Views Around the Vineyard (2)...

The large field at the top of Hatch Hill, once a productive arable field, has been abandoned for the past three years, much to the benefit of local wildlife...

Hatch Hill field...

Common spotted orchid...

Blue Columbine...

View from Wrenches Shaw...

View towards Cobham...

Towards Round Wood hill...

"Boast Post" where the NS214 footpath crosses Buckland Road...

Meadow View House from the vineyard...

The Old Rectory...

...a.k.a. The Vineyard Farms Social Club...

Perhaps it should be called the Green Lion. The colour makes me think of Parsley the Lion from The Herbs. As I recall, however, Parsley was "very friendly"...

The Cock Inn...

Walking on past the "Golden" Lion, a stroll up Henley Street brings you to the Cock Inn. It's a very good and refreshingly idiosyncratic pub, but it nearly always seems to be closed when I am walking past, which is a shame (for me, anyway). Opening times and more information about the place can be found on its web page (link here).

"Boast Post" where the NS 366 footpath meets the Cobhambury Road...

View south by Shoulder Of Mutton Shaw...

Bottom of Winterham Hill...

The bare chalk has been seeded with rape to give a welcome covering to the north of Warren Road...

The Warren...

The Warren...

High Birch and Upper Bush Cottage

Borrow Hill House...

The Old Bakery...

To Luddesdown Church...

The usual route from North Halling...

The woods are just starting to green up in the warm Spring sunshine...

Mays Wood

Wingate Wood

Wood Anenomes...

The deep ploughing of the fields for the planting of vines has started.  It is not pretty...

Luddesdown valley - view from Wrenches Shaw

Luddesdown Church looks rather splendid at this time of year...

Luddesdown Church...

Luddesdown Church...

Taken from the above web-page: "St Peter and St Paul is still a focal point of the scattered community of Luddesdown and its surroundings, little larger than it was when the Domesday surveyors of 1086 recorded 'a church here'."

"The history of Luddesdowne Church, post-Conquest, is poorly documented and has to be read against the fate of the Norman knights and their successors who acquired the manor. Following the church reforms of Henry III, many noblemen rebuilt their own small, cramped manorial churches, and this probably happened in Luddesdowne, where the earliest verifiable fabric, seen in the north and west walls, dates from the thirteenth century.

The tower and south aisle were then added in the 14th century, and so the church acquired the basic form in which it stands today. However, in 1865 the nave roof fell in requiring a major rebuilding. The reconstructed church was consecrated in 1867. Over the course of the next three decades the rector the Revd Alfred Wigan and his family furnished and decorated the church in accordance with their high church Oxford Movement tastes. Notably, they employed the firm of Heaton, Butler and Bayne to install stained glass windows and the fine set of wall and ceiling paintings which survive to this day.

Other historical features of note surviving in the church include a 14th century log ladder in the tower, three medieval bells, a 15th century brass, and a fine Caen stone reredos depicting the Last Supper installed in 1873 and designed by Ewan Christian."

I decided to walk back along Warren Road.  The venerable oak on the corner of the junction with Cobhambury Road has yet to strike leaf, but is surrounded by a carpet of yellow Celandines...

Oak, Warren Road

Celandines...

The hawthorns were in full blossom...

Hawthorns, Warren Road...

This young oak tree appears to be arising out of the ruins of its ancestor...

Dog Violets were putting up a good display nearby...

Dog Violets...

The Grapes of Wealth...

Luddesdown from Wrenches Shaw, late evening - enjoy while you can?

Towards Cobham from Wrenches Shaw - late evening:  Enjoy while you can?

A while back, I found out that much of the farmland around Luddesdown had been put up for sale.  This area is one of the few remaining unspoiled areas of North Kent, offering spectacular views of the seasonal changes of a classic English North Downs agrarian landscape. 

Naturally enough, this has caused some unease in the local community. Very little of North Kent has managed to avoid the rapacity of greedy developers, and the merest thought of Luddesdowne vanishing under yet more high-density, low-cost/quality housing for London refugees is too horrible to contemplate.

So today, I set out to the Golden Lion in Luddesdown, to attend a public meeting with the new owners of Court Farm and Brookers Farm. These arable farms are archetypal English farmland and have remained pretty much unchanged in character for the last hundred years, and contribute so much to the beauty of the area.

To be honest, I had been half-expecting to have to listen to some stuffed suits explaining how the new overseas owners had added Luddesdown to their land investment portofolio and had no present plans to significantly change blah blah blah - other than putting up lots of barbed wire and making public access difficult a la Church Hill in Cuxton (as foreign owners of English land so often do...).

Instead, the “new owners”, Holly and Neil, turned out to be a very pleasant and very English young married couple. Holly (rather nervously) took the microphone to explain her background to the sixty or so people packing the Golden Lion bar, before outlining their ambitions to turn the area into an eco-friendly vineyard.

