U.K: Kingsdown (near Deal, which is near Dover, in Kent... England)

I went to stay with Rob & Ro, friends of my grandparents whose children my Dad was friends with when he lived in England as a kid. They live in a tiny seaside town near Dover, in a lovely house with the most amazing garden I´ve ever seen. Think ´Secret garden´mixed with the garden from the ´Charm Bracelet´ series mixed together with Famous 5 clubhouses, cubbies, hidden swings, fairy circles, fish ponds, Ro´s handmade hidden treasures all through the bushes, Peter Rabbit´s veggie garden and a hidden shed covered in ivy. I would have gone nuts playing in there as a kid!

For the next couple of days Rob & Ro took me on bike rides, walks through the woods (badgers and foxes and rabbits and everything!) to Dover castle and Deal castle, we played lawn tennis and croquet and they introduced me to prawning in the English Channel! I didn´t mind standing in the water scooping them up in the net, but I hated the feel of picking them out of the net all slimy and sharp and jumpy!

There is a maze of tunnels in the White Cliffs of Dover which we explored around, they were used first in Napoleonic wars and then expanded to be a massive base in WWII and they were set up as if everyone had just left the room and you were back in time to the war... food on tables, cigarettes in ashtrays, phones ringing, sound of planes flying overhead etc which set a great mood in there.

Dover castle was fantastic, different yet again to the elegant French chateaux and the Irish ruins I´ve seen so far. It was massive and square and defensive, with all sorts of hidden passage ways and murder holes to pour boiling oil down onto enemies, and fires burning in the grates and shooting galleries facing out on all sides. There were even holographic projections of medieval people going about their daily business in there!
So many layers of history all heaped together here, a Roman lighthouse from 1AD next to a medieval castle and then 20th century war base...

I got on so well with Rob & Ro, they were so full of life and energy and good conversation, I´ve decided when I´m older I want Christine´s book collection and Rob & Ro´s garden (and their amazing painting skills would be nice too!) I feel like I have a 3rd pair of grandparents now!

From the ferry port I got a bus to Bruges (assumed it would go on a ferry but no! The bus drove straight onto a freight train which went under the channel in the tunnel!)