Late afternoon from the Folkestone Leas

A really cold night with temperatures at -7c when I got up this morning. A further excellent sunny, cold, bright, sparkly winter's day. We walked around the golf course and into the Woodland Trust where we saw workers cutting down trees that surround Majors Lake. All inside the boundary of the lake but we were wondering, along with many other people whether this was being done legally as the trees were diseased.

There have been a few cases locally where trees have been cut down in private land without permission. We shall see. You can compare what's happening on the site with what it was like before any trees were cut down.

We took Doreen out for lunch at Dobbies in Ashford before going on to Folkestone for a cold but interesting walk along the Leas. The sea was flat calm and the view from the high Leas very good. The Council have put up some signs describing the area around the Leas including information about a Martello Tower, the history of two great Victorian Hotels (the Metropole and the Grand), Robert Baden-Powell's house and a memorial to the troops of the Great War, many of whom passed through Folkestone on their final journey to the Western Front.

A superb sunset, more of which can be seen in extras as well as the poignant Folke Stones, one stone for each British live lost on the first day of the Battle of the Somme on 1st July 1916.