Tunbridge Wells

On the journey from Maidstone to Cobham we had two and a half hours to explore Tunbridge Wells in Kent. The coach dropped us off in Mount Pleasant Road so we first explored the shopping centre. While we were there we sheltered under shop awnings during a heavy shower of rain. Once this stopped we were able to explore properly.

Like most cities in England there is a variety of building styles.

The town is in two sections with the shopping centre in one direction and the Pantiles or older section in the other.

The popularity of the settlement known as the Pantiles goes back to Tudor times after a natural spring was discovered in 1606. The area became the place to visit to take the waters.

The Tunbridge Wells Museum has a display of Tunbridge ware, the decorative wooden items which were made to sell to tourists visiting the area. The manufacture of Tunbridge ware had declined by 1900 but items often appear on antiques and auction programs on television. Tunbridge ware was originally made by workers from the nearby town of Tonbridge.

The museum also had information about the suffragette movement in England - the centenary of women receiving the right to vote being celebrated this year. Displays of flowers, in the streets, to mark this celebration were in the suffragette colours.

One of the protests taken by some of the women was to burn down the Nevill Pavilion at the cricket ground. Our next stop was to visit the cricket ground.

The players had to check the ground where a county game was to start shortly.

There has been a cricket ground on this site since 1895.

The pavilion built in the style of the original pavilion destroyed by a group of suffragettes in 1913.

and the Bluemantle Stand.

Example of houses situated near the cricket ground.