Читать книгу Walking in Kent. 40 circular short walks and day walks онлайн

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And every day out has been a joy.

One summer Saturday our walk took us through a churchyard where guests were gathered for a wedding, all after-shave, shiny shoes and Ascot hats. Out of the churchyard the path led across a series of sheep-grazed meadows where we were followed by the quintessential country parish sound of a peal of bells. Two miles later the bells could still be heard as we strolled through an avenue of stately lime trees in whose shade heavy-fleeced ewes lay panting.

Kent is a beautiful county, and walking the footpaths reveals it at its best. Not only the countryside, but its buildings too. According to Kent County Council there are more than 20,000 historic buildings that bless this county of ours. Twenty thousand! There are two cathedrals, many castles, numerous stately homes. There are Wealden hall houses, the weight of the centuries etched in every beam, and tile-hung cottages adorned with rose and old-fashioned clematis. There are splendid half-timbered pubs revived from coaching inns, and farms dating from the fifteen- or sixteen-hundreds that have passed from one generation to another.