Hastings Battleaxe enjoys the sun in Tenterden

We have had some fabulous sunny weather recently, and we went for an outing to Tenterden. We go reasonably often, but have not written a blog post about the place for years. Not since 2016 in fact, here is the link.  It is a bit exciting getting there from Hastings now because of the roadworks and potholes. But had a good mooch round, spent money and had lunch in our favourite Turkish restaurant. The trees in the High Street were surrounded by beautiful crocuses…

Getting there? Oh purleeze. There have been roadworks on the A21 on the way out of Hastings  for months now. I just can’t be bothered writing about it, suffice it to say that it is a complete outrage and an utter disgrace. The upshot of this is that it is impossible to get onto the A28 that leads to Tenterden without taking to the little lanes. We usually did this anyway, but now they are snarled with traffic and full of huge potholes where the road surface has been destroyed. Talk about a white knuckle ride. Then the potholes on the main road aren’t great either – and you hit them harder going faster. It normally takes about 30 minutes to drive from our house to Tenterden, but this time it was longer.

As I said in 2016, Tenterden is ideal for a browse, up one side of the High Street and back down the other, with a trip to Waitrose thrown in. Back then I complained about the entitled nests of yummy mummies cluttering up Cafe Nero, near where park to start our walk. Well, next door to Nero they have now opened a huge place called the Calvero Lounge, a big faux Art Deco cafe-bar eaterie.  It didn’t look too bad to me, but the yummy mummies and their broods had obviously migrated to there, so we were able to enjoy relative peace in Cafe Nero for coffee.

I thought the Calvero had a familiar look, and looking at the Lounges website, I see that the Tenterden place is in the same chain as two places we used to quite like in Birmingham, the Loco Lounge in Kings Heath and the Sorrento Lounge in Moseley.  Interesting.

There has been quite a turnover of shops in the last few years. Some of the antique shops have closed, but there is a very good newish antique place down a little passage opposite the Calvero. It’s called Sid’s Emporium. Quite small from the street, but massive inside. Has good arty/crafty things as well as antiques. Further along on the same side is another favourite shop of mine, Rising Star, full of lovely clothes, Indian and oriental things… very high-end nick-nackery. Plenty of other good browsing places along that side of the the street, including Ethel Loves Me, offering a range of work from local artists/crafters. Talking of high-end, Tenterden has got a bit ott… advertising very niche things. Look at this lot! Obviously aimed at the affluent.

Interestingly , here’s the venerable WI notice board, mounted on the side of a building. It has been there, empty and looking neglected, ever since we started going to Tenterden, but look now, it is being used!

Our favourite Turkish resturant of all time is the Ozgur, down towards the far end of the High Street – the Hastings end. It is now the outer limit of our mooch tours, before going back on the other side. It doesn’t have a website, but here is the Facebook page link.  Battleaxe and Philosopher should know about Turkish food after all our years travelling there, and we would totally recommend this one. The service is good and the food is fresh and very tasty.  We just had mezes this time, and were absolutely stuffed. You can sit outside in the sun, and lots of people were, but we opted for shade.

Then, we staggered across the High Street and set off back down the other side.  Plenty of excellent shops here, some of which we didn’t even get to. In the old days, we used to eat in the White Lion pub… Bought things in White Stuff, avoided the many delights of Webbs, succumbed to the irresistible further delights of the Pilgrims Hospice Vintage Charity Shop and  Mostyn Mackenzie shoes, then it was time for Waitrose.

Tenterden has a very good town website, giving all details of everything. Here is the link.

To finish up, the gold glittery bits on the church tower shining in the sun, and a final few crocuses. Why are these so big and healthy looking?