Holly is the eldest daughter of the entrepreneur Mark Dixon, the colourful Monaco-based English billionaire businessman best known as the founder of serviced office business Regus.

Mr Dixon himself is no stranger to the vineyard business, already owning the Chateau de Berne vineyard and spa complex in Provence and the Kingscote estate in Sussex, and has undoubtedly provided the financial backing for his daughter and son-in-law to develop Court and Brookers Farm, although not necessarily along the same lines.

In terms of local employment opportunities, they will certainly be created.  Whether anyone local has what's needed for starting and running a vineyard is debatable.  In conversation with their business manager (a forthright lady whose name I forgot to ask), it seems that the initial start-up crew (40-odd strong) will be itinerant in nature, and will be hired in and housed in a temporary camp site for the duration of the initial vine planting.

Quite what the effect of all this upon Luddesdown and its surrounding countryside remains to be seen. A vineyard and bottling plant (and, I suspect, the inevitable spa/hotel/conference centre) will undoubtedly increase the amount of traffic down the narrow country lanes around Luddesdown.  

And replacing the annual cereal crops with permanent vines will inevitably mean an end to the glorious and colourful ever-changing seasonal views across the valley. The green fields will no longer undulate gently in the valley breezes as they turn to gold in the summer. The spectacular wildflower vistas of blues, reds, yellows and whites that once flourished amongst the oats and barley will be lost in the monoculture of the vineyard.  Better than a sea of houses, though...

Sadly, the view itself from Wrenches Shaw may well be lost should the vines be strung up the hill from the east of Cutter Ridge Road.  Two metre-high vine canes would effectively fence off the view from Bassett’s Seat with a wall of vines. 

Holly and Neil seem like very likeable and I really wish them all the best. They genuinely seem as if they want to preserve the character of the area as far as they can. I just hope that they can find the time to walk the paths around their land, and in particular, to take in the view of their land from Ray and Eiley Bassett’s memorial bench up on Wrenches Shaw, before it all gets blanketed under vine poles.

And to reflect upon what they hold in their hands.

It would be a tragedy if that view were to be blotted out by the dull, dreary monoculure of vines.

But at the end of the day, change happens. We can all be thankful that as changes go, a new vineyard springing up on the landscape is not a disaster, just something different...

Wrenches Shaw...

Following the footpath NS211 from Stonyfield Woods in Halling eventually leads you out into Luddedowne.

Location of Wrenches Shaw

The views from Wrenches Shaw across the valley are always worth taking in, although what the future will hold now that the land is under new ownership is uncertain.  There is a memorial bench just where the path leaves the woods.

Luddesdowne Church from Wrenches Shaw...

At this time of the year, some interesting fungi can be found in Wrenches Shaw...

Fly Agaric

Ringless Honey Mushroom...

Following the harvest, several types of wildflower can now be seen in the field edges by the woods...

Charlock...

Charlock (Wild Mustard) is often planted as a cover crop in winter.  I think the above is an example of Charlock, but it is apparently quite easily confused with other members of the same yellow-flowering cabbage relatives.  The seeds are poisonous - other species are used in mustard.  The leaves are apparently quite tasty, though - not sure I'd want to trust my own ID skills, however...

Borage...

Borage was traditionally cultivated for culinary and medicinal uses, although today commercial cultivation is mainly as an oil seed.  Borage is widely used in Europe used as either a fresh vegetable or a dried herb. As a fresh vegetable, it allegedly has a cucumber-like taste and can be used in salads or as a garnish.  I think I'll stick to cucumbers in salads, though...

Germander Speedwell...

This pretty little flower can be found pretty much all year round.  It can be distinguished from other speedwells by the double line of hairs which grow on either side of the main stem.

Scarlet Pimpernel...

The little red flowers of Scarlet Pimpernel were also in abundance.  The plants are poisonous, although as yet demands by morons to wipe them out have thankfully yet to be made...

May's Wood to Luddesdown...

The usual route...

The drop down to the bottom of the valley at Bavins Shaw is a wide, pleasant farm track populated by many fast-flying butterflies...

From Stonyfield Wood to Bavins Shaw bottom...

Painted Lady...

Silver-Washed Fritillary (male)

At the bottom of the valley there was a clearing with an eye-watering stand of wild Parsley in full flower (the pollen made my eyes water - and I am not a hay-fever sufferer!)...

Wild Parsley...

The Rosebay Willowherb was also in flower, providing a spectacular colour contrast...

Rosebay Willowherb...

Following the wide track up through Bavins Shaw towards Halling Wood, many other plants were also in flower...

Clustered Bellflower....

Stemless Thistle...

Spear Thistle...

The marjoram is a butterfly magnet...

Brown Argus on Wild Marjoram...

The bone dry oat fields above Luddesdown are ripe for harvest...

Luddesdown from Wrenches Shaw...