It has been a few days of wet and wind. We just gave into it on Wednesday and did a mostly in house day with the exception of getting Nellie out. We are not griping about the current UK weather though as our family in the Midwest is experiencing sub-freezing temperatures. We’ll take wet and windy with milder (feels like in the 30s and 40s F) temperatures!
The maid comes on Thursday about 3ish and works for 3 hours, as this is a large, 3-story house. Not wanting to be in her way, we have elected to be out of the house while she’s here. We walked into town to check out the library and found that it is co-housed with a museum, so more on that next week. Close to 5, we headed back into the neighborhood to The Bull, the closest pub to the house for a drink before heading back to the house for dinner.
It was comfy and warm after walking in the rain to get there.
Yesterday, we walked to Hall’s Bookstore that we had seen on our first walkabout on the High Street. They sold lots of used books sorted by topic and had a section with a term I hadn’t seen before — oldiana.
Today, it is still pretty windy, but the sun was shining, so we did a little longer walk. We have been wanting to walk through the Commons, which are across a busy road from The Pantiles, and we wanted to check out The Spa Hotel. Happily, Bob found a way to walk through part of the Commons to the hotel and even found us a public footpath to take from near the house all the way to The Pantiles.
The full name of the Commons is the Tunbridge Wells and Rusthall Commons, and it comprises 256 acres of land, with a number walking trails and two cricket grounds. It is a mixture of heathland and woodland with sandstone outcrops. While the Commons are managed by a nonprofit group, the land is currently privately owned and up for sale. There is an effort underway by the community to get the council (or other governmental group) to buy them to ensure they stay open for public use.
that was found in the undergrowth that covered this area.
Many of the paths are paved.
to walk across the street to The Spa Hotel
A couple more photos from our walk back on a different trail through the Commons.
Peckish Travels 