Canterbury

The first Saturday morning of our England trip, we woke up bright and early to catch a train from St. Pancras station to Canterbury, and about an hour later we stepped out onto its medieval streets. It took me approximately 2.3 minutes to fall hopelessly in love with this town. From the half-timbered buildings to the towering cathedral to the sweet little shops of Buttermarket, I was smitten almost immediately.

After dropping off our bags at our B&B, we headed to Canterbury Cathedral, right outside of where we were staying. I have a separate post planned just for the Cathedral, because it was absolutely incredible and I snapped several hundred photos just in that one building (don't worry, I won't post all of them!), but I had to include a few pictures here since it was a huge part of our day. 

The grounds of Canterbury Cathedral are also beautiful and varied, so we spent some time wandering after we had left the building. In this area are the Old Palace, which for centuries as the residence of the Archbishop, (and once housed Parliament!) the Water Tower, Healing Garden, a Norman Staircase, and Abbey Ruins. If I could go back and plan this trip again, I would have spent more time in Canterbury, because just seeing everything within the walled area of Canterbury Cathedral could have easily consumed the better part of a day. Alas, we still had much to see in the rest of the city--and we were getting a bit hungry, having left London without breakfast--so we moved on. 

Always a preparer, I had jotted down a list of possible lunch spots for every place we would visit, and for Canterbury, we settled on The Old Weaver's House, located on the River Stour. We both went rather traditional with our meals--I ordered an English roast (yum!) and Tyler tried the fish & chips. They had a lunch special that included a punting tour on the river, and we were both so tempted; if I ever go back to Canterbury (which is highly likely) that will definitely be on my must-do list. The river is so peaceful, and Canterbury so beautiful--I can only imagine what it would be like to see the city from that perspective. As it was, we still had lots to do in the remaining daylight hours, so we headed to our next stop: St. Augustine's Abbey. 

Another site that will soon have it's own post here, St. Augustine's Abbey is the ruin of an abbey founded by St. Augustine in 598, and also contains his gravesite. It was remarkably quiet, and even in the perfect weather, we only saw three other people milling about the entire time we were there. This was one thing I really wanted to see even though I wasn't sure Tyler would enjoy it, but he ended up being really interested in the site and asked me quite a few questions about the history (which I was more than happy to talk about at length, haha!). 

After we left St. Augustine's, we spent the last part of the day exploring some shops; I'm not usually a huge shopper on vacation, but I do love local spots where you can find some more unique souvenirs. One of my favorite places we went in Canterbury was a bookshop for a homeless charity called Catching Lives. It's located in a wonky old building at the end of an unassuming street; we had passed it on our way in from the train station that morning, but it wasn't yet open (and we were weighed down with luggage), so I made a mental note to go back later in the day. I ended up with an English history book (big surprise) and made sure to snap a photo of the building so I could do a little research later. Turns out it was built in the 17th century, but became tilted after an internal chimney slipped. It honestly looks like it could fall at any minute, but there's an internal steel frame holding it in place. Maybe I should have done that research before going inside, but hey, it was an adventure. :)  Keep scrolling to see a photo. 

Later that night, we slept in the shadow of the cathedral itself, with the most perfect view outside our window. Canterbury was a dream.