English village

We had run out of milk, so I hadn’t had my coffee. It was a gorgeous sunny day, though, and I wanted to get outside for some fresh air. My plan was to visit Aylesford in Kent, walk around and hopefully find a coffee I could take with me. It was sunny enough that I thought I might even need my sunglasses.

This was a 2021 outing, when going inside places wasn’t an option for us. I was still pleased to be able to get out, feel the sun on my face and see somewhere new. Before wandering through the village, we stopped at nearby Aylesford Priory, where the birds were already making themselves heard.

A noisy welcome, then some quiet

There were geese honking away when I tried to introduce the priory. I kept apologising for the noise, as though I could do much about it, and asking them to stop. The grounds felt huge to me. During that visit, I described the parking and walking around outside as free, with a donation being a nice thing to leave.

The point of being there was to wander and see what we could find. In the part of the grounds shown here, stone buildings surround an open paved space, with bare-branched trees between them and a bright blue sky overhead. It gave me plenty to look at while staying outside, which was how we were spending the day.

Stone buildings, bare-branched trees and an open paved area at Aylesford Priory
The buildings and open grounds at Aylesford Priory during this visit.

Later, in a back area of the grounds, everything felt very quiet. We’d only seen two other people, and all I could hear was the birds. I thought it was probably the most peaceful moment of my 2021 so far. That is quite a verdict for a walk, but it was how the place felt to me at the time.

I was happy with the fresh air and sunshine. The place looked pretty, and being able to wander around it was enough for that part of the afternoon. The noisy geese at the start and the quiet area later were both part of the same visit, rather than a promise that every part of the priory would be silent.

Into Aylesford village

After leaving the priory, we drove into Aylesford itself. I described that as around a three-minute drive. My next attempt to talk had a different interruption: lots of cars around the spot I’d chosen. Apparently I hadn’t chosen the best place to film, but I still wanted to walk around and enjoy the day.

The part of the village I was looking at had a very small, pretty, historical-looking high street and a pedestrian bridge. That was what I wanted to wander around. I wasn’t going into shops or making a full day of indoor visits; this was a look around the outside of the village while the weather was good.

A pub would have been nice

By the end, I could definitely have used a pub. It wasn’t part of what we could do on that visit, but I wanted to come back to Aylesford and try some local pubs when that became possible. For this outing, the priory grounds and the walk around the village were the experience I had.

I had enjoyed getting some fresh air, seeing new things and finally having some sun on my face. It felt as though it had been a long time. I wanted to do more visits to smaller villages around Kent, and eventually elsewhere in the UK as things changed. Aylesford had given me a very pretty place to start.

Watch my outdoor visit to Aylesford Priory and village.