A few weekends ago my partner's 21st birthday arrived and we decided we wanted to go on a day trip!
Day 1: We took the bus to Canterbury since our trip was relatively last minute and rail tickets were a bit too expensive. The good news is that the round trip tickets were about 17 pounds per person and only 2 hours! When we got there, we checked into the hotel almost immediately. We stayed at the Premier Inn, which was very reasonably priced and a walking distance from downtown Canterbury.
After we gathered our bearings in the hotel room, we took to the town! We went to Canterbury Cathedral almost immediately. Fair warning, admission is pretty pricey (17 pounds per person), but is absolutely beautiful. We walked around the grounds a bit before going inside the Cathedral. While we were there, we were lucky enough to catch one of their free mini lectures! We heard about English Kings who were buried in the Cathedral. After the mini-lecture, we explored the rest of it. I personally enjoyed the crypt the most, not because of the actual tombs, but because they had a small museum-like presentation down there. There were different garments from different time periods with information about them! One thing I would recommend is getting an audio tour. Unfortunately, we got there too late to be able to get the audio tour, but I found myself curious about so many things I saw there and wished I had the background information on them!
After the Cathedral, we wandered around the town! There are so many cute shops there, and wonderful medieval/roman architecture. We walked towards the river, the River Stour, and checked out the Marlowe Theatre! We didn’t end up seeing anything at this theatre, but it was still absolutely beautiful and I would love to go back sometimes.
We ended the night with a lovely Italian dinner at The Wildwood. I had a carbonara pizza, something I had not previously known existed, and it was incredible!! We ended the night off by going to the local Wetherspoons and chatting it up in the pub.
Day 2: We started the day by walking into town, with no clear objective. To save money, we got breakfast at a Greggs and coffee at a Pret so as to not spend too much money. After eating, we decided we wanted to go to the Roman museum!
The Roman museum was tons of fun, there was a free audio tour and every room there was a recreation of what Roman life would’ve been like. Additionally, the museum was built on the top of a Roman manor’s ruins, so we got to see it at the end! With a student discount is was only about 8 pounds per person, we also got some funny pictures with the roman helmets.
After this, we had a lovely afternoon tea at The Moat’s Tea Room. It was an incredibly lovely place, very traditional and a great experience! We split a pot of earl gray and ate some cake!
And thus concludes our trip. I highly recommend Canterbury to anyone who would like to travel there!
Megan Kempton
My name is Megan Kempton and I am a junior at American University studying Musical Theatre and Communication studies. I'm going to London to study and to embark on an internship. In my free time I like writing, reading, puzzles, and making music!
