St. Margaret's at Cliffe 1

On Wednesday 13th to a division 1 beauty spot - the beach at the hole in the white cliffs of Dover at St. Margaret's at Cliffe, aka South Foreland. Picked off the map.

Through the village one goes down a steep twisting road to the beach, to find a small car park, presumably very full at sunny weekends, and very much pot-luck whether having got to the bottom of the cliffs one finds a space at all. On this early season week day not a problem.

Shingle beaches at the base of the cliffs to left and right. Tea shed, school party shed (looking like an upside down boat) and school party lawn in the middle. Took tea at the shed, admiring the distant views of the French cliffs over the Channel. Lots of shipping in the Channel, making up for the previous dearth. Presumably there is not enough water in the Downs (between the Godwin Sands and the east Kent coast) for today's shipping and so no ships to be seen from Deal.

Snoozed a bit on the beach and then off to the Pine Gardens a short way back up the hole in the cliffs, gardens which were once a drill ground for troops getting ready to do battle with Napoleon. Handsome gardens with a range of interesting features. The facade of a building from Cheapside laid face up in the grass. A hut made of wattle & daub in such a way as to show of the technique. Raised beds of vegetables, including broad beans, not quite up to my allotment standards of years gone by. A place called the Calyx where they did things ecological for visiting parties, perhaps cuddle courses for civil service establishments round and about. Various composting contraptions. A tea house and museum. Lots of interesting plants.

Back to the beach for the second picnic of the holiday and a further snooze on the beach. Admired the bright blue sky against the bright white cliffs, reminding me of the similarly shaped red cliffs at Yaverland (see reference 1).

Back to the tea house at the Pine Gardens for tea and fruit scone.

Up to the village to find the church locked, but the key of which was held in the village shop, handed over by a nicely spoken young lady. The shop also managed a Guardian and the village hall was advertising a performance of the 'Winter's Tale', so we were not really very deep into the country at all. Notwithstanding, the church of St. Margaret of Antioch turned out to be very old and very Norman, to the point of extensive arcading to the outside walls. A lot of stained glass, some rather good. Various examples of very old carving, for example above and around the west door.

Reference 1: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=yaverland.

Reference 2: http://catalogue.stmargaretshistory.org.uk/. A busy local history website.

PS: only this week learned that that Goodwin Sands were named for King Harold's greedy father, Earl Godwin, at a time when what is now wrecks & sands was his pasture land. Washed away in some flood or other.