Our Blog - August 2025 - England trip - Week3

Our last 9 days were spent in a tiny village outside of Maidstone. We did quite a few walks with Lucy along with castles, towns, and more cider. For our first morning walk, we headed to the Oare Marshes Nature Reserve, which sits on a tidal channel of the Thames called The Swale. Probably not the one of the better walks, since while it was interesting, Lucy couldn't really go down to the water because it was horribly muddy and there were birds nesting there.

Then lunch and a tour of the nearby town of Faversham, which is the home of the Shepherd Neame brewery, which is supposedly Britain's oldest brewery.

One of our better walk-locations was at a huge park in the nearby town of Maidstone. Mote Park is a 440-acre public park, with lots of open ground, a miniature railway, and a boating lake. The nice thing was that dogs seemed to be able to be off the leash as almost all of them were. We were able to play ball with her there. The sun was still shining and so Lucy would play awhile and then go rest in the shade.

A few people that we talked to during the first couple weeks didn't seem to think that Maidstone was a nice town, but since Saxon charters from 975 show a town here, we thought it was important to do a little walking tour around Maidstone.

We left Lucy at home after a playdate at Mote Park again, since our tour of Rochester included a castle and cathedral, neither of which allowed dogs.

There are lots of artillery forts in Southern England, mostly created in the 1500's to protect the coastline and waterways. One of these is an Elizabethan artillery fort, Upnor Castle, which protected ships on the Medway River. On the Thames River is the artillery fort, Tilbury Fort, which was originally built by King Henry VIII and reinforced during the 1588 Spanish Armada invasion.

I had mentioned that Mote Park ended up being one of our best parks for Lucy. After 3 weeks of gorgeous weather, we finally got "real British weather" and ended up playing with Lucy in the pouring rain. She didn't seem to mind!

The last castle of the trip was Leeds Castle, the former home of the first wife of Henry VIII, Catherine of Aragon. In addition to the castle, there is a maze, a golf course, a children's adventure play area, and a Birds of Prey Center.

Picking a holiday home is always difficult ... we want space for Lucy to play but also walking distance to a pub/restaurant, and a really nice interior/furniture/appliances. This one was a former shed on a farm that had been renovated with really nice appliances, nice furniture, an enclosed yard (although small), plenty of parking, and access to a washer/dryer. Lucy enjoyed playing with the ball in the small yard.

Another walk, this one in the Hothfield Heathlands Nature Reserve where we got to share the space with several cows and horses. The various paths were very well signposted and documented, which was great.

Built in 1290, the English Heritage property, Old Soar Manor is part of a 13th century stone manor house. I say "part of" because part of the house was demolished in 1780 and replaced by a red brick farmhouse.

I was surprised when I started reading about the Chiddingstone Castle and Village, since it said that the National Trust actually "bought" the village in 1939. I mean ... who "buys" a village? It is an example of a Tudor "one-street village", which I had never heard of before.

A forest this time, I think it was at Oldbury Hill, another National Trust property. One of the best things (in my opinion) that we did this trip was buy a National Trust Explorer Pass, which gave us free access to almost all (if not all) and free parking at the various National Trust properties that we went to. We also bought an English Heritage overseas pass, but I'm not sure if that was as good of a deal, since the English Heritage Overseas Visitors pass didn't include the parking. But for anyone who is going to the UK, you should really check out these 2 passes to see if they make sense for you.

Our last town visit, this one the town of Ashford and its tank.

Then our last Sunday Roast. This time, I tried the "vegetarian" option, which was a nut roll ... and I will gladly admit that I won't try a Sunday vegetarian roast again :-)

And finally, our last pub visit in England for the year.