Welcome to Kent

The South East Tourist Board has not always been as welcoming as it is now. In fact the countryside round here is dotted with reminders that now and again we've had cause to try to keep folk out and this is one such reminder. Except it's not. This castle was built to protect the invaders; the Normans. The site was used as a defence shortly after the conquest in 1066 and about 20 years after William arrived a stone fortress was built and most of the action it saw was between domestic forces during the various uprisings against the monarch of the day through the 11th to 14th centuries.

I was in the charming city of Rochester because I was taking Jemma and Scott to Strood station and we decided to have a mooch and lunch before they headed home. I was only allowed my telephone for photographs and I only managed to grab one of Jemma. Scott hasn't visited the Victorian confection of Rochester High Street so we did the length of it before paninis and coffee. As an aside - weren't toasted sandwiches cheaper before the name was translated into Italian? 

Jemma and Scott were home to visit a Wedding Fayre at the venue they plan to use. We had a chat and I suggested fish & chips for the meal. This is actually offered by the venue - at £30/head. Thirty quid for fish and chips? The list of things I'd be expecting with the food for that price is reasonably long..............

Reading this back it looks as though I'm always moaning about money, I think I must be channelling my grandmother; I cannot begin to imagine what she might have thought of paying a fiver for a toasted sandwich and a couple of quid on a cup of coffee.