Holly Hill to the Luddesdowne moonscape...

I started this walk from Holly Hill House in darkest Snodland. Heading north along the main path leads down the hill through Punish Wood and onto Wrangling Lane.  At the bottom of Lockyers Hill, the track of the Wealdway can be taken.

The Wealdway, towards Luddesdowne...

This heads northwards towards Luddesdowne, and used to offer spectacular views of the lush arable farmland across the Luddesdowne valley.  However, the new landowners have completely transformed the nature of the valley in their quest to convert this centuries-old arable farmland into a modern vineyard.

The full extent of this work can be seen from the top of the hill by Round Wood...

The moonscape of Luddesdowne Valley...

What would normally be lush green farmland has been replaced by something resembling the former chalk quarries of Halling.  The deep ploughing (presumably for the benefit of the vines that may eventually be planted) has not only brought the underlying chalk to the surface in great ugly, dusty swathes, but has also obliterated many of the public footpaths.  That is not to say that access has been blocked, but the old pathways that had been worn smooth by the passage of walkers have been roughly ploughed up, and only vaguely reinstated by driving a tractor up and down them a few times...

What's left of footpath NS214 from Cutter Ridge Road to Wrenches Shaw...

These deep ruts in no way replace the original paths. Using them is now a slow, hip-grinding, knee-wrenching, ankle-twisting experience. That, combined with the desertification of the valley, has removed any pleasure from walking in the area for the moment, which is a great shame.  I shall be taking other paths this summer, I think.

Another act of "land management" has been the flailing of the hedgerows to within an inch of their lives. The old hedgerows were around six to eight feet high and were probably overdue for a bit of a tidy-up. Instead, they have been crudely hacked down to about three feet. Mercifully, Hawthorn hedges are tough old things and these are already recovering from the brutal treatment given to them. Still, the hack-back should stop the wild birds from nesting in them for a while, or providing cover for all those Gatekeeper butterflies that used to patrol Cutter Ridge Road in the summer...

Hacked hedgerows...

Ironically, one of the things to have survived these activities is the sign proclaiming the area to be a "Roadside Nature Reserve"...

Towards Luddesdowne Church from Wrenches Shaw (10)...

At the top of the path above, just behind where this picture was taken from by the edge of Wrenches Shaw, can be found a memorial bench, to the memory of the late Ray Bassett and his wife Eiley.  I understand that Ray used to be a champion of the footpaths around Luddesdown and did much to ensure they remained clear and open over the years. I wonder what he would have made of all this?

Still, I suppose these things are all part of the great cycle of change that these lands are forever subjected to. I had not envisaged the mechanics of preparing a vineyard to be quite as destructive as it has turned out to be, but I assume that the current mess is merely transient. The land, paths and hedges are likely to recover in time and (unlike most of North Kent) we can be thankful that the area is unlikely to be Redrowed, Bellwayed or Persimmoned in the forseeable future.

But surely this cannot have done the soil fertility any good at all.  The soil in the valley wasn't great, but deep ploughing it has surely removed what little fertility there was.  It'll be interesting to see if any soil remediation work takes place before planting.  I can't imagine anything growing on this will be commercially viable otherwise.

Fortunately, I have kept some memories and records of how things used to look.