Soranks Manor Vintage Postcard

Here is a new postcard of Soranks Manor and garden, looking very pretty with the roses in full bloom, probably taken around June.

'Fairseat Road' postcard. This is now the junction of Fairseat Lane with A227.

I do love a vintage postcard of the area, and I've not seen this before. This is the junction of Fairseat Lane with the A227, which is a busy road and you certainly wouldn't want to sit there any more! The Ebay listing dated it to circa 1926. Why were the roads so white looking back then? I think it must pre-date Tarmac, so would still be dirt roads, or perhaps very chalky dirt roads?

Update October 2021: I saw one of these postcards which has been written on the back, it's dated August 1913, so this picture would have been taken previous to that. It's certainly over 100 years old.

Another version of the Postcard. 

'Bluebells in Stansted, Kent' watercolour by Beatrice Emma Parsons.

PARSONS Beatrice Emma, 1870-1955 (United Kingdom) 

Title : Bluebells at Stansted, Kent

Sold by Philips Auctioneers for between £1,000-1,500 in 2000.

I found this image of a watercolour on one of my general trawls around the internet. Cannot get hold of it any bigger. Certainly still looks like the woods and paths around here, thank goodness, despite being painted pre 1955.

Anchor & Hope, Circa 1930

The poor old Anchor and Hope is closed once again, and has been for quite a few months. It is very sad to lose the local pubs.

Pre 1918 postcard of Stansted Church

Front and back of a tinted photo of Stansted Church. The printed 1/2d postage block suggests that this card is dated pre June 1918, as after then postage for a postcard increased to 1d. So this card is an antique!

Old photo of Stansted school and Malthouse Lane houses in Stansted

Here is a postcard showing Malthouse Road, Stansted, with the school on right, and the houses along the other side of the road. Barely a tree in sight, I am guessing the houses were not that old at the time of the photo being taken. The village hall is also missing, so predates that. An interesting find and an image I have not seen before.

A mystery to solve - New Tea Rooms, Stansted

Here is a mystery. I've seen this postcard before, and always assumed it was not our Stansted, but the Stansted where the Airport now is, because I can't place the house, or the road. However, the message on the back of this postcard says it is 11 1/2 miles from Maidstone, so that would be about right for us.

Can anyone solve the mystery of where this was in our area?

Still mulling over this... does anyone think that it could possibly be where the house called Jane's Farm (end of Hatham Green Lane) now stands? See below for comparison image. Looks about right to me, and would perhaps make sense for a tearoom to be there.

Editor update: I was close in my guess, but please see comments sent in, I now know this Tearoom was at the junction of Ash Lane and London Road (A20), so the road in the postcard is the A20, it certainly looks a bit different now.

I've also found a better quality image of the front of the card.