Hegdale Barn

Kent, a county in southeast England, is well worth visiting. Kent is one of the “home counties” that immediately surround London.  Kent has the mildest climate in the United Kingdom, and for many years was a major farming area, particularly for hops. It used to be that London families would travel out to Kent by train to participate in the harvest of hops. To this day, you can see the hops curing barns, called oasts,in the area. Oasts are generally round and have a unique venting system at the top to endure the hops dry evenly. As the hops growing in Kent has declined, many oasts have been converted in recent years into homes.

Oasts converted to homes in Kent. Photo By Val Vannet, CC BY-SA 2.0, http://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1511380

Canterbury is in Kent, and is the home of Canterbury Cathedral, the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the leader of the Church of England. Also in Kent are Leeds Castle and the cliffs of Dover.  So, Kent is a nice place to visit with plenty of sights to see.

When we visited Kent, we found a lovely cottage, Hegdale Barn, online. Hegdale Barn is a renovated farm building located at the end of a country lane near Challock, Kent. It has one bedroom with a king bed that can be split into two twin beds, a modest but fully equipped kitchen, a modern bathroom and a nice lounge with good seating for up to four. Being in the country, we saw a lot of sheep on the way up the country lane and even had to follow one ewe as she chased her lamb down the road as we approached. Every day we looked for the sheep, and they were there almost every time.

A ewe and her lamb, on the lane to Hegdale Barn. © 2018 EnglandForAllReasons.com

The landlords of Hegdale Barn live on the property just next to the Barn, so they take an active part in sustaining the property. We found them to be very friendly—greeting us every time we saw them— and welcoming, demonstrated by a lovely gift basket that was provided upon our arrival.

Hegdale Barn is near Canterbury (25 minute drive), Leeds Castle (20 minute drive), Dover (35 minute drive) and even Hastings (about 60 minute drive) and Battle (where the actual Battle of Hastings occurred in 1066) (also about 60 minutes).

There is a farm shop nearby where you can obtain local fresh fruits and vegetables and other supplies, as well as a modern supermarket just 15 minutes north in the town of Faversham . Not far from the cottage we found an excellent restaurant in Molash, called The George (link) that we can highly recommend.

So, given that Kent is a lovely county with a lot of attractions, it just makes good sense to stay there a while, and if you do, you will do well to look for Hegdale Barn as a place to stay.