Sunday park

Finally, a beautiful, bright morning! We returned to Kearsney Abbey, which is becoming one of our favourite accessible places to stroll and sit. It was far more golden this time, though there's still a lot of green in the trees too, and several trees had been brought down by the recent storms. As always, there were lots of dog walkers - J likes seeing all the dogs. Swans swam in single file and followed visitors hoping for food, ducks splashed and flapped, and people of all ages enjoyed the sun and the environment. I left P and J watching the birds on the lake and followed a less accessible path downstream to find the remains of River paper mill, build in the seventeenth century and finally closed in 1918. It was once one of five paper mills on the Dour, Dover's small river, taking advantage of the qualities of the chalk stream for the papermaking process as well as to power the machinery. The last of Dover's paper mills, manufacturer of the famous Conqueror paper, did not close until 2020 and was a major employer in the town. I didn't manage any good photos of the water cascading over the remaining brick structures - I was using my little compact camera, which is convenient for family outings but does not allow much manual control, and the low light, strong contrasts from bright sun through trees and fast moving water proved a difficult combination. However, the extra gives an impression, and I hope to return there better prepared before too long. We continued the circuit of the park in dappled sunlight, enjoyed warm drinks from our flasks, stopped on the way home for farm eggs, and were home in time for lunch. It was lovely to be out after days of rain and gloom.

It's just occurred to me that I can tag my extra for Derelict Sunday.