Chilham Village Square on the North Downs near Canterbury, Kent, England.

Commentary.

 

Perched high on a wooded hill above Canterbury,

is Chilham’s Castle and estate, pub and school,

Square and Church, tearooms and Tudor houses.

This may well have been one of the last resting places

on the hundred mile pilgrimage from Winchester

to the tomb of Thomas à Becket in Canterbury Cathedral.

This journey was undertaken for well over a thousand years

by countless thousands of pilgrims.

It was immortalised by Geoffrey Chaucer in his

bawdy and graphic “Canterbury Tales,” although his was the shorter sixty mile journey, from the Tabard Inn, Southwark, to the Holy Shrine.

Now this hidden gem of a village attracts hordes of modern “pilgrims,” seeking solace in the tearooms, church, pub or Square.

Some may be entertained by bouts of falconry or medieval jousting in the Castle grounds.

Others might retreat here before and/or after sampling the delights of Canterbury’s Cathedral, museums and shops.

Its “staging-post” identity seems unshakeable.

Its charm is undeniable.

 

 

Done