London and Sevenoaks and Sue

I  awake to the screeches of London. It is early and I have to do some house keeping stuff in Haymarket, phone Chris P to say I cannot come to Whitehorse. Lane, and get to Sue Days in Sevenoaks in Kemt.

My NZ cell phone is still roaming and I do not know how to benefit from the Internet,  but stop the roaming. So I resolve to lt let it do its thing. I might say that Telecom later blocked umpteen calls to me as a result, and then, sent me little texts saying they had done so, but as a prepaid that was all they could do. Thank God for prepaids. So sorry anyone who phoned.

Anyway, Paddington is the hub of the area, and so I went own to make a call.

In this day and age everyone has a cell phone, so phone booths are rare. 

Having found one I had little luck. What a waste of time . The only compensation was that the 60 p I spent came back. So I spotted a sign promoting a SIM card for existing phones and after a wait that was maybe 45 minutes,a diligent bloke installed a new Orange Card, which was loaded with a number of calls and text options. ALl for £5,

I was now an English phone user, for a couple of days, with a new number. I have an English cell phone number.

Yeay. 

Phoned Chris , no success. Sue answered though and the Charing Cross to Sevenoaks was arranged.

I want to get across to Charing Cross by bus and whilst checking out how to do that, I mean do they take cash on double deckers anymore? have I got the right cash ? oh what to do ? as I have Big notes  but anyway what is the cost ? so I ask. -  a lovely young mum with a toddler in stroller.She's helpful but I decide to queue for a day pass 

I stand there chatting again. What is new, and then I see the West Indian mum approach, gesticulating to me ,so I go over and she explains to me that someone, has just given her, out of the blue, two free passes on the tube for the day.  .  . And she is only going to use one !! whoah ? Would I what ! This is my lucky day. I mean how nice. She is not to know I am not going to spend it in London as I am going out to Kent. But it was such a nice gesture. So there we are hugging  at Padington and I whip of to catch my first tube of the day.

 Decide to get off at Piccadily. do you hear this, Ro and Shelley and  Colleen. Yes,  and the weather is fine and it all looks the same  The trains are posher and there is a SriLankan cricket team on board in very high and noisy spirits. it is  infectious. Then out to check on Eros! I walk down the Haymarket for Old Time's sake.  Love it 

Those lions  and Big Ben andthe mall 

Neocons column (sigh) I am conscious my time here is so fleeting. Very nostalgic.

Piccadilly ,Eros and Regent Street.

Check in on NZ House. I eat at Tiger Tiger jut for the fun and then through Trafalgar Square past the Lions. it is full of tourists of which I am one. I love it - take a photo and off down the Strand.. (Have a banana. . You know  Music Hall. lets all go down the   .  . 

it is at this point I feel REALLY nostalgic .For old fun and working at Shell and good mates, and youth and laughs and perpetual OE stuff. anyway the trin is straightforward and the sights  bring me back downtown earth - pretty ugly blooming brick and shabby industry and nobody checks my ticket but soon it  is Kent and  Sevenoaks   II'd texted Sue and so she knows the trains, and when she arrives it isin a dear little bronze metallic sports car with the lid down. The day is lovely and I am going to be whipping around in a Mazda ports car. Magic.

 Rush down the steps And  away we go.

Off through the wooded roads in the sunshine in a little metallic mustard sportscar

Sue at "Chartwell", before we hit the gardens.

She has worked out that aft a scenic blip to see the layout of the town we are going to check out the dear little village next to Seven Oaks which is Churchilll's local village. It is quaint, an little but no train service.

Anyway, we are off to spend the afternoon at Chartwell which is the  home  he and Clemie  bought  in 1921. gorgeous house which they altered and it is just lovely, but actually we are interested in the gardens . The gardens are what it is all about .

This is the swimming pool Churchill put in.

 These were the wilderness years for Churcheill. initially at least. Hhe was busy later as we all know, iThe gardens are big and from everywhere the is a. View over the South Downs.   

This is the original part. Churchills added on the wing on the right.

The wisteria at its best. The season is late this year.

For many years I between the wars , alluded to as his wilderness years,, Churchill gardened with help and had carp and built walls and painted (art) .

Churchill built this wall himself

 But the site was the attraction and the amazing views, and they enlarged the rather fabulous house to suit.

 Its all very tasteful  but it is huge and has been maintained by the National Trust and so is a gardeniner's Mecca. The wisteria was out It has to be said again that Spring and Summer are so late over here.

There is the walled garden andthe studio where he painted. 

Part of the stunning job the National trust do. A lot of it is voluntary.

A little playhouse made for the Churchill kids above and below. Tasteful.

 It is all VERY Famous Five. We tour the house., particularly as it I furnished with the Churchills  own choice so it doesn't feel ike a museum, 

This is the new addition.

more like a peep inside. they did a lot of entertaining there.

Drive along the wooded road and you would not guess what lay inside..We drove hom through Sue's favourite wooded drive and came through Weald village where Vita Sackville West bought her house  'Long Barn,because she could not inherit 'Knole".

Speeding through wooded lanes, in the little mustard car.

these are pretty leafy places, and,,  back at Deven Oaks it was time for Pimms. I have not been to Sues house because they bought it after we left, She has really developed her gardening skills and the flowers are in abundance. It was late but cleverly there is a spot in the gardenwherebthe sun iis and she had s table and chirs there . can you spot them in the left far corner.

Off down the garden with Pimm' s table, in the sun.

Looking back upmgarden

VIiew from house

Gorgeous poppies translucent in the sun.

View back up to house from Pimms table.

Tip number 1 for me to bring back. Phil came home as we sipped Pimms, and joined us. It is so civilised.

In Sevenoaks itas contentious Knole is, and actually Sue and Phils house was built on Knole land in about 1939. Yup it is very Famous Five particularly as we decide to stretch our legs and walk down the road and round the house which is not open on a Monaday. easy enough ou might think. it is not where it's learned to gandan  I am told. Well more fool me  , the place is a massive park , which the family have kept but given the house to the Natiional Trust, although they still live in a portion.The house is the biggest house in England and is within a walled garden.That bit alone took about twenty minutes or more to walk around , but the park part spans some miles of wooded land with little deer. we re stepping it out and the round trip took ove an hour. heir daughter had babysat there. And the rigmarole  to get yin to their dwelling was lengthy . Something like 365 rooms, 52 chimneys 4 courtyards. Dates back to King Henfy. he garden is extensive, and various opportunities are extended to the locals to come and visit. 

'Knole' in the evening.  this photo just arrived from Phil and Sue outside  Knole at one end. My own camera needs recharging at this point. Thanks Phil.

And me around the other side of the walled garden, surrounding Knole, the whole of which is in a massive deer park in the middle of a built up town called Sevenoaks. We were only in the park.please note Shelley I am wearing your pashmina.

Anyway, we had a lovely meal and wine  and discussion, and a it was late when I caught the fast train back to Charing Cross, and tubed, on my free day pass, home to lovely lively Paddington. Everything was bright and busy as I opened the window and peered out from my balcony.

What a huge amount was crammed into today, thanks to Sue.  A neat day, and tomorrow I am off to Canada and have teed up the platforms for a direct line, NOT the underground, and not the Express, which takes 15 mins, which is £20,  but the slower version which takes twice the time, (half an hour) but at half the cost. Remmber that, you travellers. Paddington is my new find! it used to be such a mission to swap trains in the past, if you weren't on the right line to get to Heathrow.