Kearsney Abbey

It was a beautifully bright Friday morning, we had nothing scheduled except a package to drop off at Hawkinge, so we seized the opportunity for a walk a little further afield. Kearsney Abbey gardens are part of an area of parkland on the edge of Dover, formerly the grounds of a manor house which was almost entirely demolished in the 1950s, and now a much loved green space with lakes, bridges, many beautiful mature trees and lots of swans, ducks and other water fowl. There were rather more people than we were entirely comfortable with (given the most recent estimate that one person in twenty in England is infected with one or other of the latest corona virus variants, all of which we are still trying hard to avoid), but once we moved off the metalled path the dog walkers and duck feeders were more dispersed and we were closer to the water. The swans provided excellent entertainment: they clearly saw visitors as sources of food, and were relaxed and unthreatening despite my wariness, approaching very close and, in the photos I took of them with P and J, looking friendly and conversational. They took a particular liking to P, or perhaps to his high-vis yellow jacket, and followed him both on and off the water until they finally seemed to realise that his camera was not a food source. There were lots of small black headed gulls too, in their pretty white-headed winter colours with red bills and feet, lining up along the railings of the bridge or the edge of the water then suddenly all bursting into flight. J enjoyed watching the antics of the many dogs chasing sticks, balls and each other, and it was just lovely to be somewhere different - it must be four years or more since we were there, though we did visit the neighbouring Russell Gardens, also lovely in a more formal style, just over a year ago. We are still cleaning up the mud J's wheels deposited on the floors, but we're not complaining.