Beginning of July

 

We have been away for part of the first week of July to Chatham, Kent.  Quite a long journey going across the south of England from Dorset.  David and I have wanted to visit the historic dockyard there for quite sometime.  Another day and we visited nearby Gillingham for the Royal Engineers museum, which was far bigger than it looked and took a long time to get around.

Is that ship’s propeller big enough?

A dockyard crane built by Stothard and Pitt of Bath. We remember passing the factory many times when driving from Bristol to Bath years back.

One of the lifeboats displayed there. This one was named Queen Elizabeth II.

A battleship, HMS Cavalier

And a monument outside the ship

The prow of HMS Gannet

Another lifeboat, Grace Darling. This was at an exhibition of 200 years of the RNLI.

And a Morris Minor advertising the Call the Midwife walking tour. Some of the scenes are filmed at Chatham but we didn’t take the tour. You could walk miles around this place. We managed to dodge the hefty showers that day.

It didn’t rain the next day but it was very windy.  The Royal Engineers Museum was mostly indoors and arranged in a route that told the history from the English Civil War up to the present day.

Some crocheted/knitted poppies and cushions near the World War I memorial.

As you can see from the description above, a biscuit that was posted!

Embroidered postcards soldiers sent to their loved ones during World War 1.

A quilted coat worn under armour. 

Sunday we returned home but en route we met up with my son and his family at Arundel Castle, home of the Duke of Norfolk in Sussex. We’ve passed this place a few times but never stopped before. I was immediately taken with the windows, different designs and glasses (must be to do with quilting).

The sky looks lovely out there, but earlier when parking the car there was almost torrential rain.  It stayed dry afterwards.  After exploring the house we went out into the gardens, which were just lovely.

A lovely place, we may be visiting again.