Idyllic woodland scene?

Looks lovely doesn’t it? With the small trees, faint fuzz of new growth, daffodils and dog walker in the distance. In truth it’s deceptive as to the left is HS1where trains roar through and to the left of that is the M20 with it’s incessant noise day and night.

Our walk revealed more surprises, a field that was pasture has been weed killed, another field at the base of the North Downs where there have always been crops was bare apart from a mass of detectorists sweeping the surface.

I would say that both fields will be turned over to vines to join the extensive vineyards that are already along the North Downs. We walked through a vineyard that was established in 2020 and it is good to see that there is an attempt to include nature as every other row between the vines was left to grow rather than be mowed. It may be working as there were plenty of skylarks soaring into the air here.

I asked one of the detectorists if they were scanning that field in advance of a vines being planted. He knew nothing about any planting and said they were looking for modern artefacts. That surprised me as the Pilgrims Way runs alongside the field and Thurnham Castle is nearby. I was hoping for a blip of the detectorists in action but it didn’t work out.

This afternoon while Susan was visiting her mum I rescued a folding picnic table which we’d been using as temporary staging in the greenhouse each spring. The hardboard top had rotted and all that was left was the folding frame. I made a new top to fit the frame and hey presto, new and better staging. All using materials I had already.

Glad you liked 257 Squadron yesterday