There aren’t a great many advantages to becoming older, but the one I love is having a Freedom Pass (which takes me around London on bus, train and tube – as well as the tram – for free). And then there’s my Senior Citizen’s Railcard, which gives me a nice discount on all my train journeys outside London. So with my combined discounts, I travelled by bus and train out to Tonbridge and back for £5!
The journey time is around 40 minutes from Charing Cross, and normally the train is pretty empty. However, the day I went, I got onto the platform to hear that there were major disruptions due to an electrical fault and only two lines were in operation. Luckily, I was okay. My line was running, though there were less trains than usual.
Tonbridge is a lovely town. I was impressed that the high street seemed to be thriving, which rather (happily) goes against the grain of most towns in England right now with their boarded up shops. There was a nice mix of chain stores and others
The main attraction of Tonbridge is the castle, so that was where I headed. This is an experience, taking you back to medieval times with life sized models and information in rooms in the castle. Tickets are bought from the Tourist Information Centre which is on site (they also sell refreshments!). You get an audio to guide you around the rooms. A couple of the rooms are dimly lit, and when I asked, I was told I would be the only person in there! The lady reassured me that they had cameras and could see me. ‘You can always wave to us,’ she said!
The audio begins describing the towers and the murder holes under the arch where guards could shoot at people! You use a key fob to let yourself into the castle and enter a light room with information before descending to a lower room that was the food store with a clerk who has turned to see you enter. Barrels of salt line one shelf and other food items line other shelves. There are the obligatory rats enjoying themselves. Through the door is a man making arrows; swords are buried to the hilt in sawdust, and along the wall helmets wait.
From here you go up the stairs into the guard room where the guards are enjoying a meal (a suitable audio switches on here). This is a good place to sit and enjoy a video of life in the castle before entering through another door into the Great Hall. This is quite magnificent. Just off the hall is the privy (in use!) and a time capsule. On the floor of the Great Hall you can see the murder holes which you can see through, along with a slit where the portcullis was raised. Originally, the room had other floors and you can see the old fireplaces.
From the Great Hall there are steep steps to climb to go to the top of the castle. There are lovely views of Kent from the top.
Then it’s back down to the Great Hall and out through another door to the exit. I had survived my lonely look round. When I returned the audio there was a woman on her own just about to make the same trip and I confirmed it was okay (yeah, a bit creepy if you thought about the history, but I switched off my panic mode about ghosts and all that, just!). She was a little confused about how to enter, so I took her round to the door and explained to listen to the audio before entering (my mistake, which meant I had to listen to lots of audio on entering the castle before it got to the bit where I was standing).
I had asked the lady in the Tourist Information Centre about other things to see while I was in Tonbridge. She asked if I liked walking. Music to my ears! She suggested a map and a walk to Barden Lake. Firstly, I headed back into town for lunch and then I set off with the map to enjoy a nice walk. Yes, I did get a bit lost, but luckily found people to ask, including two guys from the Environmental Agency who were in a van.
The lake was fabulous, and then it was a short walk back into Tonbridge for a quick look at the shops (Oxfam Bookshop was a must!) and afternoon tea before catching the train back home.
Something I have recently noticed is that there seem to be a lot of people like me – ladies my age and older out on their own enjoying seeing things (I’m sure there are men too, but it’s the ladies I notice). The lady I spoke to at the castle was there for the day. She’d gone to Tunbridge Wells one day and has passed through Tonbridge on the train and thought, ‘That looks nice. I’d like to see that.’ And here she was. Very much the sort of thing I do! The week before, I’d given another lady instructions on how to get back to Battersea Power Station, and she admitted that like me she’d just come to see what the new development was like. It’s great to know there is a little army of us taking in the sights, being tourists in our own country and enjoying ourselves.
Until next time.
My London+ 