Dinner last night at Wheelers was nice, however i didn't feel as happy with it as i expected to. i don't think that was due to the food though. i had a £10 mixed seafood platter (crab meat, shell on prawns, shell off prawns, a crevette, brown shrimps, crayfish, 2 whole baby octopus, mussels, smoked mussels, cockles) with a slice of bread. even through i was still hungry after (i mean room for a dessert, not that the main course wasn't enough as a main course), mentally i just didn't feel like it, so i forgot the cheese and biscuit, picked up a grapefruit at a local somerfield and headed back to the B&B. i think my mood was due to sheer exhaustion because i woke this morning feling a lot better.
Well, it's been a mixed day. Breakfast was a bowl of mixed fruit (fresh, stewed and dried) (pears, prunes, apricots, melon, grapefruit, cranberries, raisins, figs, crytalized ginger) and a slice of toast. My day got all the more exciting at breakfast when Richard Briers walked in with hs wife and sat down to breakfast. i was suddenly filled with this nervous excitement. i felt like i wanted to jump up and down and tell the world but the most i could do was text mum. being a big fan of The Good Life and also Monach of the Glen i recognised him instantly.
i wanted to ask for a photo, and had plenty of opportunity when i stood talking to him and his wife for a good 5 minutes outside our rooms (they are opposite me) after breakfast. but i don't want to be rude or intrude. i'm sure with his level of fame he gets asked a lot but they are here on their own break visiting friends, not here for a photo shoot. so i didn't ask this morning, however i hope i get the chance tomorrow because if i don't do it i will kick myself.
so anyway, after my brief visit to Herne Bay yesterday and discovering there didn't seem to be much there (apart from the place i found for lunch) i asked Linda and Hugh the B&B owners for suggestions. Linda said Broadstairs was a lot prettier and would only take about 30 minutes to get to. so that's where i went. i wondered along the beach there and then through the town, then headed back to Herne Bay for lunch.
Lunch was something i've been wanting to try for a long time but have only know to be available in London and not in the parts of London that i normally go to either - Stewed eels, mash and liquor. the liquor didn't really have much flavour other than the flour they add to the liquid from the eels, and the colour comes from the parsley, but the flavour from that didn't come through. i enjoyed it nevertheless, i just wish the fish was easier to eat, i still can't eat the skin like some people do and there are the odd little bones that detatch themselves from the main spine.
After lunch i headed back along the coast stopping at Reculver Roman fort and villa and then into Canterbury town centre. i wanted to find a farmers market shop, The Goods Shed. i was convinced it was next to Canterbury East station, but no - it was next to Canterbury West. so i walked across town but found a wholefoods store on the way (i had put this on my list of places to visit in town but i left the list in the car!) and bought a big spaghetti squash for £1.50.
i found The Goods Shed, but didn't see anything i felt i had to buy, so i stopped at the cafe for a pear and ginger juice. on my way back into the town centre i spotted my restaurant i'd booked for dinner. After a wander through the town centre to by a lip balm for my poor chapped lips (i think the sea breeze got to them) i stopped for a cuppa and to warm up. i found a M&S Kitchen, a new franchise that M&S seem to have started. apparently this is their trial branch, the only one so far.
then i got the crowded bus back to the car and drove to a car park closer to the restaurant, Cafe Belge. They advertise "mussel 50 different ways", and i went there especially for the mussels. in the end i chose them with tomato, garlic, celery and onion. 1kg pot mussels, a small white crusty bagette and a side salad (i had the salad instead of the frites) just the perfect end to a lovely day and great value for money at £9.95. the service there was lovely and friendly and attentive too and although i booked i don't think i really needed to midweek.
now though i feel like i don't want to go home. i still have a day left though, which i think will be the morning and lunch in whitstable and then the afternoon/evening at Bluewater for a spot of retail therapy, not that i have any plans to buy anything so i might watch a film instead maybe. who knows, lets see what tomorrow brings.
Well, it's been a mixed day. Breakfast was a bowl of mixed fruit (fresh, stewed and dried) (pears, prunes, apricots, melon, grapefruit, cranberries, raisins, figs, crytalized ginger) and a slice of toast. My day got all the more exciting at breakfast when Richard Briers walked in with hs wife and sat down to breakfast. i was suddenly filled with this nervous excitement. i felt like i wanted to jump up and down and tell the world but the most i could do was text mum. being a big fan of The Good Life and also Monach of the Glen i recognised him instantly.
i wanted to ask for a photo, and had plenty of opportunity when i stood talking to him and his wife for a good 5 minutes outside our rooms (they are opposite me) after breakfast. but i don't want to be rude or intrude. i'm sure with his level of fame he gets asked a lot but they are here on their own break visiting friends, not here for a photo shoot. so i didn't ask this morning, however i hope i get the chance tomorrow because if i don't do it i will kick myself.
so anyway, after my brief visit to Herne Bay yesterday and discovering there didn't seem to be much there (apart from the place i found for lunch) i asked Linda and Hugh the B&B owners for suggestions. Linda said Broadstairs was a lot prettier and would only take about 30 minutes to get to. so that's where i went. i wondered along the beach there and then through the town, then headed back to Herne Bay for lunch.
Lunch was something i've been wanting to try for a long time but have only know to be available in London and not in the parts of London that i normally go to either - Stewed eels, mash and liquor. the liquor didn't really have much flavour other than the flour they add to the liquid from the eels, and the colour comes from the parsley, but the flavour from that didn't come through. i enjoyed it nevertheless, i just wish the fish was easier to eat, i still can't eat the skin like some people do and there are the odd little bones that detatch themselves from the main spine.
After lunch i headed back along the coast stopping at Reculver Roman fort and villa and then into Canterbury town centre. i wanted to find a farmers market shop, The Goods Shed. i was convinced it was next to Canterbury East station, but no - it was next to Canterbury West. so i walked across town but found a wholefoods store on the way (i had put this on my list of places to visit in town but i left the list in the car!) and bought a big spaghetti squash for £1.50.
i found The Goods Shed, but didn't see anything i felt i had to buy, so i stopped at the cafe for a pear and ginger juice. on my way back into the town centre i spotted my restaurant i'd booked for dinner. After a wander through the town centre to by a lip balm for my poor chapped lips (i think the sea breeze got to them) i stopped for a cuppa and to warm up. i found a M&S Kitchen, a new franchise that M&S seem to have started. apparently this is their trial branch, the only one so far.
then i got the crowded bus back to the car and drove to a car park closer to the restaurant, Cafe Belge. They advertise "mussel 50 different ways", and i went there especially for the mussels. in the end i chose them with tomato, garlic, celery and onion. 1kg pot mussels, a small white crusty bagette and a side salad (i had the salad instead of the frites) just the perfect end to a lovely day and great value for money at £9.95. the service there was lovely and friendly and attentive too and although i booked i don't think i really needed to midweek.
now though i feel like i don't want to go home. i still have a day left though, which i think will be the morning and lunch in whitstable and then the afternoon/evening at Bluewater for a spot of retail therapy, not that i have any plans to buy anything so i might watch a film instead maybe. who knows, lets see what tomorrow brings.
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