Lord Kitchener's Swimming Pool

Broome Park

The private swimming pool that I had been using for the last three years suddenly closed last week, never to reopen, so I had to find a replacement. Living on the eastern extremity of the City of Canterbury it is easier for me to travel out of the city than to try to cross it so my choice alighted upon Broome Park, the former home of Lord Kitchener.


Lord Kitchener was appointed Secretary of State for War at the outbreak of the Great War in 1914. His face is familiar worldwide although many might not know his name for he is the officer on the famous recruiting poster, 'Your Country Needs You'. He died in 1916 when the ship in which he was travelling to Russia hit a German mine and sank off the coast of Scotland.

Entrance Hall, Broome Park.

His stately home is now in corporate hands and exploited as a holiday destination. The decoration inside has been carefully restored.

And in an annexe they have installed a small swimming pool. It is not really Lord Kitchener's swimming pool but I pretend that it is when I am floating along on the water.