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If you are walking from Winchester to Canterbury today and are about to reach Merstham in Surrey you will find lunch available as you pass along the usually quiet Quality Street. The annual Quality Street Fayre is today Saturday 6 July There is a ‘food court’ and beer tent selling local ale. Also lots of […]

Lavender is beginning to appear in the fields of Castle Farm in the Darenth Valley. The path from London to Canterbury runs past the lavender south of Lullingstone Castle near Shoreham. The annual July purple spectacle has only been enjoyed in recent years as the lavender was planted at the beginning of this century. Lavender […]

The annual Blessed Sacrament procession at Lesnes Abbey takes place on Sunday 30 June. The tradition of a Corpus Christi procession here goes back to the beginning of the last century when the abbey was still being excavated. Then the procession included Bostall Woods. Although the Corpus Christi feast day was last week it is […]

The 2019 Translation of St Thomas Becket day falls at the 6/7 July weekend and marks the moving of the saint’s body from Canterbury Cathedral crypt to the shrine upstairs in 1220. The main events and services in Canterbury are below: Saturday 6 July, Eve of Translation 11.15am Pageant enters West Gate to pass along […]

A highlight of this month’s Canterbury Pilgrims Festival was hearing author and walker Cecilia Baker speak about how she became a pilgrim. She told of arriving at Canterbury Welcome Centre having walked without any guidebook or even leaflet along the rough route of the Pilgrims’ Way. “Are you a pilgrim?” asked the person on duty. […]

St Dunstan’s Church, the last church on the Pilgrims’ Way before Canterbury’s West Gate, now offers a pilgrim stamp. This is a landmark church holding the head of St Thomas More who emulated Thomas Becket. It was here, outside the porch, that Henry II removed his shoes to walk barefoot to St Thomas Becket’s temporary […]

If you are walking the Pilgrims’ Way through Godmersham this Sunday afternoon 16 June you can stop for tea in Godmersham Park. Teas are being served in the Orangery in aid of the church which has a small sculpture which may have come from Canterbury’s Thomas Becket shrine. The garden is open 1pm to 5pm; […]

If you have been watching Pilgrimage: the Road to Rome on BBC2 you may be interested in reading the guide. The Via Francigena from Canterbury to Rome is the continuation of the Pilgrims’ Way from Winchester or Southwark. Alison Raju’s The Via Francigena Canterbury to Rome – Part 2 has the route being followed on […]

Pilgrims sometimes wandered off the main route in bad weather to seek less muddy tracks. In some places it became general to take a parallel path in order to visit a holy place or accommodation such as Boxley Abbey. It is for such reasons that the guidebook will in future advise walkers to take a […]

If you are walking the Pilgrims’ Way on Sunday afternoon 7 April heading for Chilham you can stop for tea at Godmersham Park. The PW runs through the parkland and this Sunday you can also look around the formal gardens next to the mansion known to Jane Austen. Teas and refreshments in the Orangery are […]