Assignment four: A sense of Place

Assignment four out of five and I need to write a travel but not tourism piece about somewhere I know well.  I have chosen to do Faversham, a small medieval market town in Kent.

I wanted to show the different sides of this town, with its busy market three days a week to the creek where barges would have sailed to the brewery which still operates from here.

Taking first the main part of the town with its Guild Hall standing on stilts right in the centre.  This has the market underneath it and also spread along Court Street on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.  On the other days in the summer tables and chairs are placed out there by the many cafes that are positioned along the road.

These two photographs show how the town centre changes on a market day and a none market day.
As you can see market days are bustling with plenty of people out and about looking at the various stalls with a variety of goods on sale.

 The photograph above shows West Street which is just off the Market Place, again there is real mixture of building styles, the blue and white building which is just visible in the left hand side of the photograph above used to be a public house and according to the information below there has  been an Inn here since the 16th Century when Henry VIII's fleet lay at anchor in Faversham Creek.

 The timbered building below houses the shop for Shepherd Neame Brewery which I believe is one of the oldest if not the oldest brewers in the Country.

Tours are available to round the brewery and it is worth doing if at all possible.It is possible to see old vehicles which would have been used earlier and much of the 'inner roads' of the brewery are still the original bricked roads, although there is more modern equipment used in some of the brewery.

Staying with the brewery each August a Hop Festival is held in the town, this is a very large well attended event, with bands playing in and around the town as well as in several of the public Houses.  Various beers are available to be enjoyed.  The shops all use hops to decorate their windows many of them using the hops as part of elaborate designs, people are also able to purchase hops in the Market place and many people choose to have garlands made to wear on their heads.  Morris dancers are also a big part of the festival as is the steam train which comes down from London as it would have done at the height of hop picking. Tickets to do this must be booked in advance and are always sold out.

Journey now down Court Street and you can head towards Creek, as I previously stated this would have been a very busy important part of the town in days gone by.  These days there are two groups of people both fighting over the future of it.  One group want to see trendy bars allowed along with restaurants and there are a couple of these springing up,the other group want it to stay as it is. My personal thoughts on the matter that the two should be able to co exist. I Like the idea of being able to sit outside in the summer watching the boats in the creek but i also appreciate that old crafts should not be removed but rather encouraged.

As you can see from the photographs above houses are now being build along the edge of the creek the house in the middle photograph has a  spectacular view not only of the creek but also the farm land it overlooks, this is one house I would be happy to own, just thinking about the photography opportunities makes me wish it was mine. the middle photograph also shows how the old and the new can work together and several barges are moored and restored on the creek.  The black and white photograph is taken to show a few of the local businesses that are now housed in the old buildings.

Another event that has been revieved this year is the hat festival, this leaves from the hat shop in West Street on Good Friday and makes its way through the town before disbanding. The photograph is the town  cryer and a lady on stilts, as this was the first year I think it may have to be viewed as a learning curve as it was very jumbled and what I had hopped would be a great photo opportunity ended up being a struggle to get anything.

My final photograph is about ten minutes walk away and is the local park, this is used for football matches, and,  as well as housing tennis courts and a large children's play area the fairground are here twice a year.

I hope you have enjoyed my travel guide of Faversham, I have had to use photographs taken through out the year as the Creek in Faversham with the tide out is not an interesting photograph and as I have said some events are only held once a  year.

Overall I am happy with my photographs I would have liked to photograph more of the brewery but at this moment in time I am unable to do so.  The areas I have chosen are the most used apart from the swimming pool but again this was not somewhere I was able to photograph.

I have worked in Faversham for the last five years and have grown to love the feel of the place, with all its odd characters not forgetting its famous residents including Sir Bob Geldof now that would have been a good photograph to get.


Results are in.

I am very pleased with my tutor's report, I have managed to capture Faversham and its people in a positive way and have been honest in my review about the things I would have liked to have photographed but for one reason or another didn't manage.

Onwards now to the final assignment of this level.