This month we're delighted to announce the launch of 'the george dragons', the new privilege card from The George in Rye. Become a dragon, and you'll get exclusive monthly discounts and offers that you can take advantage of as many times as you like. Its free to join and you can sign up for your card online, here.
Lots of you enjoy visiting the beautiful and unusual gardens of Great Dixter when you're here. When we found out that their head gardener Fergus Garrett runs Garden Study Days we seized the chance to team up with them. Book a place on one of Fergus' fun and practical tutorials (upcoming events include Exotic Gardening, and a day on how to choose the best plants) and you receive a special Room Rate which includes Breakfast and Dinner, starting from 150 per room. Look here for more on Garden Study Breaks at The George in Rye. In any case, the Dahlias are out at Great Dixter right now in full force, so head over to take a look as they really are quite something.
If you're more of a bibliophile, you'll enjoy The Rye Arts Festival in September, which attracts some of our most celebrated writers and artists. We are hosting five events for this year's festival, ranging from live music to readings and illustrated talks. The highlight: join Louis de Bernieres and Ilone Antonius-Jones (right) on Friday 19th September for a lovely afternoon listening to their charming music interspersed with jewels from Louis' new, compelling and deeply moving love story, A Partisan's Daughter. More on this, and other Rye Arts Festival events, here.
If you're feeling glum from the wet summer, take heart from the bottom picture which shows me (Alex) and brave (or foolish) friends of The George getting soaked at the annual Rye Raft Race, a local tradition where you make a raft, set sail down the River Rother, and pray to God that you won't sink.
Enjoy the rest of the summer!
Best Wishes
Alex and Katie Clarke
This is part of my website The FG that I built in a fury of excitement when I first came here sometime in '04. I had been a frequent visitor for a while previous to that but I am technically one of those DFLs you get nowadays. This site was updated more frequently with a gig calendar and voting for best venues + things, + I know it was a useful resource for those who were moving to the area. Now I've moved out of Folkestone again (though only a couple of miles) it doesn't get as much attention as it used to. Ironic really as The town is now becoming the exciting place we always thought it was about to become. My name is not Gerald by the way, this comes from the name of a pretend newspaper in an episode of The Day Today or something, the Portsmouth Gerald, + how there is a local newspaper here called the Folkestone Herald. Puns like this are great aren't they? Do contact me if you have anything to contribute, email anythign @ this domain, or try @folkestone or @pauly on the twitter.