Canterbury visit 2020
Day One
Alhamdulillah, we visited Canterbury, Kent. We stayed
at the Premier Inn hotel, which was located only 5 minutes away from the Bus
station and city centre. The hotel itself was clean with good facilities; we
had tea and coffee provided with a kettle too, as well as essential toiletries.
The staff were friendly and welcoming.
“Canterbury, a cathedral city in southeast England,
was a pilgrimage site in the Middle Ages. Ancient walls, originally built by
the Romans, encircle its medieval centre with cobbled streets and timber-framed
houses. Canterbury Cathedral, founded 597 A.D., is the headquarters of the
Church of England and Anglican Communion, incorporating Gothic and Romanesque
elements in its stone carvings and stained-glass windows.”
Canterbury is a beautiful place. We liked the
architecture of the churches and the cathedral. The archbishop of Canterbury is
based here.
The people in Canterbury were amazing. Lovely people.
We both wear Islamic attire and didn’t feel uncomfortable at all. Majority
people were ‘white’/English, but they were genuinely nice and welcoming - from
workers to the public.
The history of Canterbury is interesting. Some of the
churches as well as the cathedral were established in 597AD - that’s when
Rasulullah Sallallahu Alayhiwasallam was 27 years old!
Westgate Gardens
We strolled along the Westgate Gardens, which is by
the River Stour. It’s a long stretch of greenery, quite never-ending! People
come here to relax, for picnics, or a walk. The river hosts punting and there
are local punting tours available too.
This was perhaps our favourite area, due to the
different spots to visit such as the river side, flowers, ponds etc.
We had dinner, getting some veggie burgers and wraps.
It was a bit too oily! But Alhamdulillah for food.
Day Two
Falconry
One of the activities we did was Falconry. Falconry is
the hunting of wild animals in their natural state and habitat by means of a
trained bird of prey. However, the birds we worked with didn’t really get to
hunt, apart from a Harris Hawk who pounced on a mouse after she flew from my
hands!
We left our hotel at around 8:30am heading towards
Faversham. We took the local Stagecoach bus, for which we purchased a week’s
ticket for two people. The ticket was on one of our mobile phones, we just needed
to show the two tickets to the driver each time. You will need to download the
Stagecoach app to use this facility. Quite straightforward. The app also has a
journey planner and expected arrivals of buses etc.
We were quite unfamiliar with the bus system. In
London we are used to hearing the next stops on the tannoy. However, here like
many other places, there is no announcements made. So, we had to look out for
the stops ourselves. And we missed it! After pressing the stop button, the
driver was unable to stop as I pressed it too late. When he did stop, he
apologised profusely!
We both walked back along the country lane (with cars
passing by fast and very close by on both sides!) for the correct bus stop. We
had to catch another one to get closer to the falconry place. The bus stopped a few meters away from the
bus stop, once again the bus driver apologised profusely!
After getting off the bus, we had to walk around 15
minutes through villages and quiet country lanes. It was lovely seeing greenery,
fields, orchards etc on our way.
We finally came to Mount Ephraim Gardens, where we did
the falconry experience. Here other activities such as archery, axe-throwing
etc also take place.
Our falconry experience was booked with Joe's Bows
Archery. We waited in a field until 10:30am, with a small group of people who
joined us for the activity.
We were shown different birds such as an African Owl,
a buzzard, a Harris Hawk, a barn Owl and finally a falcon.
The birds are amazing creatures. We are fans of Harry
Potter, so learning and being with the birds reminded us of the Care of Magical
Creatures lessons! Although Hagrid wasn’t our teacher! One of the owls we met
can hear the heartbeat of a mouse! SubhanAllah.
Each of us took turns to handle the birds. We wore a
disposable glove (due to Covid-19) and leather falconry glove. The instructor
would entice the birds with small bits of food, and it would then land calmly
and gently on our hands.
It was a lovely experience Masha Allah. Would
recommend anyone to try it. If you want to try an experience, visit
https://www.joesbows.co.uk/
Mount Ephraim Gardens
Mount Ephraim Gardens is an Edwardian terraced garden
located at Hernhill, near Faversham. The entry is usually £7 for adults, but
since we booked the falconry, we were allowed a free entry. It is 800 acres and
is owned by the Dawes family.
