A good turnout for this month's walk from Borough Green.  The sun shone on us after days, if not seemingly weeks, of rain.  The walk took us down through the pleasantly sympathetically converted properties along the river at Basted mill and, further on, in the hamlet of Basted itself.

There was plenty of mud to contend with, thankfully most of us were wearing gaiters! We stopped for lunch outside a typically Kentish inn, where some of number, nipped in for a quick drink.

After our lunch, we continued along pleasant lanes and across fields, eventually reaching Plaxtol with its interesting parish church, perched high in the village. It is one of very few churches built in the Cromwellian period between the end of the Civil War in 1651 and the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660.

After pausing for a quick break outside the church, we continued along a lane to picturesque cottages with old stone walls.  Soon, the walk took us back down to Basted as we re-traced our footsteps back to Borough Green where,  after a welcome change of footwear, some of our number went for a drink in the Black Horse.

A lovely day with welcome spring sunshine. So good to see many friendly faces for such an enjoyable day, if ever so slightly muddy!

Thanks, especially, to Mark Tomkins for leading this month's walk.

Colin Turner

West Kent Co-ordinator.