The Heritage Buddy

Kent is a county FULL of history; from the Roman Villa at Lullingstone, to Medieval christian pilgrimage routes to Rochester or Canterbury, to hop farming county-wide and brewing ale to the spitfires dogfighting the Luftwaffe in the skies above.  Whilst volunteering remotely for the Imperial War Museum's War Memorial Register, I learnt about a hidden treasure in Sevenoaks that I had to go and see for myself.  Cornwall Hall Auxiliary Hospital Cornwall Hall was an VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachment) Hospital set up in September 1914, which were located anywhere, including local churches, schools and community settings.  The ex-VAD hospital was located at The Drive Methodist Church in Sevenoaks; if you cross the car park to the left of the church building, there is the church hall, which is still named Cornwall Hall (pictured below). It was managed by nurse Kathleen Mansfield, Commandant of the VAD 76 Hospital.  A brass tablet is mounted up on the wall on the right as you co...

Did you know that lavender has been used for many different purposes throughout history? The inspiration for this blog post came from when my mother, who works as a gardener on a private estate, brought home a whole bunch of lavender sprigs for me to harvest and keep the buds for my embroidered lavender bags I like to craft.  Above: My harvesting process and my filling lavender jar on my Instagram story. As we know, lavender is a purple flower that blooms in season from late May through to mid-July, and is harvested from late July through to early September. It is known for its sweet and relaxing scent that is beneficial for stress, anxiety, depression and sleep-related difficulties, which is most commonly used for in this modern day, but can also be infused as a herbal tea. (Yes, lavender is also considered a medicinal herb, there will be more on that later in the post).  Traditional uses of lavender include aromatic (for scent inhalation), carminative (helps relieve flatulen...