Chilham Downs

In the afternoon I took  a ramble into the downs at Chilham, south of Canterbury. It was a beautifully varied walk through sheepfields by the River Stour and then a long climb along what seemed to be an ancient wooded embankment that led me up through Down Wood, an old coppiced woodland now neglected, to a height of 127m. Interesting plants along the way and almost balmy going uphill. Once out in the open the lowering skies  rained down on me as I searched for the path on muddy tracks. I returned through Denge Wood with all sorts of different coppice - hazel, chestnut, wild cherry and sycamore - past earthworks and one of the distinctive - not that I saw it - Stour Valley Long Barrows called Jullieberrie's Grave (see Wiki).

The photo is looking across to Pope Street , Woodsdale Farm and Eggringe Wood. Extras of an Early Purple Orchid in the woods and more bluebells. Then Chilham House - a Jacobean pile with an interesting history and now owned, apparently, by a UKIP supporter. The last extra is a wonderful elegy to Lady Margaret Palmer, a sister of the owner of Chilham Castle (as it is called - there is a castle as well). The memorial was erected in 1619 and is made of Bethersden Marble (also called winklestone) - a hard limestone from the High Weald in Sussex.

In two hours of walking I saw not a soul although the sound of traffic in the crowded Stour Valley was always in the background.