Mulholland Wanderings

White Cliffs Country

It was our anniversary on Friday - 4 years - and we booked ourselves a retreat weekend in White Cliffs Country, Dover.

Sadly, when I pulled the camera out of the bag I discovered the batteries were flat so no pretty pictures except what I pinched from other websites.

We stayed at Wallet's Court Spa Hotel. Not far from Dover and about a two-hour drive from London (train connections weren't great and we thought we might want a car for day-tripping) It is a fabulous 17th century farmhouse - all uneven floors and low doorways.


Our stay included dinner in the (very posh) restaurant. We sampled local game; I had highly authentic pheasant complete with buckshot. Neil had steak and declared it the only decent steak he's eaten in Britain so far. This all came on top of high tea in the lounge which had included salmon and cucumber sandwiches, cake and scones with cream. Breakfast was also included in our package but we, like Leon*, turned up our noses at the black pudding.


We followed hotel directions to a local walk taking us along the cliffs from the little village we stayed in to another little seaside village. The very pleasant, rambling downhill walk took about an hour and we failed to spot any indications of the vicious head-winds and steep climbs we would encounter on our return. We battled bravely on however (not like we had a choice) and made it back to the car. Great views of the famous white cliffs and the channel abounded. Also had a laugh at the locals attempting to play golf into the driving wind.


We had planned to visit Dover Castle, but after a leisurely lunch in the village we turned up to discover it closes at four during winter, not five as we'd been told, so we left it for another time.

We will definitely return to Dover, it was our first view of the English countryside and was lovely even in winter. We would like to do some more walking and want to have enough time to do justice to the castle.

NB: Driving around the city tonight (we thought we'd come home via Putney so I could pick up something from work- famous last words) has cemented my belief that we will NEVER own a car in London.

Ciao, Diane

* See Georgette Heyer's These Old Shades

posted by dianemulholland @ 5:13 AM