Good Friday Ride from Otford to All Saints' Church Tudeley

This is a ride to visit All Saints' Church in Tudeley, which is the only church in the world that has all its windows in stained glass designed by Marc Chagall.

You can join this ride by catching the 09.12 train from Blackfriars, which passes through Crofton Park at 09.30 and then arrives at Otford at 10.07.

We'll ride from Otford along the Pilgrims' Way, and then via Ightham Mote (NT), to All Saints' Church, Tudeley, where we hope to be able go in and see the Chagall windows (a £3.00 donation for entry to the Church is requested). In 1963, Sarah the daughter of Sir Henry and Lady D'Avigdor-Goldsmid who owned near-by Somerhill House,was drowned in a sailing accident off Rye, East Sussex. In her memory, the couple commissioned Russian-French artist Marc Chagall to design a stained glass window for the church, which was installed in 1967. When Chagall arrived for the dedication of the east window in 1967, and saw the church for the first time, he exclaimed "C'est magnifique! Je les ferai tous!" ("It's magnificent! I will do them all!"). Over the next ten years Chagall designed the remaining eleven windows, made again in collaboration with the glassworker Charles Marq in his workshop at Reims in northern France. The last windows were installed in 1985, just before Chagall's death.

We then cycle back to Otford via Tonbridge.

You can take a train back to London from Tonbridge if you want to do a shorter ride, but unfortunately there will only be trains back to London via Redhill (not via Otford) on Friday (so you wouldn't be able to get back to Otford easily to pick up a car if you had driven to the start point).

The return trip from Otford and back to Otford is about 37 miles.

Ride Leader: Nigel Bee (tel 07415 315 690, email [email protected] )