A LOCAL VISIT...

As a break from all the trouble and strife of the world, had another visit to the local village of Birling, nestling beneath the North Downs here in deepest Kent.   

Now Birling is one of those archetypal English country villages where you can spend a fortnight in an afternoon.  It has a long history with the Church and Manor being recorded in the Domesday Book and like many of the villages around here, Birling has its own village sign - pictured above.

It has a couple of claims to fame - one genuine, the other less so.  The genuine one is that the churchyard includes the grave of one of the country`s best admired and most prolific artists in Rowland Hilder.  He spent some of his early years with his grandparents in Birling and, as he himself recalled, "It seemed miles from anywhere.  Even the people living in the next village to us, Ryarsh, were considered as foreigners."  See more about him here - http://www.artnet.com/artists/rowland-hilder/

Local myth has grown over the years concerning the speech given by President John F Kennedy in 1963 in which, despite local claims, he did not say, "Ich bin ein Birlinger."

Anyway, here are a few photos I took, along with the one at the top, on my recent visit - please click on the photos for better images........

The Lychgate

Birling Park Farm

Away from it all

Harvest time