Over the hill

From the top of the hill behind - or strictly speaking, perhaps in front of - our house, we can look down into the next valley, another steep-sided, shallow bottomed remnant of alternate freezing and thawing during periods of glaciation. Although a couple of narrow lanes cross this valley or run along parts of its side, its principal artery, a narrow lane between banks and hedges with just occasional passing places, runs along the ridge opposite, so the view along the Exted valley is of uninterrupted green meadows. I like the shapes of the trees to either side of the white farmhouse on the hilltop, and it was a bright morning with pretty clouds. The development of the large poultry farm four or five years ago was not popular locally; it feels a bit too close to Chicken Run for a village full of people selling surplus eggs at their gates from their half dozen chickens. 

The extra looks towards the end of the Exted valley, where it merges with the Elham Valley and the village spills down into it with a colourful jumble of assorted houses. I only walked for about half an hour this morning, but this little patch of hilltop behind the Old Road through the village, provides some different views to my usual routes.