Saturday 13th January 2024

Being a Saturday, first job of the day, after coffee, was hunter-gathering in Tesco.

Was not surprised to find half an aisle already full of Easter eggs and stuff.

Elsewhere there was lots of Valentine's Day cards and more stuff to spend your money on.

Back home for a quick breakfast, before going out again and heading north for Thanet.

On the north coast there are two large churches that I wanted to revisit: St Nicholas at Wade and All Saints in Birchington.

Thanks to the Sandwich Road and Thanet Way round Ramsgate, we got to Birchington at half nine, but found the church did not open until ten, so we went in search of the sea.

Though the sea was not lost.

Through a large 1950s housing estate, there it was.

There are three of us, trying to photograph Kent churches . I met one a few years back on Heritage Weekend, and there is Rob, an online friend who is trying to record all churches, irrespective of denomination, in the county.

And so, thanks to Rob and his love for Victorian and 20th century churches, I got to know some newer churches, maybe once chapels of ease, but some now parish churches in their own right.

Minnis Bay is one, set among mid-war development, a 1920s construction, bankrolled by the local Freemason's lodge, St Thomas sits on the main road, opposite a micropub and convenience store.

I got out to take a shot of the front and side, then a car pulled up: do you want to see inside, I'll only be here ten minutes, the warden told me.

Win! So, I grabbed the big camera and got busy, though in truth not much other than the building itself, but it was pleasant enough. Though there are rumours that it might be closing.

Grenham Bay, Birchington, Kent.

Bleak.

Bleak and bracing. Bleak, bracing and quiet.

At low tide.

This morning, we found ourselves here, and having parked, we found low chalk cliffs, concrete flood defences and lots of sea birds and fowl feeding among the chalk rockpools at low ride.

We didn't stay long, long enough to get some shots, before moving on.

Here, Jools walks down the concrete ramp to the "promenade, wide enough to run a grand prix, just the occasional jogger or dog walker were the only others around.

Back in the car at ten for the short drive through the town centre, parking outside the village hall, and walking through the large churchyard where the porch door was open.

All Saints is open between ten and midday each Sunday, and inside there were at least four wardens, each of whom gave us a warm welcome.

A heavily restored church, but the jewel is the Quex Chapel, for the Crispe family that owns, or used to own, Quex Park nearby.

Wall full of tablets, memorials and tombs.

The next parish southwards is St Nicholas at Wade, now better known as a roundabout on Thanet way where the driver can turn either for Ramsgate or Margate. There is also a village, named after the parish and the parish church, which towers over the narrow streets of the village, that we had to weave through to reach the church.

At the west end of the village, around the church, are some wonderfully old buildings, whose brickies had a novel attitude to laying, with bricks at all angles.

The church is entered through a double-decked porch, something more seen in East Anglia, and the priest would live in a small room above the entrance, and accessed by what must be the oldest set of steps in Kent, if not England.

It took half an hour to get all the shots, but having done so we went back outside to head home.

Instead of turning round and going through the village, shall we go straight on and see where that takes us?

An adventure?

So we did.

Where it did take us was along some fields and over a bridge spanning Thanet Way, where there was a junction to head east back towards Ramsgate and home.

So, that was easy.

And back in time for a brew before lunch, and bacon butties too as we were both hungry, and I could sit beside Scully watching the Coventry v Leicester game, which Cov won 3-1.

Most of the afternoon was a battle to stay awake whilst listening to the radio. Jools went to the gym to have a sauna, so came back full of beans.

Dinner was Caprese with warmed through focaccia drizzled with chilli-infused olive oil to crisp it up.

It all went well with the remainder of the bottle of wine, but having emptied that, I needed just a little something more, so went for the barrel aged Delerium.

It poured a reddy-brown colour, had a full nose of fruits and spices, and was a flavour explosion on the tongue. At 11.5%, not to be messed about with, but glorious.