Saint Mary's at Luddenham.
The intention was to walk past Broomfield Farm on the road and then take the pathway across from Little Uplees to Luddenham Manor and the church thereby. The walk was interrupted at Little Uplees when as we passed an orchard where sheep were grazing we saw a lamb (last year's lamb) trapped in brambles by the hedge. We spoke to a local resident, a casually dressed man who told us he would contact the farmer. The farmer arrived and with his daughter attended to the distraessed animal who did what sheep ususally do - panicked and freed herself with a ripping sound from the brambles. She ran off to join her friends and the farmer and his daughter cut the offending brambles away. Boy scouts and Girls Guides doing their good deed for the day - no shilling but a friendly local contact.
The church and the Manor with the farm alongside is well worth a visit. The church has a visitor's book which is worth signing and also a locked begging bowl set in the wall for donations. Please put a penny or two in as they need the money and the place is worth the effort. You can even play the organ there if first you pump it a little.
Now for the sausages and pork chops.
There is a farm shop that sells meat produced on the farm and so I bought some sausages and my sister bought some pork chops. The quality of both was high and we discovered that not only do they feed their animals from food produced on their farm but that the farm itself is one of the most well organized and managed farms I have seen for many a year. The animals look healthy and clean, the pig sties are large and clean, the fences and the buildings look well maintained and all things such as hay, straw, implements and machinery appear to be well managed.
I was looking for decent sausages and my sister likes farm produce - you know where it comes from and at Luddenham it is presented well. The place reeks of quality!
From the farm and the church we followed the map, downloaded from faversham.org/walking with the title Walk on the Wild Side. The guide is clear and the walker will find the descriptive passages useful.The Three Mariners Public House - the food here is scrumptious. The staff welcoming although on the day we went - extremely busy.
We took a second bite at the cherry and took the path alongside the creek ( all part of the Saxon Way) keeping to the Oare side and wandered down to Harty Ferry Cottages via the bird sanctuary past the twitchers watching the sweet little dicky birds. On the walk back we had a look at St Peter's church in Oare and we can reccommend stopping there for the view alone. There was a fashion shoot for a wedding gown going (or something) with two pretty young women making their creative mark on society who allowed me to take pictures of them against the setting of the landscape, and I have to admit the photographer had chosen well.
St Peter's church - you can see the wedding gown.
The girls sorting out the photo shoot
The amazing thing about this particular walk, apart from acquiring some decent sausages, is that we encoutered some pleasant people, the weather was excellent - we even ate blackberries along the way - good food at the Mariners but most of all some spectacular views topped off by the marvellous display of birdlife (we are part time twitchers).
A View taken with the girls and their photo shoot set up.
This view of Oare Creek and the boats is a fine example of what to expect on this particular walk. Even at low tide the place is interesting but a high tide when the boats are afloat and the sun shines on the water the view from the church is spectacular and as I remarked to the two girls - what a lovely place for a wedding.
Our two walks covered approximately 11 Kilometres and we spent approximately 5 hours messing around looking at churches, taking photo's assisting sheep, buying meat and eating a tasty lunch - oh and not forgetting the Shepheard and Neame beer consumed by yours truly.
In all a good day.
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