What the heck is a Hop Festival?

The Faversham Hop Festival is an annual event celebrating the long-gone days when families would come down from London (and other places, too) to harvest the hop in the fields and make money before the hard winter months. In the evenings, they would play music, dance and tell stories outside their makeshift camps.

The modern festival (1990) is a fun way to remember those early hop-pickers through song and dance. The music, dancing, and parade are free entertainment.

There are also live performances in most of the pubs in town. My hubby (sadly no pix of him) had fun singing 6 of his new songs at the singaround at the Bull on Tanner Street.

Music, dancing, craft booths, food vendors, and beer. Yes, the hops are used to make beer.

Even though we don't drink alcohol, hubby and I are happy to support the festival as it is really more about families and having a fun day out.

It's also good for the local Faversham small businesses.

High Street Pt.2 – How many streets in a "High Street"?

Ready for more High Street talk? I love the High Street. It is my favorite place to shop, socialize and take a nice leisurely stroll about town.

Did you know that even though the area is called the High Street (singular), it can in fact contain several streets (plural)?

Faversham, for example, has five streets that constitute the High Street:
Market Square (the central area), Court, West, East, and Preston. (And not one of them called "High"!)

Today we'll take a look at Preston Street.

Preston Street is probably the longest of Faversham's High Streets. It has lots of shops and businesses. Some of them include:

The Chimney Boy: a pub where the Faversham Folk Club meets on Wednesday nights. (You can find my husband there singing!)

10-11 Preston Street is the Fleur de Lis Heritage Centre and Museum, which was built during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, in about 1600. (America was known as the "new world" back then.)

Ossie's Fish Bar is hands-down the best chippy in Kent. There is an old fashioned candy shop called The Sweet Scene. And a nice restaurant with an outdoor eating area in the back called Moonlight Café. They serve a great English breakfast any time of day.

There are lots of artsy shops in Faversham, including Birds Birds Birds on upper Preston Street. With my first paycheque (paycheck) working in the UK, I celebrated by buying a small figurine in this shop. It is adorable, I call it my "Cheeky Bird" because the tiny bird is hanging upside down and showing you its butt! LOL! They also sell chunks of creamy fudge in the shop.

Here is a link to a panorama filmed by the BBC, which shows the front of the Alexander Centre: BBC Faversham Panorama - Preston Street

At the end of Preston Street is the Rail Station. If you are in London, it is an hour and 20 minutes down the rail line to Faversham. Along the way, you will see lots of gorgeous British countryside, and even Rochester Castle.

So, what are you waiting for? :D


Cheers!
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Twitter and Facebook and YouTube, Oh My!

I've been busy exploring the wonders of Twitter, Facebook and YouTube the last two months. 

It's been exciting.  First, I connected with friends and family on Facebook.  It's great to be able to exchange photos and bits of news with everyone back home.

Then I uploaded videos of my amazing husband, LAWRENCE DEAN, onto YouTube.  Law is a singer/songwriter.  The videos are from a filk concert at Confluence in Pittsburgh, Pa.  Confluence is a Science Fiction / Fantasy Writers' Convention.  It's also the venue where we originally met!  Law sings regularly at the Faversham Folk Club, which meets weekly at the Chimney Boy pub.  The songs from the concert are a mix of Filk, Folk, Country and Pop. 

Having survived my foray into social media - - today I decided to tackle Twitter.  Talk about a sensory overload!  That is going to take some getting used to.  But I'm determined to watch and learn.

If you want to follow me I'm  @ideabasket

Not that I'm saying all that much at the moment.  But I'm sure to settle into the swing of things in my own sweet time.

Oh, and our Channel on YouTube is: MrLawDean

HUGS!
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