Another pub lunch

We enjoyed a lunch with our hosts from the Battle and Bexhill-on-Sea rotary clubs. I have only put on 1kg in 2 weeks, lucky there is only 2 more weeks to go.

We went to Battle!

Apparently in 1066 the English had a real blue with the Normans (technicaly not French I was told) and this is where they had it. Apparently unlike Aussies they didnt go to the pub afterwards instead the winner got to rule England. I wonder if that was a wise choice?

Charlene grows six inches!

Lunch at Rye

We had our handover at a very quaint town called Rye which some hundreds of years ago was a seaport but now is many miles in land.

Environmental Management within the Agricultural Sector....so far

I have had two vocational visits with a strong focus on the relationship between agriculture and environmental management so far. The first was with the Kent Wildlife Trust based out of Maidstone at Tylands Barn. I had a fantastic day, spending the morning with the rangers at a series of reserves being managed to improve the quality of the grasslands in both biodiversity and as public spaces. They are managing chalk grasslands through grazing by domestic stock to encourage rare herbs and orchids to be able to compete with the dominant pasture grasses and bramble scrub. They have some wonderful old English sheep varieties and 6 very tame cows, though it is not being managed as a commercial herd of sheep, more like a large accumulation of pets (yes they come when called and all the cows on this reserve and the neighbours farm have names) mainly due to the animal rights movement within some of the trusts members. As a result the stock are purely a management tool and therefore quite an extensive cost. The rangers would like to change this but are meeting significant resistance to the sending of the stock to an abattoir.

Yesterday afternoon I spent a couple of hours with an Agronomist, Richard, who is advising farmers and assisting with the management of farms enlisted in the new environmental stewardship scheme. Farmers are no longer being subsidised on a production basis but on the level of environmental management they are willing to implement. This includes returning arable land to grasslands, managing hedges, restoring wetlands and maintaining fallow for breeding habitat for birds. It also includes increasing diversity in strip headlands to maintain insect populations. It is an incredible scheme, how long it lasts I'm not sure, as a result of the increase in commodity prices, in particular wheat the incentive for farmers to return to cropping is high and a number of farmers are pulling out of the scheme. The problem with incentives/subsidy systems...once they finish, the reason for managing for the environment is diminished and the good work is undone.

Canterbury Cathedral

Tuesday Morning we headed down the road into the centre of Canterbury to explore the Canterbury Cathedral. After hearing a talk on the decline of the condition of the Cathedral it was hard not to notice how the outside walls were showing signs of disintegration. It is however a phenomenal sight to see, very imposing and quite varied in its architecture. The tour of the building was fantastic and we felt like it could have continued all day...though we were getting rather muddled with all the jumping between Henry's...England has had a lot of King Henry's over the years. The story of Thomas Beckett had been one we'd heard pieces of along the way and now understand in quite detail...though it does seem that the only truly unique and some would say memorable thing he did was in his death (for those from Oz and not up on their English history....he was killed by four knights by order of the pope in the Cathedral....they cut the top of his head off....he was then seen as a martyr and worshiped by Pilgrims til one of the Henry's decided a few hundred years later that he wanted the loot from his shrine and charged him with treason and took all his possessions as repayment).

The Cathedral is stunning and quite varied throughout making it a wonderful place to explore.

A day with Forest of Blean

On Monday Morning Gary, Kent and I headed off with Brian to visit Grain Harvesters, a grain trading, milling and feed production cooperative. We had a fantastic presentation from Richard and his two staff on the operations of the mill, value adding and the issues facing the agricultural sector in the Kent region of England. It was a wonderful insight into their operations and it was clear to see that we were facing similar challenges and objectives in both our districts, despite many of these often resulting from different causes.

After a pub lunch at the Mermaid we headed off to visit a 300 head Dairy Farm, one of the very few remaining. At 5.30 we all met up at the Canterbury Cathedral Hall for a talk from Robin Knox Johnston, a solo round the world yachtsman of much acclaim. It was a fascinating presentation part of the Canterbury Festival currently being held within the city.

Night out with RC Forest of Blean

English beer

Warm!

Vocational visit

In Canterbury I was taken to visit a youth centre for assylum seekers and then a senior lecturer at Canterbury Christchurch university.

Host family in Canterbury

This is the view of Canterbury Cathedral from my bedroom window in the morning.

My host family, Jeremy and Judy, have made me feel most welcome. They have fed me, entertained me, driven me around and organised my vocational visits- and for that I am very grateful!

Isle of Thanet

The white cliffs of Dover

Here we are at the White Cliffs of Dover. We went on a tour of the tunnels under the cliffs that housed the war time command.

A visit to Chartwell - Winston Churchill's Family Home

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Agreat day was enjoyed by all at the Former Residence of Sir Winston's Churchill's former home which is now a national museum owned and operated by the National Trust.Chartwell enjoys tremendous views across the "Weald" of Kent. The Museum/Home /Grounds/Gardens displayed a detailed and impressive history of the life Winston Churchill not just as a politician of 63 years but also his "hobbies" as an artist, writer, and bricklayer. We were admirably hosted by Kitty, Malcolm and Sue from the Rotary Club of Ashford