in his famous Bentley, has a race with an Alfa Romeo
I don't suspect this road has changed much since then
So this is the route from Lenham
to our next destination of Charing
and again there is a mainline railway station nearby
firstly is this Chairing or Charing
I pronounce it Charing, as in Charing Cross
but if you know for sure then leave us a comment
Anyway back to the route, we pull off the A20
or the Old Maidstone Road and head up the High Street
Charing is a pretty place
that touches the Pilgrim's Way
at the north end of the village
and also worth checking out
is the old Archbishop's Palace
or the remains of the old Archbishop's Palace
In history, many famous people have stopped here
including Henry VIII
What was that?
Here we have the Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul's
the local parish church
Also, close by is a memorial to Frederick Coppings
who was born in the village
and won a Victoria Cross for his actions
near Amiens in the First World War
Charing also has a wonderful village Green
with tables and chairs
so if you fancy a picnic this could be your spot
But for those of us on the move
it's time to hit the road again
We are now heading north
along the A252 to our next destination
and again we have another village
that has provided free parking
So this is our route from Charing to Chilham
and for those cycling
yes we have just climbed the North Downs
it's just a short stroll, granted uphill,
from the free car park to the center of Chilham village
This beautiful little village looks like
it's just out of the movies
and to be honest it has been in the movies
from Jane Austen's "Emma"
to Agatha Christie's "Miss Marple" and
"Hercule Poirot" to name just but a few
Also within the village is Chilham Castle
What you see before you is the Jacobean building
but there's also a Norman Keep
but his history dates much earlier than that
A perfect place for a spot at lunch
or possibly a stroll around, taking in Saint Mary's Church
We're on the road again, but let's take one final look
around Chilham, before we head on
So this is our route from Chilham
to our next destination of Faversham
which also has a mainline railway station
Now, to be honest I'm only going to give you
the briefest views of Faversham
Hopefully, you caught our earlier video
but if not I'll pop up a link in the corner
so you can catch that later
here's a little look at what you'll see
It's also worth adding if you're thinking of stopping over
then this would make an ideal location too
And now we're heading onto the tiny hamlet of Oare
or most precisely Oare Marshes
So this is us arriving at Oare
but we're actually going to press on through
up Church Road towards
Oare Marshes Nature Reserve
This area is very popular with bird watchers
and ramblers who are taking in the Saxon Shore Way
I've included this on the route
because it's another side to Kent
and it's so peaceful
and it's just nice to have a leg stretch at times
Also, on the other side of the creek
is the Shipwrights' Arms
which is a wonderful little pub if you have the chance
Now time to head on to our final destination
before returning to Hollingbourne
You have to admit
some of these road sections are pretty beautiful
and now we arrive at our final destination of Newnham
I've included Newnham because it's a pretty little place
with a country pub
It's also got another historic church
Saint Peter and Saint Paul's
We now cut across country to return to Hollingbourne
and don't forget to subscribe
I'll pop up a link to our first Kentish Road Trip
so you can check that out if you want