please empty your brain below

This is a lovely part of England and well worth a visit. As a child, our family always used to stop for an ice-cream from the ice-cream van just down the road at Shoreham, in the very long layby at the side of the A225, opposite Shoreham station, on our long car journey from Essex to East Sussex in the Humber Hawk, and way before the days of the M25 and A21 Sevenoaks bypass (and Tonbridge). Is the ice-cream van still there in the summer as haven’t used that road for years – happy memories!
I actually passed Lullingstone and Eynsford, myself, yesterday afternoon - and what a fantastic afternoon it was, too!
My trip was to an area of chalk downland known as Fackenden Down, and there's an indirect connection inasmuch as I was going there to see how the orchids that are found there were doing this year. In the event, I couldn't believe my eyes: they* were so dense, that the whole upper part of the bank seemed coloured pink!
(Another feature of the valley that people come to see are the lavender fields of Castle Farm, between Eynsford and Shoreham, which are just coming into flower, now.)

*Mostly 'fragrant' orchids but some other varieties too.
I remember going on a school trip to Eynsford back in the 1980's so very happy to hear it's still a delightful place today.
As a kid at the end of the war, two things mattered to me about Lullingstone. One was the Silk Farm and the other was the Station. Yes that's right, Lullingstone had a station, sort of.

Built in 1939 to serve the proposed aerodrome (and to serve a proposed housing development à la Metropolitan), it never opened because of the war, although it actually appeared in the timetables. After the war the Green Belt put paid to both the aerodrome and the housing development and Lullingstone Station was dismantled in the mid-fifties.
The remains of the platforms are still there.
When in uk Darenth valley golf club in Shoreham village just next door to Eynsford is my favourite spot, and yes Happy Harry the ice cream van is still there.
My next walk planned for me - thanks DG
Stephen - Lullingstone is on the waymarked Darent Valley Path, which runs from Dartford to Sevenoaks and, if you're so inclined, is an excellent day's walk.
The part of the riverside walk from Lullingstone Park Visitor Centre (where the cafe serves very nice teas!) to Lullingstone Castle is lovely at this time of the year. The Visitor Centre and Park are well worth a visit. A great place to take the dog for a walk.
Thanks for the memories, DG.

Back when I was a relatively carefree teenager - which I wasn't, but that's a tale for another time and place - rambling through the Kent countryside was one of my weekend joys, with Lullingstone and Eynsford especially worthwhile.

Now if there were only similar treats near Jakarta ....










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