Walking in Kent

PETRONEL MALAN - PIANO RECITAL AT THE BARN - JULY 25th 2009
Over the last few years Martin Porter, the owner of Lenham's tithe barn has been kind enough to allow Walk Awhile's walkers access to the barn on their way to Canterbury. This is always an uplifting start to the day for those embarking on the 11 mile Lenham to Wye stretch of the Pilgrims Way / North Downs Way National Trail. Yesterday Martin emailed me and informed me that I had mistakenly decreased the date of the barn in one of my blog's by nearly a hundred years.

The tithe barn was actually built in 1342. This means in was built during the reign of Edward III and at the time of Geoffrey Chaucer's birth, which is believed to fall somewhere between 1340 and 1345 and also just six years before the Black Death arrived in England.

Martin also informs me that a piano recital on July 25th is to be given by the internationally famous South African pianist Petronel Malan. It starts with a champagne reception in the Barn at 6.15pm before the performance at 7.00pm. This is the third annual recital to be held and the others were very well received. Tickets cost £26/head and anyone interested can contact Martin Porter on 01622 858788 or e-mail him at martinhporter@tiscali.co.uk.

The recital provides a great opportunity to soak up an evening of internationally renowned music in the historic setting of Lenham's tithe barn that has been described as a rural cathedral.

More information about walking the Pilgrims' Way and other walking holidays in Kent can be found at Walk Awhile.

19th and 20th century books about the Pilgrims Way

A couple of weeks ago Walk Awhile had two walkers from California walking the Pilgrims Way.  As usual we sent them a reading list prior to their holiday, thereby enabling them to do some background reading about the trackway prior to their walk to Canterbury.   When I met Ann and her husband at Rochester they informed me that Hillaire Belloc's 'The Old Road' and Julia Cartwright's 'The Pilgrims Way' can now be found on line in digitised versions.  Belloc's work, first published in 1904 can be found on the Berkeley University web site at  'The Old Road' and Mrs Ady or Julia Cartwright's work can be found at 'The Pilgrims Way' thanks to American Libraries.

Belloc states in his introduction to 'The Old Road' entitled 'On the Road and the Fascination of Antiquity' that 'of these primal things the least obvious but the most important is The Road.''  He adds that 'But for the mass the Road is silent; it is the humblest and the most subtle, but, as I have said, the greatest and the most original of the spells we inherit from the pioneers of our race.'  Sentiments that anyone who has walked in the footsteps of ancient travellers along the chalk ridges of southern England will understand.

More infromation about  walking holidays in Kent can be found at Walk Awhile.