It was a place I had read about and Brad also recommended it as a place worth visiting. It is an historic market town with its location noted in the Doomsday Book back in 1066.
The settlement though goes back to the stone ages and the first settlers would have walked here from Europe according to the stone ages artifacts found around the river.
The trip takes about an hour from St Pancras on the South Eastern line and you travel through the 'fruit bowl' countryside so orchards and granaries flashed by as well as hops and vineyards which made for a pleasant trip.
Once I arrived I found the visitor centre to see if there was a way to visit the Mt Eiphram Gardens or Balmoral House gardens but as I expected they are hard to access without a car so I settled for a walk around the town.
They had a historic route map to help the quest so off I went to find the pond and the river where there was a walk along the salt marsh which I thought would be worthwhile. It was refreshing to get out into open spaces and feel the wind on my face.
The town is known for its gunpowder production-500 years years of explosive history according to the records. It was probably tbe first place in England to manufacture gun powder. Needless to say a few explosions are noted in their historical records!!!
The Oare marshes were the site of a huge manufacturing site now home to salt marshes and migratory birds.
Nowadays the brewing industry has a presence here as did oyster harvesting and The manufacture of carbon dioxide cartridges for quarrying.
The town is full of historical buildings with their original facades preserved. Timbered and brick dwellings date back to the 16th Century. The Market Place features a very well preserved Guildhall but only the original Tudor piles survive. Fire has taken it's toll here too.
There are old abbey remains here too with a carving of it out of a stump. Quirky. Abbey Street had some particularly attractive houses with little gabled windows and very small ornate doors leading off the street. You would not need to be a six footer!
The port area is on a river now silted up from its original heyday but many boats are still tied up here and some are grand old ladies.There are some canal boats here too.
I had a lovely lunch in a garden shop down in the old port area. There was an amazing old tool shop here too with restored forks and spades and everything you could imagine in a garden.
I enjoyed walking along the river, eating blackberries on the way until the rain started so I headed back to town to look at the op shops where I found a few treasures to take back to town.
I got back to Waltersville Road in time to cook up some spicy chicken for dinner. Lou and Jonathon were packing for their holiday to Spain so it was nice to have a final meal together. Jonathon had been to Ireland for a few days so it was a nice catch up time.
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