
November 2024. Battle. Sussex.
I wanted to use “1066 and all that” as my title, but best save that for an actual visit to Battle pubs, rather than this fleeting stop on the way back from the White Horse to Rye to give Mrs RM some blog material.

I’d been tempted to stop for lunch a mile out of Battle at the Squirrel,

which really should merit more attention than that minor skirmish over the definition of “craft” 958 years ago and its abbey built to commemorate it by King William.

Why pay to visit the abbey when you can take photos of knitted post-boxes for free ?

A modest, traffic-scarred little place no bigger than Waterbeach, the feel of a Suffolk wool town,

antique shops with questionable names,

cheap fuel,

a lot of attractive timber,

and some fairly low-key coaching inns along a genteel High Street.

Not much to trouble the GBG over the years, bar the eponymous brew tap, but Harley’s Tavern with its promise of local cider might tempt us back by rail, with no doubt disastrous consequences.

You’ll be pleased to know I didn’t buy Mrs RM (born in T’Wells) that bag at the top.
Having retired to Kent, my father’s parents were good customers of Webbs in Tenterden.
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It’s a very nice shop. Might do a proper tour of Tenterden pubs from Rye if I ever escape Waterbeach
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Yes, I remember shepherd Neame Mild in the Vine but that was probably about forty-five years ago.
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Battle Abbey is definitely worth a visit and you easily spend several hours walking around the battlefield and wandering around the remains of the abbey. It’s worth joining English Heritage as you get free parking too. Battle is worth a mooch.
Tenterden is a lovely town and worth an explore. I never tire of wandering around.
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