The Old Straight Track

The track from St Margaret's at Cliffe to Victoria Road, Kingsdown is part of an ancient road from Deal to Dover, and parts of it can be seen in the picture above, continuing on the far side of the valley, skirting two areas of scrubland and following a line of bushes towards the village.

The old track can be traced along the path behind the houses in Victoria Road, across the top of Upper Street and down The Glen. The age and use of the track is shown by its depth below the earth banks, carved by generations of feet, hooves and wheels.

This downland was known as Freedown, and villagers had rights to graze livestock and gather hay, but the fields now seem like prairies, as the land was ploughed in the Second War to provide much-needed grain.

At the far end of the ninth hole of the golf course, near the St Margaret's end of the track, there is a piece of old downland that shows what the Freedown might have looked like. Much is now tor-grass and scrub as it has not been grazed, but parts contain a full range of chalk flowers of delicate beauty.

Autumn Gentian

Autumn Ladies Tresses

Harebell

Salad Burnet