Hi, and welcome to our road trip through Romney Marsh
this is the second, and final part of the journey
and we'd love you to subscribe so you can follow us on our journeys near and far
And as you saw from the title, our little English road trip is going to take us to the beautiful county at Kent, in the southeast of the UK
and this little UK road trip starts at junction 11 of the M20 motorway
And in part one we visited Hythe, Dymchurch, New Romney, before arriving at Dungeness
So today we start here, before heading up to the historic town of Lydd
St Clements church at Old Romney, the Thomas Beckett church at Fairfield
before returning to our route and passing the beautiful Red Lion pub at Snargate
heading on to the fabulous Appledore, and then across country route back to the M20
So, without further ado, let's continue this journey
and this is one great reason to visit Kent. the fabulous, the unique Dungeness
Once again, I'm starting with a bijoux snippet.
We've got a full video of Dungeness. I'm going to pop a link up at the very end so you can explore a little bit more if you wish
and I have to be honest this is one of my absolute favourite places to visit in the south-east of England
it's so remote and so desolate
It's its mixture of its wide-open beaches with its history of its fishing fleet
and it's still fished today off the Kent coast, both large and small
it's a beautifully quiet and peaceful place
and then there's the interesting buildings like Prospect Cottage, the home of the late Derek Jarman
There's also the history of this part of Kent, and its relationship with the sea
With its magnificent lighthouses
and then there's one of those things to do in Kent I think is a real must
and that's a ride on the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch miniature steam railway
Now Dungeness may be one of my favourite places in Kent, but it's time to hit the road again
and this is when we start to see the real Romney Marsh
with its flat and open landscape
and we're now travelling through the Dungeness National Nature Reserve
and it's very popular with bird watchers as it attracts a lot of migratory species
and a great way to explore this part of Kent is with the Ordnance Survey maps
or the OS app, both are fantastic. I'll pop a link in the description so you can find out more
and as you'll notice this landscape is ideal for the cyclist who likes the flat terrain
the only word of warning is you can get a fairly strong headwind
and this is the first junction after leaving Dungeness
we're going to carry on straight over the roundabout to the historic town of Lydd
so what makes this a historic town in Kent
Well, it's part of the confederation of Cinque Ports, being a limb of New Romney
it also has the 13th century All Saints church
which happens to be the longest church in Kent and known as the 'Cathedral of the Marsh'
in fact, I'm using that to guide us to the centre of the town
and another interesting, if not historic, fact is that this is the most southernmost town in Kent
and here's that All Saints church, as we enter town
time to look for a parking space I think
and now let's have a quick look around town
like so many towns and villages in Kent this seems to be stuck in its own little time bubble
not that that's a bad thing
and here we have the town hall with town's coat of arms
based on a 13th-century seal which had a spire on top of All Saints church
and it also features a ship because Lydd used to be an island
it's now two and a half miles away from the sea
and as you look down the high street you won't see any of the familiar shops
and brands that you're so used to
this has a distinctly unique appeal
now let's take a look at that church, and it truly is grand
it just seems odd that it's so big given the size of the town
and now let's look at another historic building of Kent
identified by the diamond-shaped russet plaque on the building, this is the old courthouse of Lydd
Lydd has its own small town museum which was closed on the day we were visiting so,
one for next time. Another place of interest was the memorial square with its Cross of Sacrifice to remember the war dead
Anyway we're back on the road and heading off to explore more of Kent
so we're heading back through town and enjoying the historic buildings as we go
we leave Lydd heading north, past Lydd airport yes Lydd has an airport
and a fact, interesting or not, you decide, Lydd was the first English airport built after the second world war
Anyway, are you enjoying our little English road trip? leave us a comment we'd love to know
anyway we're now joining an A road, the A259
sign posted towards Hastings and Ashford but we're actually heading towards Old Romney
and now there's more of that flat open marshland that is Romney Marsh
and now let's take a look to our right, our next destination of the church of St Clements
and of course, you were paying attention it's in the village of Old Romney
and as you guessed Old Romney is gonna be pretty old
It was replaced by New Romney, and that's listed the Doomsday book
it's now quite a small place but we're here for one reason
and that's to visit the historic St Clements church, which is up this lane to our right
once again you're deep and historic Kent, where time really does seem to have stood still
