Recreational Flooding, Tonbridge

As it was a lovely, if very cold, sunny day we decided to pop over to Tonbridge. This time we actually got to walk through the castle grounds - on our two previous visits they'd been closed for some reason or another. They were worth the visit and the path around them went from a deep hollow up to the top of a very sharp hill where you got a great view of the rest of the town itself.
The Medway runs through the centre of town and so we thought we'd take a walk along the river path. This eventually led to the Racecourse Sportsground where I took today's image. It was extensively flooded but looked rather serene in the gorgeous winter light. If you look towards the back of the image on the left hand side you can see the goalposts of the football pitches that were underwater. There was even a big flock of gulls and a number of swans taking advantage of the inundation. While we were taking our photos a chap stopped and told us that the sportsground is used as a natural flood plain when there has been heavy rain so that the town itself doesn't get flooded. If only more towns and cities planned in this way I'm sure it would lead to less devastation in the long run.
We finished our micro trip with a pint at The Chequers. It's an old school boozer full of atmosphere and with a warm welcome so we will definitely visit it again next time we're back in Tonbridge.