For our first coach trip this year we visited Goodnestone Park near Canterbury and although we drove in a continual downpour, it stopped just before we arrived and then remained dry. We were shown round the lovely house, built in 1704 by Brook Bridges, which looks out across a most attractive landscape and afterwards wandered through the beautiful and varied gardens in which the roses in particular were magnificent. These gardens were created by generations of the Fitzwalter family who have lived here ever since the house was fisrt built. What a gem of a place, no wonder Jane Austen liked to visit, we certainly did!