Supplimental

So, you know this 1400 year old corpse we were going to see? Well, it was more like 5000 years old, Neolithic, anyway and there were twenty two bodies.
And finding it was… interesting. In hindsight, we perhaps would have benefited from having an Ordnance Survey map. But, you know, there’s getting it right, and there’s having fun.

Being Mothering Sunday, the chances of getting into eat anywhere was unlikely. Therefore we planned to pop by Tesco’s deli to get food on the way home.

The National Trust Handbook doesn’t give useful things like co-ordinates, or post codes, or specific directions. All we had was ‘Coldrum Long Barrow’ which was apparently quite near Trottiscliffe. So we picked a likely looking road and programmed it into the sat nav. And ended up between a tractor and a plough in someone’s barn.
Obviously not being in the right place, we headed into Trottiscliffe. And there in the centre was a pretty little sign pointing to Coldrum. So we followed the sign, eagerly looking out for brown National Trust signs and ended up in Vigo. Anyone else having Lord of the Rings thoughts? Hmmm, perhaps only us LotR geeks.
Anyway, we followed the only brown signs we could find which took us to Trosley Country Park. Which looks kinda nice actually, apart from the vast quantity of dog walkers and the poo they left behind. I went and asked for directions, while Chris checked out the underside of the car after all the incredibly vicious speed bumps in the area. I found two not terribly bright, but incredibly helpful young ladies who were able to tell me that we needed to go back to the centre of Trottiscliffe, locate The George pub (which is very obvious), and ask for directions in there. Marvellous idea. A random person suggested that there were signs on the way back into Trottiscliffe which couldn’t be seen on the way out, which was the way we came.
We failed to spot any signs either way, but located The George easily. Very nice man behind bar helpfully provided us with drinks, and informed us that while they were fully booked for lunch, we could eat in the bar if we so wished. We enquired about Coldrum Long Barrow and was met with a blank look quickly followed by ‘ooh-arr, you be meaning them Coldrum Stones, then.’
Okay well, maybe. Who knows? He gave us directions to the stones and we rewarded him by buying lunch. Much better than Tesco’s deli any day. After a lovely lunch, and armed with the knowledge that these Stones were just a couple of miles away, we walked along the road to Coldrum. Now, when we’d gone by car, the signpost in the centre clearly said Coldrum was in one direction, however, when one stood directly underneath the signpost, it became clear that it was in fact at a slight angle indicating that it was in fact down a completely different road.
Once we one got to Coldrum, the National Trust signs suddenly started popping up all over the place, and gave us confirmation that Coldrum Long Barrow, and Coldrum Stones were one and the same. After walking through a couple of swamps, a couple of fields and a deep and gloomy forest, we burst out into sunlight where a bunch of rocks sat on top of a grassy knoll. They looked like they’d been lurking for quite a while. On approach we had spotted a group of three people taking pictures of each other sitting on the rocks.
The rocks are surrounded by a very neat wooden fence, and by the time we arrived these three people were suddenly on the outside of the fence scuffing their toes all innocent like. After checking carefully around the area and finding no signage indicating that one was not allowed beyond the fence, we climbed over and took our own pictures. The three people immediately relaxed and Chris helped them take group shots. It was a small monument thingy, but quite spectacular in an understated way.
On the return walk, we followed our noses and discovered footpaths making the journey much shorter. A very good thing, as the last two hundred yards was plagued by strong winds, preceding the sleet with hail that hit just as we entered the car park. Excellent timing.
I took camcorder, but forgot to take the lens cap off.