After School

A Memory of Sutton at Hone.

This little ford and bridge over the silver Darent river was, and still is, my favorite place in England. When I attended the Sutton at Hone Primary School in 1947 -1953 we often took nature walks down the gravel path beside the old Village Hall. The narrow lane led through large Horse Chestnut trees on the right (still there) and a high bushy hedge on the left. The path was stoney with large flints sticking up everyhwere. After about a hundred yards we came to the ford and single wooden plank bridge. Crossing the bridge we came to the watercress beds built by the Romans and on to the site of the Roman Villa. After school I often took that same path home to Hawley. I would stand alone on that bridge for a long time - it was so peaceful there. I would then walk home through Darenth village past the Chequers Inn and across the fields to Hawley. Although I live in America now I always visit the ford when I arrive in England. Often it's the first place I visit having just got off the flight at Gatwick, to spend just a few minutes on the bridge where I was so happy as a child after the war, then off to see the rest of Kent. There is little if any water running at the ford these days but the bridge still stands - well at least there was in 2007 when I last visited the UK.