The Flying Teapot, Shoreham

We thought we might as well add to our unvisited Kent village tour today. In the end we visited two (!), Eynesford and Shoreham (not to be confused with Shoreham-By-Sea which is in West Sussex, apparently). I know them by name as I used to pass through both train stations on the way to and from my regular commute into London. Curiously, even though they were on the same line as my Southeastern trains they very rarely stopped there, being served by Thameslink instead.
Eynesford seems to be a thriving commuter village with three pubs, a hotel, two village shops, a proper butchers and a hairdressers. It also has a beautiful ford, a medieval bridge over the River Darent and the ruins of a Norman castle. That's quite a lot to be going on with! We, of course, had to pop into the Castle Hotel for quick beverage. It was lovely and warm inside, in both senses, so we will definitely visit it again to try out the food.
On the way back home we saw signs for Shoreham village and debated whether to pay it a visit as well. As the weather was sunny we decided to double back and go and see what it was like. We were so glad we did as it turned out to be one of the most beautiful villages in Kent we've ever been to - the North Downs rise majestically just behind it. It also had three pubs, two tearooms and a village shop.
My image today is of one of the tearooms called the Flying Teapot, which has 1940's theme to it (I really liked the different arrows pointing their way through the shot!). It opens at the weekends and is supposed to have lovely gardens at the back with an aircraft museum attached! We are so glad we stopped off and can't wait to go back again.