A Day Made in Maidstone

My husband's company sent him to the little town of Maidstone in England for a business trip, so I tagged along and did some exploring while he was at work.

Archbishops Palace (Maidstone)

When we headed to the airport on Tuesday morning to catch our flight, there was not a cloud in the sky. It was one of the prettiest days we've had since I've been here, and it almost seemed a shame to waste it in the train and the airport. Imagine our surprise, then, when we found out our flight had been delayed an hour due to freezing fog conditions in London. We'd already gone through security at the gate, so we were pretty much stuck entertaining ourselves and people watching until the plane arrived. When we first got to the gate, we'd spotted a guy in a torn up pilot hat and another with long British-band hair. My husband joked that the first guy must be our pilot and then asked if I thought they were in a band or if they were just British. Later, we figured out that the Gorillaz and many of the stage crew members for De La Soul were on our flight. When we reached customs, they corralled all band members and crew into a pen in order to complete some work for permits.

After the semi-excitement of the flight, we headed to Maidstone. Once we located the hotel, it was approaching 3pm, and we stopped for a bite of food in the hotel restaurant before the men went off to the hospital for a couple hours of work. Since there were only a couple minutes of day light left, I made the best of my time in the hotel room and even ironed some of the wrinkled clothes in our bags!

Wednesday was my opportunity to explore. The guys wanted to be at the hospital (where they were working) a little after 8, so it was up to me to find my way from there to any sightseeing adventures. First, I took a bus into the town of Maidstone and spent some time walking around the town. Many of the museums and historical businesses were either closed for the morning or for the whole winter, but I still had fun walking around and taking some pictures:

All Saints Church

All Saints Church

I enjoyed walking through the church grounds, seeing the Archbishops' Palace, and checking out the town. You'll notice that the weather decided to turn cloudy for my day out and about.

When the visitor's center opened up, I went inside and found out which bus to take to get to Leeds Castle (which I'll post all about in a separate post very soon). I spend a couple hours at the castle, made my way back to Maidstone, and enjoyed lunch at The Muggleton Inn.

The Muggleton Inn

British Beef and Abbey Ale Pie

Finally, I took a bus back the the hospital, met the guys, and we headed back to the airport. It was a lot of adventure to fit into a day. My favorite part was definitely Leeds Castle, which will be coming soon!