Tunbridge Wells and The Pantiles...

My trip to Royal Tunbridge Wells reminded me of my years in college. I would often  meet up with my friends and (just like young women do now) we'd shop, have coffee and chat. This often included a stroll along the colonnade in The Pantiles.

The modern shopping area is at the top of the hill, updated and still as busy as it was thirty years ago. While the older part of town is at the bottom, almost in a valley.

To reach The Pantiles you walk along a road of old shops, old but not tatty. They have fresh paintwork and clean windows. On one side, the pavement is stepped up and there are black benches to rest on- and my legs did need a rest for a few minutes...or more!

When you walk into the Pantiles the outside intrusions of the everyday world- and the traffic running alongside the area- is dampened and for the time you are there you are cocooned from the hustle and bustle of the modern high street. 

The Pantiles are a good example of the modern world meeting the past harmoniously and each benefiting.

The surrounding Georgian buildings house businesses of all sizes, and one in the centre of the square, houses the tourist information centre.

Tourist Information-not established in the 18th Century...

Tunbridge Wells was a watering place of the aristocracy, even rivalling Brighton and Bath. The Chalybeate Spring (discovered in c1606) is still there and working.



This facade was restored in 1987 and the water is still served by 'Dippers' between Easter and the end of September.

You can post your letters or postcards into an elegant Victorian post box with a decorative top-much nicer than the standard round boxes.

And a final view before I strolled away at a lady-like pace...



Charles Dickens, the Castle and Rochester...

Rochester Castle dominates the skyline of this Medway estuary town. Across the road from the Castle is the Cathedral and both play a part in the two Dickens Festivals held each year. In early June the members of The Dickens Fellowship Society dress up in Victorian costume and parade through the streets and in the castle gardens.

In December they have a Dickensian Christmas- after all Dickens did write 'A Christmas Carol'...

Dickens moved to Chatham as a child- where his father worked in the dockyard- so he would have been familiar with the streets and buildings of Rochester as it was the next door town. Many of the old buildings still exists, so you could actually be walking in Dickens footsteps as you wander along the main streets.

There are brown plaques attached to buildings detailing characters and locations used in Dickens novels, and you could spend time following their trail.

 

Close to the entrance to the Castle is a restaurant called Topes, and you can see an example of the details on the picture below.

Sadly it was too late in the day when I got there to visit the Museum-with a Dickens room- but hopefully I'll get back there one day to visit...