More traveling around this beautiful country

We're about halfway through our wonderful holiday in the UK and have managed to do quite a lot of traveling around this fascinating country;

On a visit to Kenley which is in the south of the London Borough of Croydon to visit one of Janet's sisters, we ended up at a pub called "Wattendon Arms" for lunch, where incidentally I had a very nice portion of battered Cod and chips, (I have been complaining about the quality of pub food lately),

While Janet and her sister, who hadn't seen each other for a couple of years chatted I had a look around the pub and noticed the air force theme of the place, it turned out that the former station of the Royal Air force Kenley is nearby and was a station of the Royal Flying Corps in World War 1 and the Royal Air Force in World War 2.

Apparently due to RAF Kenley's strategic importance the Luftwaffe tried to destroy it with a massive bombing raid on 18th August 1940, the raid however was unsuccessful and RAF Kenley was operational again by the following day. Many famous pilots were stationed there amongst them was the well known South African "Sailor" Malan. An interesting place, deserving of another visit.

The next weekend on a cold and windy Sunday we took a drive, with the family, to the coastal village of Whitstable which is near the mouth of the Thames. This is quite obviously a very popular little fishing village because even though it was a pretty miserable day the place was crowded with tourists, I would not like to go there in summer, you wouldn't be able to move.

We wandered around the market stalls in the picturesque little harbour, found a little pub where we could sit and enjoy a beer and then headed for the Crab and Winkle restaurant where I was hoping to find some good sea food. I was not disappointed.

The ladies opted not to have starters but the guys went for a mixture of fresh oysters, cockles, whelks and winkles;

The oysters were delicious, plump and fresh, and remember I have oysters regularly at home so I know them but I really enjoyed the cockles and whelks, the winkles were quite tasteless but all in all a lovely starter. My main course however was the best meal that I have yet had whilst on this holiday, a fresh whole Sea Bass, I devoured it, head, eyes and all - absolutely delicious!

We got home quite late that evening after a very enjoyable day out and a trip into London was planned for the next morning! Christie (our daughter) and Andy (our son in law) had taken the day off and wanted to show us the Borough Market and one of their favourite Indian restaurants for lunch, talk about being spoiled!

We took the train, almost an hour, then a tube train and then a walk with a huge amount of stairs before arriving at the market, it was a cold and blustery day so we were well covered. The market is a very interesting place with stalls selling all types of food; fresh meat and fish, cheeses, bread, spices as well as street food from many different ethnic groups, one could spend ages (and pounds) there.

The seafood was incredibly tempting but we were going out for lunch, Andy and I did share a portion of whelks which were fresher and better than the ones we had at Whitstable!

I did buy a lovely big piece of Pork belly rib to roast the next evening and Christie bought some wild boar sausages, both of which turned out to be really fantastic - we'll be back!

Lunch at the Bangalore Indian Restaurant was very nice, large portions and plenty of authentic flavour, I had curried goat which I really enjoyed. We relaxed there for quite a while enjoying our meals and a couple of drinks before heading back home.

Not too much walking on the way home, we managed to catch a bus and relaxed on the train ride from London to Dorking after a great day out. Next we will be travelling north into the Cambridgeshire area to visit dear friends living in Ramsay Forty Foot. I will tell you all about the trip in the next post, remember if you want to see the photos full size just click on them.