QO By Stream and Sea. 



rounded by the chalk hills which enclose the valley, reveals 

 itself an out-of-the-world haunt where one may dream 

 undisturbed, while the river flows on, here broken, there 

 placid, ever murmuring but never turbulent, and the sights 

 and sounds of pastoral life change only as the seasons 

 advance. Farningham always strikes you as content to rest 

 upon its reputation as one of the choicest specimens of an 

 English village, dear alike to lovers of the picturesque and 

 seekers after repose and health-giving breezes. The Darent 

 beautifies all the district through which it runs, and none 

 more than that portion of the valley where the busy mills 

 are situated. So, with a bright sun to temper the cold 

 winds, and Nature beginning to put on the livery of spring, 

 it is seen at its best on this Anglers' Carnival, and the 

 sportsmen themselves on such a day are not in utter despair 

 should their lures fail to tempt. 



The Darent, before it reaches Farningham, has passed 

 through the finest portions of its watershed. Beginning its 

 career at Westerham, hard by the North Downs, it touches 

 the villages of Brasted, Sundridge, and Riverhead. Near 

 romantic Sevenoaks it flows in a more northerly direction to 

 Lullingstone Park, and by old Eynsford Castle. Mills are 

 to be found at short intervals, there being to my own know- 

 ledge fourteen paper and flour mills worked by the Darent. 

 At Dartford, with a parting bit of very fine scenery, the river 

 widens out into Dartford Creek, and is a navigable branch 

 of the Thames during the remainder of its course. About 

 midway between Dartford and the mouth the River Cray 

 from the south-west falls into the creek. 



In the neighbourhood of Farningham the hop-fields, nut, 

 cherry, and plum orchards are highly cultivated, and well 

 worth a visit where feasible. The ornithologist also should 

 be in his glory here. A resident landholder, who has shot 



