Great Photo

A Memory of Eastry.

This photo almost makes history come alive with the turning of the corner to make us wonder what lies there and the old houses in the foreground with the deep guttering. I guess that helped people avoid the water and waste from the horses, or in wet weather. It was easier to mount your horse from the top of that deep drop. Most of the houses used to be for old single ladies who looked very fierce in church to a 9 year old choirboy. One had a multi-coloured parrot in her window for years. Perhaps her past had been with pirates of the seven seas. Was her name Mrs Penfold who ran the fruit shop in her house's front room on the left? The houses have just had a lick of paint as if in preparation for prettiest village. To the right are grand houses set back from the road with driveways and further on are cottages for the workers. Around the corner is the village green, the church and the Church of England Primary school. From there run small laneways into the village or parallel to Sandwich Hill and called Lovers' Lane for some reason. In Primary school we went looking for wild flowers and after school we looked for birds' nests. Eastry Farm is opposite it with its driveway of pebbled stones .... how did they arrive there? Was the sea once up to here? Is the farm 14th century? Its rooms are extremely cosy as if sheltered from the worst of sea storms. Then there is the history of princes being murdered in the King of Kent's Palace and there's Eastry Court. The church is rather special and important and grand and so this all adds up to the fact that Eastry used to be a very very important centre and crossroads. Of course, we can say it still is. While in Primary School we saw wedding parties, funerals and baptisms. All in all, we endure school; our history lessons and the birds and the bees are all around us. From a distance, it is worth appreciating what Eastry has, and has had.