Driving through green tunnels...

Today has been spent driving around the gorgeous Kent countryside with my Mum and it's been very indulgent, I have to admit!

We left Northampton at around 9.30am and made it to Kent in two hours - very good considering there were still roadworks on the M25! We stopped for coffee before setting Gladys to direct us to the village of Brenchley near Sevenoaks, about 30 minutes drive away.

Gladys took us back onto the M25 and then onto the A21 and very soon we were driving through some beautiful countryside, passing through the lovely village of Matfield, with its green and duckpond, on the way.

I managed to park near the church and we had a wander around the huge graveyard...it was quite creepy, if I'm honest and reminded me of a miniature Highgate Cemetery!

Brenchley church

The village of Brenchley is stunning. My 5x Great Grandmother was born here around 1776 and lots of my relatives called it home. I could have stayed all day!

Brenchley Post Office

A converted Oast House

Mum told me that when she was living at home her parents would take her deep into the Kent countryside for hop-picking holidays. Imagine that today! Telling the children their main holiday would be a working one! She said they used to have a lot of fun, though but I can't quite see my two having the same feelings!

From Brenchly we re-traced our steps back up the A21 towards the village of Cudham. Gladys delighted in taking us along some extremely narrow roads, where the trees formed green tunnels. At Cudham we parked near the Blacksmiths Arms where we had a sandwich for lunch, sitting in the pretty flower-filled garden and enjoying the lovely warmth and sunshine!

We didn't linger for very long in Cudham (birthplace in 1806 of my 4x Great Grandfather) as the roads were all very narrow indeed and time was getting on. We headed towards Keston, which was really the outskirts of Bromley and had a look at the church there.

My 4x Great Grandfather moved from Cudham to Keston and spent the rest of his life there, as an Agricultural Labourer. At the village hall at the back of the church a lot of people were enjoying their Harvest Festival Supper so we discreetly wandered around the graveyard looking for familiar names and, of course, finding none!

From Keston we somehow became entangled with Greater London and the traffic was very busy so we headed quickly for our last stop of the day - Wrotham, pronounced "Rootum". Again, Gladys took us along the narrowest of country roads through dense green forest with some spectacular views of the Weald of Kent. I dreaded meeting another car but thankfully the traffic was non-existent!

At Wrotham (birthplace of my 3x Great Grandmother in 1816) we parked the car and managed to get into the beautiful church, which to our astonishment, wasn't locked!

We wandered around for a little while but as the time was really getting on we reluctantly decided to head for home. It felt very strange being in Kent and not going to see my Grandmother and both of us said that we missed the journey down to Kent as we'd been going down on a regular basis for 40 years!

We took the Blackwall Tunnel on the way home and drove up the M11 for a change. It had been a great day and I'm looking forward to going back again and maybe stopping off at the library in Maidstone to look at some Parish Records that haven't made it on to the internet yet!