Rolvenden

16th December 2013

    I waited at St Mary's Church in Rolvenden for cousin Pauline, while a fine, wind-driven rain drove me under an old Yew tree. The rain eased a little and I ventured out and sat on a bench at the Rolvenden Layne junction. Pauline arrived and we had a cup of tea before joining the High Weald landscape Trail in the churchyard. We passed the primary school into empty playing playing fields and followed the path through pasture to a nameless copse with a brook running through. The way down was booby-trapped with leaf-filled Badger holes which we fell into frequently, without injury, but with lots of profanities. Over the Devenden road, we went into orchards of Gala apples; still crisp and tasty, many still left on the trees. Paul kept her core for a couple of horses to share over the fence. At Dingleden Farm, an Alder tree had been felled and logged and stacked; its wood, deep blood red wounds. The path through the pasture up Broom Hill burned the thighs and at the old windmill at the top (now a residence and no sails), we stopped for a chocolate fix after catching our breath.
    The path to Hole Park took us through Christmas tree plantations; all shapes, colours and sizes and for sale at the farm. We took a wrong turn here and came out of the parkland at the west entrance (my fault!) which meant a longer walk on the Benenden road back to Rolvenden. We walked by a second windmill at Mill House. This mill, built in 1772, and replacing an earlier mill, does indeed retain its sails and was beautifully restored in the 1950's.
    Back in the village, we sat in the churchyard for a final cuppa before going our separate ways with a promise to meet in the spring. I left Pauline to lay wreaths on her grandparents graves and made my way back to Hadlow.