Sunday was a momentous day for Michael as he returned to his
ancestral roots. We hired a car and took
a drive to Goudhurst in Kent where Michael’s mother, Anne, was born and grew
up. Goudhurst is a tiny village set in
picturesque countryside with hop fields.
We ventured into St Mary’s Church where Anne was christened. The church was built in 1119 and is
absolutely beautiful with colourful, intricate stained glass windows. We met the reverend and he was quite
impressed that Michael had come all the way from Australia to see where his
mother was christened. Both Michael and
I agreed that the reverend looked like he had just finished high school. I guess that means we are getting old. We wandered
around the churchyard for a bit, which was full of gravestones, many of which
were so old that the writing was illegible.
We would have liked to walked around some more except a freezing wind
was blowing us about so we retreated to the car and drove around the area a
little more. We then returned to
Goudhurst to have a lovely lunch at the Goudhurst Inn (they are famous for
their scotch eggs).
We returned to London via Orpington to visit Michael’s
godmother, Margaret and her husband Peter.
Michael checked to make sure that the hedgehog planter that he gave to
Margaret 30 years ago was still in the kitchen – it was! We had a cup of tea together happily chatting
about family matters. It is always good
to see Margaret and hopefully we can see them again before we leave.
Photos of Goudhurst and surrounding area
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