The Garden is huge. It contains various plants and
trees, hedges, a lake, a miz maze (look up the definition on Google!), seating
areas and even a tennis court. There are also two ponies at the entrance of the
garden. A huge house is here, now used as a Bed and Breakfast. There is a small
tearoom but due to Covid-19 they are offering a takeaway service selling
sandwiches, tea/coffee, and cakes. We had a delicious freshly baked banana
cake!
Even after a few hours of walking around, we still
were not able to fully explore the whole area! By the afternoon we decided to
leave.
On our way back through the village roads, we saw some
lovely people once again - an old lady was doing gardening and gave us a little
wave!
In the evening, we decided to explore other parts of
Canterbury. We walked around the Canterbury walls, which was built by the
Romans. We saw the crumbling Canterbury Castle, various old churches and went
atop the Dane John Mound - a former Roman cemetery which is built as a moat.
It's quite scary at the top!
We finished the day off with some vegetarian pizza!
Unfortunately, we couldn’t find any Halal food shops. We probably saw 4-5
Muslims too throughout our whole trip. But Alhamdulillah.
Our third day
We had planned to go to Dover but were quite hesitant
due to the weather - rain and thunderstorms were forecasted.
We went for a stroll near the Greyfriars Park, seeing
more old church ruins. We then headed for The Beaney House of Art &
Knowledge. It contains local arts and artefacts. Interestingly we found out
that the author of the famous Rupert Bear stories, Mary Tourtel, was born and
raised in Canterbury.
Amongst the various artwork, we came across two items
that caught our eyes: A small container with the word ‘Alhamdulillah’ written
on and a 20th century Nigerian tablet with Surah Al-Fatiha and the first few
ayats of Surah Al-Baqarah.
Dover
After we finished at the museum, the weather seemed to
improve. So, we decided to go down to Dover via the local buses. We checked the
Stagecoach app, went to the bus station, and waited for the bus.
The buses weren’t packed during our time here, mostly
due to social distancing. We noticed that the elderly and young people use buses
mostly.
From the bus stop we walked about half an hour to the
White Cliffs. On the way up, we picked blackberries. There were so many
blackberry bushes here!
It was beginning to rain lightly and a storm was
brewing. We could see the Dover Castle. With the sounds of thunder, the odd
flash of lightning and the heavy dark clouds behind it, the castle in the
distance was an incredible sight! The storm was intensifying so we decided
it’ll be safer to go back down. It didn’t take long, and we were on the roads
again.
We did attempt to go to the castle, but kind of lost
our way! It would have to wait for another time inshaAllah.
Once we got back to our hotel, we decided to not let
the weather hinder us and to continue to make the most of the rest of the time
we had left here. We went around exploring the Roman walls and more old
churches. At night we had a humble dinner from Tesco and soup sachets. But then
we had some desserts from Kaspas as a treat! Hot fudge cookie dough and Kinder
Bueno waffles!
The last day
We wanted to check out the Masjid. As it was a little
far from our hotel, we couldn't plan to go there for Salah times. We took the
bus again. It was a little walk from the stop, going passed a boarding school.
The Masjid is quite humble in its features. It has a dedicated space for women
too. We couldn’t pray in there due to it not being Salah time.
We then took a walk around the University of Kent and
explored the different surroundings. The views from the local park was
incredible, with the Canterbury Cathedral popping up in the distance.
After checking our map, waiting a good 30 minutes for
the bus to arrive, we finally came back to our hotel. We then went to the city
centre to do a bit of shopping. Whilst we were on the bus, we noticed a level
crossing. This was quite exciting as we had always wanted to check one out. So
we got off the bus and went to the crossing.
Cars would stop for the trains to go by. It was one of
those moments, being able to walk over the train tracks, safely and legally!
Alhamdulillah, we got our luggage from the hotel which
they kept for us since we checked out in the morning. We then jumped on the
National Express and headed back home.
The day ended with having Iftar with the family, as it
was Ashura, and enjoying some roast chicken from Team Hope’s Food Campaign for
a Masjid in Somaliland.
Canterbury was good; people were lovely, and the
experience was amazing. All praise is for Allah.
Check out my vlog from the trip and don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to my channel!
Haji
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