Anke: Royal Tunbridge Wells

Oxfam Bookfest Walk

Sixteen of us gathered outside the museum on a gorgeously sunny Sunday morning. We were here to take a tour of town, a tour organised for the Oxfam Bookfest by a local blue badge tour guide, Catherine.

The tour group walks along York Road.

You may think that taking a tour of a town you live in would be pointless, after all you live here and know everything right? Boy you couldn’t be further wrong. This tour was specifically aimed at locals who wanted to know the deepest darkest secrets of the Wells.

Being a “New Town” tour, we were told that there would be no visiting the obvious hotspots and we’d be concentrating on our more recent history.

I’ll give you a brief rundown of the tour and some of the highlights as I really want you to go buy yourself a ticket and enjoy it for yourself.

Starting at the museum we had a brief talk about the civic buildings and what they had replaced. When shown some of the old images of Calverley Terrace the group collectively let out a lot of ooohs and there was some furious head shaking going on. Leaving Civic Way the tour walked towards the Opera House, it was supposed to take in the Adult Education Centre but as it is currently undergoing some restoration that was skipped and it was straight into the Opera House for a brief behind the scenes tour.

We all assembled in the fabulously named Crush Room Bar for another history talk. Everyone was then invited to take a walk out onto the balcony to take a look out over the new town. Living up to its name there literally was a crush to get out.

The group take it in turns being careful not to disturb the ghosts of the haunted box.

We then climbed to the dress circle to hear some more history about the performances that once were and the history of the building’s construction. There were a few gasps of disbelief to the fact that the butchers underneath used to be a Sainsburys (see comments before for more), amongst other fascinating tidbits.

If you book the tour you’ll be able to find out who once raided the opera house, who Bambi the Cat was, and what is missing from the ceiling. You’ll also be able to find out which of the boxes is haunted. Legend has it that three builders fell from the scaffolding when working on the ceiling and two of them died. As these two used to sit and have their lunch in same box every day they are said to now haunt it. Everyone naturally made a beeline for the box to see if they could feel anything. Can you smell their ham sarnies and tea in there?

Nightjar Walk

With Springwatch season now upon us we decided not to watch last night's episode and instead experience our very own live episode by taking a night time walk with some good friends over at RSPB Broadwater Warren, Tunbridge Wells's very own bird reserve.

Everyone watches and listens carefully for Nightjars.

To coincide with Springwatch the RSPB are holding a week-long series of nighttime walks around the reserve to spot Nightjars, Woodcocks and Owls. You can have a look at some of the photographs we took of the walk over at the Nightjar Walk gallery.

Mrs Anke scans the tree tops.

The big question is did we spot any? Head on over to Mrs Anke's Nightjar Walk blog post to find out.

The Men, and Women, of Trees

With Spring beginning to pop its little nose above Winter it's time to start getting out there and enjoying our green (perhaps not so green at the moment) spaces. We thought we'd take some fresh air over the Common this week to have a look at the latest tree clearances.

Wiligh Oak Tree with plaque.

If you were to do the same as us and take a lunchtime stroll to the very edge of our lovely Commons, you might happen to find yourself beside a busy roundabout and notice a very forlorn-looking tree. But, this is no ordinary tree, and certainly one that would never be cleared.

Take a knee in the mud and brush aside the fallen leaves and you'll find a small stone plaque which reads: "Whiligh Oak. The gift of Lord Courthope, President Men of the Trees, planted by members of Summer School. 24th July 1954."

What's a Whiligh Oak? Who was Lord Courthope? Who are these mysterious Men of Trees?

Whiligh is an estate in nearby Wadhurst, it was the home of Lord George Courthope. He was a Justice of the Peace and a Member of Parliament for Rye for many years and was created a Baronet in 1925 and a Peer in 1945. His estate was renowned for its splendid oak trees. The timbers from Whiligh were used in the roof of the original building of Westminster Hall in the Palace of Westminster.

The mysterious Men of Trees conjured up pictures of strange men in costumes dancing around over the Common in my mind when I first read the plaque, but they are actually much friendlier and more important than that. Founded in Kenya in 1922 by forestry officer, Richard Baker, they are an international movement that protects and plants trees for habitat restoration, to alleviate poverty and to feed people in poorer countries. They have been responsible for the planting of nearly 30 trillion trees all over the world. The Summer School was an early local environmental group that was an offshoot of this movement and celebrated a meeting by planting a tree.

Princess Anne's Oak.

