A Wealdon Chirstmas

I spent Christmas Day with my friend Susanna and her mother at her brother and his wife's place. They have a flat just outside a town called Sevenoaks in Kent. During the hurricane of 1987, Sevenoaks lost six of its oak trees, and they planted seven new ones, thus turning it from Oneoak to Eightoaks. Sadly, vandals made short work of them, and eventually the powers-that-be put in well-grown trees instead.

On the edge of town is a wonderful old house in a deer park. Knole House dates back to Henry VIII' s time, though very little of the house he would have known remains. It was ceded to him by his archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer. Much of the present house is Jacobean and it contains a rather vulgar "King's Bedroom" (one of the Stuarts, not Henry) which is all silvers and gilts.

Sevenoaks is in the Weald of Kent, and is full of hills. It's great for views, but a nightmare to drive through for a hill-phobic.

This is a Wealdon House, a style of building that was typical of the area in days gone by. This example was moved to the Wealdon Museum in Sussex (the Weald continues into Sussex).

Sus's brother has a flat in an old country house which is now a country club, where he also works. This is the only picture I could find of it, and this is just a small part. There are extensive grounds, and they have a great view from their living room window.

This is a bluegrass session at the house. Sus's brother is a musician who plays folk and bluegrass music. He's not taking part in this session, but you can see him sitting just at the right edge of the photo. I wonder if her knows there's a picure of him on the web?

His wife is Bulgarian and created a great Bulgarian meal for us. We started with a cold soup based on yoghurt, then I had stuffed peppers while the others had some kind of meat loaf. We had a special loaf that contained a coin. You cut it into one more pieces than you have guests so that you have some for the "unexpected guest". It contians a coin, and the person who gets the coin has good luck for the coming year.

I didn't get the coin!