I hadn't been out to Luddesdown much until quite recently, where tales of industrial activity drew me out to see what was happening at Court and Brookers Farm. I started this walk from where the Wealdway track crosses the road near Buckland Farm at the bottom of Lockyer's Hill, just down Wrangling Lane...
Vineyard Farms (VF) seem increasingly touchy about "trespass", so I am told. I hope they aren't getting all hostile and prickly, just because Cuxton's local residents managed to persuade Medway Council's planning committee to reject their grandiose plans for a massive factory and country club on the green belt AONB that is Upper Bush.
That would be a shame, especially as they will probably get what they want anyway as a result of a public inquiry. VF are, of course, perfectly within their rights to keep people away from their land if they so wish, except for the public footpaths (which they can only close off for up to 28 days in any year).
Walkers like myself had become used to the unrestricted access we had to the woodlands and farm tracks when the land was owned by Cemex. Its new owners now call it all the "Silverhand Estate" and things are very different now. Even the icy tone of the name gives a hint of the company's seemingly chilly attitude towards its neighbours.
However, it has to be said that Vineyard Farms have certainly lived up to their promises of creating local jobs. Indeed, it seems that they have now even employed people whose job description requires them to roar around the network of local farm tracks in Land Rovers and pick-up trucks, to no apparent purpose other than to see how fast they can go and how much dust they can raise in the process.
They are certainly working at a level "above expectations" from what I can see, albeit from a safe distance.
 |
| Meadows off the Wealdway, Buckland... |
I have no problem with sticking to the public footpaths, and would advise anyone venturing onto the "Silverhand Estate" to do the same. Landowners (or their representatives) are allowed to use "reasonable force" against trespassers, so be careful not to give them an excuse to throw their weight about. Taking notes or a video of any such "meeting" may be a good idea, just as evidence, if things turn nasty.
Unlike others of my acquaintance, I have yet to have any personal confrontations with members of the VF 4x4 squad but then as I said, I usually stick to the available public footpaths (I'm too old and creaky to climb over gates these days anyway). I even kind of support the (polite) enforcement of that policy - not so much out of respect for Vineyard Farms' land ownership, but because it looks like the skylarks are returning to the valley and I'd hate a dogwalker's stupid off-the-leash dog or a blundering part-time rambler to disturb the skylark's nests or other wildlife, the way that happens so often up at Ranscombe reserve...
 |
| "Boast Post" on the Wealdway... |
Parts of the ancient Wealdway path though what Vineyard Farms are now calling their "Silverhand Estate" got ploughed up upon their acquisition of the land, and haven't fully recovered in the three years that has elapsed since then. The path is still uneven and in dry weather and can still be a bit of an ankle-turner in places. It is also becoming strewn with odd bits of detritus, such as those green mesh coverings from the vines.
 |
| Common Blue butterfly... |
On the plus side, it seems a fair amount of meadow has been spared the monoculture planting of vines, and is providing a welcome haven for wildlife. Whether this is just a temporary respite or not, only time will tell...
 |
| Wealdway, looking south... |
 |
| Small Tortoiseshell... |
 |
| Wealdway, looking south between Round Wood and Leg Of Mutton Shaw... |
 |
| As above, looking north... |
 |
| Speckled Wood... |
 |
| "Lottery Funded..." |
I kind of think this picture says it all: barbed wire and boasts. I find it somewhat amusing that a company owned by a billionaire tax exile can still be eligible for lottery grants to fund hedgerow planting.
Still, what with being down to his
last $1.1 billion (half a billion less than he was worth a couple of years back) I guess the company's owner is feeling the pinch, the same as the rest of us...
 |
| View across Bowling Alley to Wrenches Shaw... |
 |
| Wall Brown... |
These little beauties seem to have made a comeback in the Cuxton and Luddesdown valleys this year, possibly due to the areas of grassland that remain vine-free and have been uncultivated for the past three years. Once a very common butterfly in my childhood, its population
has collapsed in the past 20 years and it is (until now it seems) only found in coastal areas.
If Vineyard Farms want to play at "enhancing biodiversity" for real, rather than just for the purpose of ticking "greenwash" boxes for their winery planning machinations, then it could do a great deal of good by keeping the new meadows as they are now and confining its cultivation of them to a twice-annual and partial mow (mowing areas in rotation to allow, for example, larvae of the above to survive) in early spring and late autumn...
 |
| Luddesdown Church from the Wealdway... |
It was remarkable how, in past years, the tidiness of the vineyard seemed to decrease in proportion to the distance from the Vineyard Farms headquarters at Court Lodge (the building on the right in the picture above).
On a positive note, it was good to see that a lot of these vines in this area (some of the first that were planted by Vineyard Farms here) have started to be "trained" on to their support wires. I wonder if they will yield much in the way of grapes this year?
Everyone I know does actually want the vineyard to succeed, even if they care not for Mark Dixon's Lord Foster version of
Tracy Island. I'd like to think Vineyard Farms could appreciate that.
 |
| View towards Cobham... |
The northern part of Luddesdown valley was positively humming with activity today, in tune with the
wine manufacturing that's been going on at Court and Brookers Farm. Half a dozen nifty little French-made tractors were zipping up and down the narrow gaps between the vines, spraying them with what I think was a copper sulphate solution from equally nifty little French-made spraying trailers. It left an unpleasant twang on my nostrils for a while, but other than that I have suffered no ill-effects. Maybe a touch of mildew is adding to the struggle to get the vines to grow...?
 |
| View over Luddesdown Cricket Club from Henley Down... |
 |
| Henley Down, looking west... |
It has to be said that, by and large, VF seem to be keeping on top of the weeds a lot better this year, with much of the estate looking a lot tidier than previously. That may be a reflection of a combination of more staff, as well as those little tractors that can get up and down between the rows of vines. With 1200 acres to look after, ground maintenance is a massive task and perhaps it's not surprising a few bits get missed. Or maybe the weeds are needed to protect the young vines? I don't know. Still, I prefer the "weeds", when in flower, to the rather dull vines...
 |
| Wheat fields in Cobham... |
It's always a bit of a relief to get into Cobham from Luddesdown these days, and not just because of the congenial atmosphere of the Darnley Arms. The scenery of Luddesdown valley is still wonderful, but it has been undoubtedly spoiled by the dull monoculture of hundreds of acres of identical vine fields. To walk through fields of old-fashioned wheat, gently rippling in the breeze, is almost as refreshing as a cool pint...
 |
| "Bloody migrants, comin' over 'ere and takin' all our nectar". A Daily Mail reader's view of a (rather battered) Painted Lady... |
 |
| From Winterham Hill, looking across the Warren |
 |
| View across the valley, over the Warren from the edge of Lodge Wood... |
Winterham Hill and the Warren (the bank to the north of Warren Road) were deep-ploughed in winter last year, presumably in advance of yet more vines. The bare chalk still sits there, awaiting its planting out. I am told that Vineyard Farms do not own this once-productive arable farmland, but instead have it on a long lease...
 |
| Upper Bush from the Warren... |