and the church has appeared in 1963 Walt Disney production Dr Syn, alias The Scarecrow
based on one of the Russell Thorndike novels
in the Dr Syn series of a reverand smuggler and his nefarious deeds
and within the churchyard of St Clements you'll find the grave of Derek Jarman
the filmmaker, artist and gay rights activist, whose home we saw in Dungeness a little earlier
So back on the road, return back onto the A259 and continue our journey northwest
as I said this route starts at junction 11 of the M20
which is close to both the Eurotunnel terminal and the Dover ferry ports
so for visitors from mainland Europe, it makes it a very convenient English road trip
and you may notice on our route there are lay-bys as well as reminders to drive on the left
and now the chance for a slight diversion from our road trip
if you turn left at this roundabout towards Hastings and Brookland
and then follow the signs for Fairfield you will come across the iconic Thomas Beckett church
and also notice the petrol station on the left-hand side
they can be few and far between on the Romney Marsh
and by magic, we arrive at Fairfield
and in the distance that iconic Thomas Beckett church
and another star of film and TV
appearing in a couple of adaptations of Charles Dickens Great Expectations and also Parades End
I think the reason this is such an iconic view of the Romney Marshes is
the Romney Marsh sheep, the isolation, and also the channels, the waterways
the sewers, the original meaning of the English word
and this is why I love to explore Kent, these beautiful locations, hidden in plain sight
anyway, time waits for no man, so let's head back onto the original route
and our next destination will be Appledore
now I could have trimmed this part of the video back but I really wanted to show you
once again the beauty of the Romney Marshes and this part of the Kent Countryside
and what could be better than a Kent country pub
inside its 1940s themed, and today it seemed to be very popular with the historic and not so historic motorcycle enthusiasts
If you're interested it's the Red Lion at Snargate
and now we're coming up to the only mainland railway station on this part of our journey
and that's Appledore
What I would like to point out though is Appledore station is quite a distance from Appledore
the town we're going to visit, so just watch and you'll see what I mean
it's a distance isn't it
and also just out of interest on our right-hand side is the Royal Military Canal
which we first saw in Hythe, in part one of this road trip
and what's that I see, a Cornish flag
surely I'm in the wrong place
No, this is Appledore in Kent, a beautiful small village which we're now going to explore
the first thing you'll notice about Appledore is how picture postcard perfect it is
that's the tongue twister
With its tea rooms, unique little shops, and of course
a lovely country pub, it makes the ideal stopover on your Romney Marsh road trip
the thing about Appledore that I find amazing is, that despite being 10 miles from the sea
this used to be a port
in 892 280 ships of the Dutch fleet, moored here
however, its fate as a port was sealed in the Great Storms of 1287
oh and just before we leave town, I do need to point out
that there is a free car park in town
Now we're heading westerly out of Appledore, and strictly speaking we're on the outskirts of the Romney Marsh
but there's still plenty to experience like the Gusbourne Wine Estate
and they offer a number of tours and experiences if you're interested
I'll drop a link in the description below
now you've probably noticed that the landscape on our road trip has changed somewhat
now we've risen above Romney Marsh
and we're following the signs towards Hythe
the first destination on this entire Kentish road trip
we'll be passing through many small villages as we make our way back
each of them will offer you a chance for either a country pub or normally a village tea room
one interesting little town you'll come across on this route is Hamstreet
and remember all the time we're following signs towards Hythe that way you won't get lost
so what do you think is this a great way to discover Kent
let us know, leave us a comment in the description below
and if you enjoyed it then give us a like, and best of all why not subscribe to catch more of our travels
and there we go another country pub we should have kept a tally on this
has anyone done that? drop a number in the comments below I'd love to know how many pubs we've passed
and another junction, and we're still following the signs towards Hythe
and heading towards Lympne
now I'm not sure if I'm saying that right. I normally struggle with foreign place names
but English ones, not normally a problem
although there are some interesting ones
like we're passing through Court-at-Street , does anyone know where that comes from
again if you've got an answer, drop it in the comments below, I'd love to know
now this footbridge above us leads to the Port Lympne Wild Animal Park
once again a great day out if you're in the area
well worth checking out
so we need to take a left here to go to the entrance
and there you go the entrance to the park is on our left
and you need to follow this road until you reach the A20
and then follow signs for the M20
thanks so much for watching
I hope you enjoyed what we put together
Stay safe, Stay well