Sevenoaks

DOWNE
IN HARMONY WITH THE COUNTRYSIDE
Words: Wendy Stevenson
he rural idyll has become as much a Borough of Bromley. I feel sorry for the pessimists is imprinted on the Nations lips:
T
part of the nations psyche as ﬁ sh and out there who do not believe that serendipity can I wandered lonely as a Cloud
chips and luke warm beer. Almost be found, as with the old saying “fortune favours the That ﬂ oats on high o’er vales and Hills,
2.6 million Europeans left stressful city brave”. In Darwinist evolutionary terms that may be When all at once I saw a crowd,
lifestyles to seek sanctuary in unspoilt so but I believe it is the more discerning amongst us A host, of golden Daffodils;
chocolate box villages of their dreams. Perhaps for whose thoughts are drawn to walks amongst the He would have written about the bluebells that
we have a distorted image of a village that is an bluebells in the woods that surround Downe, who dance beneath the canopy of oak trees before they
indigenous part of the landscape, unspoilt and have ultimately found a better lifestyle. are hidden from the light by the leaves that are yet to
enduring, a steadfast reminder of all things good. Can you imagine what Wordsworth would have unfurl from the many trees above them. The bluebells
For some it will always remain a dream but written if he had ventured south and strolled around would be far more relevant to the country as we
for others it is nestling in a wooded valley in the Downe rather than the Lake District? The poem that all recognise the blue haze that cloaks the ground
of ancient woods in Spring. Everyone including
Darwin delights in the entrancing glow that bluebells
spread upon the dark and gloomy woodland ﬂ oor,
a marker of untouched land. We have 20% of the
world’s wild bluebells, which means that this most
familiar ﬂ ower is actually very precious. The thrill
isn’t in picking them but letting the intoxicating scent
drift upwards as you wander through them. Bluebells
are endangered not by man but by evolution and
the stronger Spanish bluebell. I wonder what Darwin
would have done to protect something that is part of
the nation’s heritage.
I am sure that Darwin might well have had a
theory about mans passion for things that he has
grown up with and his hankering for the “good
old days” of times past. Things in this life can
never stand still but something’s can be allowed to
develop slowly and mature so that it retains a certain
harmony with its surroundings and the earthy mellow
dignity of age. That is exactly what has happened
to Downe, the majority of the houses were tied
cottages for agricultural workers and these have
slowly come onto the open market as much desired
homes for people who although still work in the city
2 0 | MARCH ISSUE
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