Day One of the holiday from home.

Today we went to Diggerland Kent, on the banks of the Medway. From the carpark there were amazing views over the river and in the distance you could clearly see the massive keep of Rochester Castle.

We had an absolutely wonderful time there. My 15 year old daughter got to drive an automatic four wheel drive car with the rest of us in the back and the marshal sitting beside her in the front. She didn't do too badly at all.

Alex got to have a couple of goes on his own as we stretched his age to 5 so he didn't miss out. He has the most amazing eye hand coordination for his age (4 1/2) and managed his JCB digging with less problems than some adults.



However, I have to admit that my favourite part of this visit was getting to drive a large JCB myself. Very bouncy but the steering is surprisingly light.























We thought that would be a complete day but we'd pretty much finished by lunchtime, added to which the park was filling up and the queues for some of the rides were getting very long. There was a large party of men and boys from a religious sect, wearing skull caps with their hair shaved close to their heads except for two long bits dangling down from just in front of their ears. I couldn't think what sect they belonged to although they looked slightly Jewish. However, unfortunately they were also hogging all the rides and making it difficult for others to get on, so we decided to call it a day and move on to Chislehurst Caves.

They were fantastic. They're not really caves as they're manmade - more mines really. They are carved from the chalk and flint landscape and there are 20 miles of them under Chislehurst. The tour took just over 45 minutes and our guide was great. He made the tour such fun, involving all members of the group, telling ghost stories and historical stories. The mines had been used as shelters during the 2nd world war and he had a wealth of stories about them. He even took all the oil lanterns away (no electric lights, lanterns only, makes it more interesting) and left us in the dark for a while.

If ever you are in the area I'd definitely recommend a trip to the caves, if only to talk to the guides who have a wonderful sense of humour.

Tomorrow, possibly Dover Castle - just down the road really and I have been before, but they've just recently re-opened the Keep after doing it up to look as it would have looked during the time of Henry VIII. Alex has never been and Ivan (who's a local and should know better) has never been to the wartime experience in the tunnels beneath the castle.

So far, so good, and I'm managing to keep up with knitting my Mum's cardi. Hope to have a picture for you all very shortly.