Bad dog!

15th June 2014

    A hot day was expected but didn't materialise. It was overcast and a cool northerly kept the fleece firmly on my back. Dee and Maisie joined me and we left Kilndown along the Bedgebury lane past Prior's Heath, which was part of the old Combwell Abbey and then Priory, of Robert de Turneham in the 12th century, and into the grassy meadow where Maisie leapt onto a Pheasant which was rescued by Dee with much remonstration and he flew off minus several feathers. Then across to the Great Lake where we met some inquisitive calves, all waiting at the stile. Maisie thought they they may be good sport, but was under close control, and so was frustrated. She then licked a cow-pat. Bad dog! Through Bedgebury Forest and down the old droveway onto Bishops Lane, the wind was broken by the trees hedging the lane; just birdsong was heard, roses prettified the dullness and iron is no longer transported along this ancient way. From Hartley to Cranbrook, along the road, traffic dulled the pleasure, but breakfast at the War Memorial was peaceful, in spite of the earnest travellers.
    The owners of Angley Wood welcome walkers, but all was quiet and we were alone through the woodland and we crossed over the Hartley road into the Glassenbury estate without meeting a soul. But the sky was brightening and butterflies were abroad. And by the streams, damselflies flitted and darted and ducks hurried onto ponds to escape Maisie. The footpath skirted Smugley Farm through barley and meadows and soft green shadows by the stream; and then up to Goudhurst for coffee and cake at Weekes the Baker, sitting in the high street on the hill in the Sun.
    It was busy along the narrow lane to Finchcocks, with cars passing to and fro on their way to see the musical instruments on display there. The gardens have been restored to their original glory also (by an old friend of mine, Lynda Shepherd). We passed by along the footpath through the parkland and climbed the hill back to Kilndown for a final cuppa by the quarry pond and we watched the damsel flies settle about the lily pads and the fish jumping for flies. The Spotted Orchids were tall by the water's edge and the Yellow Flag Irises reflected the summer.