A DECEPTIVE QUIETUDE..

I took this photo yesterday.  It`s an idyllic scene on a quiet, late September morning, the photo taken from a public footpath looking up towards the North Downs here in deepest Kent.   It`s close to the village of Birling, where we parked the car - just a few minutes drive from home.

Birling is famous for two things really.  The first was way back in 1963 when President John F Kennedy made his stirring speech which ended, "And there are some who say in Europe and elsewhere we can work with the communists.  Well, let them come to Birling.  Ich bin eine Birlinger!"  (He might have said `Berlin` - I might have misheard.)

The second is that Birling`s churchyard includes the last resting place of Rowland Hilder - surely one of the country`s most well known and well loved artists.  Here`s an example of his work and his love for this part of Kent:-

On our walk we came across a gamekeeper who told us that the pheasant shooting season was due to open on 6th October and that 3,000 pheasants were currently enjoying life in the nearby wood and fields.  I hope they have a good week as next week they will be scattered into the air to become targets for those who enjoy killing pheasants just for the fun of it.  

And so the quiet peace we enjoyed on our walk in this tranquil corner of Kent turns out to have been deceptive, especially if you`re a pheasant.