A short and very pleasant stroll from our base in Penshurst brought us to the lovely village of Chiddingstone.
The village, which is one of the prettiest in Kent, was bought in it's entirety by the National Trust in 1939. Most of the buildings in the village date back to the 16th and 17th Centuries, but the building housing the Post Office, which you can just see the red sign for in the photo below is mentioned as far back as 1453.
These ancient buildings are not Chiddingstone's only claim to fame though!
This magnificent stone is reputed to be the "Chiding Stone" for which the village is named. Local legend has it that nagging wives and other wrong-doers (!) were brought to the stone to be told off or "chided" by the (presumably mostly male!) villagers. Needless to say my husband thought that this was definitely a practice worth reinstating :)
Hahaha! I would definitely have been carted off there yesterday :)
ReplyDeleteOh my neck of the wood - that's why I moved away to Sussex, just in case!
ReplyDeleteI absolutely MUST follow my English heritage. You are so lucky to be living in the UK.
ReplyDeleteLOL @ the Chiding Stone - I would probably spend a fair bit of time there if I were local :D Flying Blind moving to Sussex "just in case" = too funny!
ReplyDeletelove the history, I'm from the USA namely Georgia
ReplyDeleteLOL!!! The Post Office is one VERY old building. How wonderful that the town's buildings have been preserved.
ReplyDeleteHa! I'm sure the history failed to mention how the nagging wives retaliated.
ReplyDeleteInteresting :) It takes a lot of effort not to be a nagging wife. Happy wife.... Happy life. :) Someday my husband will understand. Happy day to you. Janita
ReplyDeleteLooks wonderful (apart from the stone!)
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely town. I always enjoy your travel photos. Thank you for sharing :)
ReplyDeleteVery interesting and the buildings are beautiful! Now that there are more women than men we could do things the other way round! Men are good at nagging too!
ReplyDelete