A Day at the Harbour

For the long Thanksgiving weekend this year, my husband and I crossed the pond and visited some friends living in Kent, England. We always have a great time with them because we have so many things in common -- the love for food, treasure hunting, and exploring little towns.

One of our day trips was at the Whitstable Harbour, also in Kent. 

It's a coastal town with a rich history in shipbuilding, 

fishing and diving. 

It's a very popular destination during the summer when the weather is nice and all you want to do is hang out by the ocean. Every July, there's an Oyster Festival where you can indulge in oysters and other seafood at very reasonable prices. Visitors eat these right there, with the view of the water.

Hooray for oyster shell recycling! 

Another claim to fame of Whitstable are the independent shops such as the butcher, a bakery, clothing and shoe boutiques, as well as toy stores and gift shops. No commercial establishments except maybe a bank and a sandwich shop.

 Isn't this candy store darling?

And this book store, too! 

There are several charity shops {their version of what we know as "thrift shops" in the US, where profits go to a specific charity} which were a joy to browse in. Many of them sell packs of Christmas cards just in time for holiday mailings.

In a corner of one gift shop, I found these -- wooden ornaments for 50 pence each! 

I'm not quite sure where they're made, but they remind me of Swedish ornaments {Is that a good assumption given that I've seen something similar in Ikea...heehee?}.

They don't exactly fit our white and silver-themed Christmas tree but I got them anyway. I can probably use them when we decide to add an accent color like red in the future.

Or I can turn them into gift toppers to add some TADA! to an otherwise blah package.