Got you in the mood for trees? How about a nice walk to another famous local tree? If you wander across the Commons towards town you'll eventually find Princess Anne's Oak (hopefully).

Overlooking London Road, right opposite the Bridge Club, this oak tree is said to have been planted around 1700 to commemorate the visits of Princess Anne (later Queen) to Tunbridge Wells between 1684 and 1698. The railings around the trees are Victorian and were restored in 1995 when a plaque was also affixed. It is one of the oldest trees on the Commons.

Go on, take half an hour to get some fresh air this lunchtime and go and explore our Commons, you never know what you'll find.

Foraging in Nature's Larder

Garlic growing on the banks of the River Grom.

A lovely Spring morning, the wife wanting a foodie angle for her next blog post and me wanting a nice photogenic walk came together in the form of a woodland forage. What were we after? Well we are right in the middle of wild garlic season so we headed to where we knew there would be some growing.

You'll find wild garlic in semi-shaded, moist conditions, near or among bluebells, and usually on the banks of a river. This pretty much describes perfectly the banks of the River Grom in Friezland Wood, the pretty bluebell wood you walk through from town on your way to High Rocks.

Alas the bluebells the wood is famous for were still asleep when we arrived but that wasn't what we were after so we followed our noses along the river banks. We'd almost reached High Rocks when the wife spotted some of the distinctive wide green leaves on the opposite bank, unfortunately across eight feet of water, as luck would have it as we looked for a way to safely cross without getting wet we walked right into a pungent clump of the stuff. Perfect.

We opened up our bag and picked as much as we needed from lots of different clumps and soon we had filled our small bag. Whilst we were down there the wife thought it would be a good idea to pick some nettles for another recipe she had in her mind, although she later came to regret that after forgetting her gloves. Ouch.

Mrs Anke picks some succulent leaves.

If you don't fancy foraging down in the woods to pick some like us, but we heartily recommend you do, you should also consider going along in a month or so to see the garlic flowering when it's reaching the end of its season. It should be the perfect time to see the delicate white flowers nestled amongst the flowering bluebells. Truly beautiful.

So, what did we do with our wild garlic, you'll have to pop over to my wife's blog to find out.

Credit Munch

The weather may have taken a turn but there are still a few windows here and there where the sun shines its little head through, and I have the perfect thing for you to do on those occasions, but it's quite a walk. Ten healthy miles of walk actually.

But before you grumble about how far that seems and turn the virtual page, I'll add that this walk will save you money and provide a day out for the kids if you drag them along, and you can cheat and drive for some of it.

Let's pretend we are going to walk the whole thing and head out of town along the Pembury Road towards Pembury. Just as you reach the outskirts of town and the A21 you will notice a small archway of trees next to the Saab Garage. Walk down there. You are in Forest Wood. It's not the most pretty of lanes but keep going.

Following the paths for about a mile or so, keeping to right-hand forks all the time, you will finally emerge at the very edge of Pembury village at Downingbury where this well-used track finally joins up with the Tunbridge Wells Circular Walk. Following the marked footpath signs you will begin to see huge swathes of orchards and will arrive eventually at Downingbury Farm, where you can eat all that lovely fruit you've been walking past, because Downingbury is a Pick-Your-Own farm.

We had so much fun rummaging among the bushes and trees looking for the ripest fruits, some of them even going into the punnet. Children with guilty strawberry-splattered faces were excitedly throwing single strawberries into their mother's punnet before waiting until her back was turned before shoving five into their mouths. It was a great sight.

Aside from the fresh air and exploring parts of the surrounding area you never knew existed, there are a lot of benefits to taking this expedition. There's the joy of taking the family out on a field trip and bringing them together for a fun and wholesome day. There's the good feeling you will get from supporting the local economy, saving money on groceries as the prices are much cheaper than regular shops, cutting out any food transportation air-miles and knowing exactly where your food has come from.

To work off all those strawberries, plums and other succulent fruits that never quite made it into your punnet, I very highly suggest a further walk which is opposite the exit of the farm, especially if like me you are into your photography. This walk heads into miles more orchards, much quieter this time, and much more picturesque. You will see a quintessential picture of Kent, miles and miles of apples with the odd interspersed oast house and farm. Beautiful. It eventually leads into Snipe Wood where you can wander the tall pine forest on the soft bouncy ground. This I especially recommend for birders as we saw a nesting pair of Sparrowhawks and their chicks.

Go on, give it a go.