WHITSTABLE
A few days later the Assistants set out on a 'one-day road trip' to lovely Whitstable in Kent.

We walked down 'The Street': at low tide a long stretch of pebbles reaches out to sea where Whitstable meets Tankerton's Beach. You can walk along it- out into the sea, water each side of you. Its great- but you have to be a little cautious as the tide can come in rather quickly. The Beach huts are as pretty as a picture here and Whitstable Castle is quite pleasant too- though its not really a castle, it's a house.

Whitstable is famous for oysters, and Wheelers' Oyster Bar has been there for 150 years. It's, apparently, regarded as one of the best fish restaurants in the country. Or there's a magic tapas restaurant in Tankerton called Jo Jo's. It feels like its in the middle of nowhere but everything is made completely fresh to order and they are lovely, lovely proprietors.

We took an evening walk in a truly biting wind to The Old Neptune Pub, where they've got real ale and live music sometimes. There was a soul/funk type set-up going on, on that night which seemed oddly incongruous. But, on that night, this pub was really welcoming and very cosy indeed.
There are 2^nd hand shops everywhere in Whitstable if that's up your street and Canterbury is very close

CANTERBURY
A very pretty city with a big bag of heritage, it has a world heritage site-St Martins's church, the country's oldest parish church in regular use. The last of 7 medieval gates- the westgate is a very cool entrance to the city. Thomas a Beckett was famously murdered in the Cathedral which dates back to the 6^th century and has drawn pilgrims here ever since, the remains of a Norman castle are in the town, a Roman Museum and the Rupert Bear museum is here too but we missed that because we were busy sampling real ale. museums@canterbury.gov.uk

Go and see the ducking stool too.
A very useful contraption to Medieval Town-Burghers for keeping their women in line. I'm sure Matthew Hopkins was familiar with this one, the pervert.

On this subject, ever seen a scold's bridle? Really useful things- like the ducking stool - for punishing gossips or 'scolds'(generally any vocal women) in a town. Town squares and private houses would often have hooks on their outside walls where local jailers/ magistrates/ husbands could tether their troublesome women after placing them in an iron mask or bridle which generally had a spiked mouth piece to pierce the tongue if she tried to speak. Then everyone could slag her off or chuck stuff at her as they passed. Oh the heady days when women knew their place.

The maternal Grandmother of one of the assistants used to make up rhymes when she took her young family off in the car:
Aldershot bagshot bullshit all on a Saturday night.
Cookham, Bookham, Fookham- we'll never be home tonight.
Points for the most entertaining one of these from your team, please.

The Assistants were most vocal on their night out in Whitstable. And speaking of being rowdy- we would recommend you be careful of the taxis if you are not staying in Canterbury- we were staying with an assistant in Whitstable after our night of 'real aleing' and the taxi back was astronomically expensive. But explore the pubs of Canterbury if you've managed to ditch your vehicle- there are some nice ones- and if you've managed to sell something large recently then you may be able to afford the rowdy cab home too, if required..