Day 269 - The Hythe Festival

Just love this poster created by a local
Hythe artist.

You just have to love the people of Hythe. They even threw a festival for our arrival -- complete with a fireworks display!

As much as we may like to believe that, it was simply serendipity that we arrived in the midst of the town's biennial festivities (in alternating years they have a Venetian Fete). The 9-day Hythe Festival of Arts and Heritage began 30 years ago as a way to celebrate the Tour de France, which was to come through the town that year. The festival was also meant to help ease the fears of the High Street shopkeepers who thought they'd lose customers when the Town Council decided to pedestrianize the street during day hours. Today the event consists of art studio and garden strolls, several music concerts, theatre, parades, sporting events, and of course lots and lots of food. Most impressive, it's free to attend most events and all of it is put together by volunteers.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. First I should be telling you a bit about our host town ...

Hythe is located in the county of Kent on England's southeast coast. Most days, you can see clear across the English Channel to the French coastline in the area around Calais.  The name tells a lot about why the place was settled in this location as it means "haven" or "landing place."

When the Romans settled nearby, the sea came right up to a series of terraces upon most of which present-day Hythe is built. As a result of its position by the sea, the town become one of what are still known as the Cinq Ports. In Anglo-Saxon times, the five coastal towns of Hastings, New Romney, Hythe, Dover and Sandwich were granted certain rights to self-govern in exchange for helping defend the English coast against invasion. Each town was to supply one ship in the event of war (something they often weren't able to do when called upon). In 1293, 200 French did try to invade the town itself, but were chased back out to sea.

Over hundreds of years, the port that made Hythe such an important harbour gradually silted up. The town's High Street lies on what was once the coastline. You now have to walk another half mile to come to the coast, that is how much the area has silted up in this location.

These band mates were having fun rowing in the canal and blowing a
euphonium (Phil's public school instrument ... lol!)

When Napoleon was providing a risk for invasion, a 28-mile defensive canal was built from Seabrook, near Hythe, to Hastings along old the line of the cliffs. The idea was that it would provide a blockade of sorts against invaders providing troops an opportunity to shoot anyone who crossed it. Of course, Napoleon had already successfully crossed a few major rivers in his war efforts, so a 30-foot wide canal may not have been as big a deterrent as hoped. As it turns out, he met his Waterloo and all was good in Hythe.

The canal now has walking paths on both sides which are bordered by shady trees, and it was here that our welcome festival was being held. In the afternoon, Phil and I enjoyed a lovely walk along the seaside down to the start of the canal at Seabrook where we then took the canal route back to town.

The Hythe Military Canal in the wilder environs outside of town on the way to Seabrook.

Joining the crowds along the banks.

Never ones to turn down a fireworks display, we decided to enjoy the musical attractions on offer (including a musical Michael Buble tribute called Michael Duble). We walked to a local fish and chip shop and managed to be the last order in of the day before the shop closed. We took our dinner to a local park which was surprisingly quiet given its proximity to the canal, and enjoyed our meal before joining the locals for the fireworks. We even managed to get a prime spot on the Town Bridge over the canal to watch the spectacle.

There's lots more to Hythe, but I'll save that for future blogs as we explore this lovely town.