HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSS I P. 



97 



NATURE ROUND FOLKESTONE, 



HERE 



rural 



charm about Folke- 

 stone which renders 

 it almost unique 

 amongst seaside 

 w ate ri ng-p laces. 

 There one can walk 

 beneath the tower- 

 . ing cliffs which 

 bound the front of 

 the town, and enjoy 

 the lung-filling sea- 

 breezes and the 

 nostril-pleasing 

 scents of the ver- 

 dure-covered slopes, 

 and yet remain de- 

 lightfully ignorant 

 of the very existence 

 of the town above. 

 One can ramble there among unconventional paths 

 and lanes which, intersect with careless but pleasing 

 taste the plateau-like expanse beneath the cliffs, 

 amidst such rural simplicity of tree and flower, 

 which is often so painfully lacking in some of the 

 more fashionable resorts. We have the sea on 

 the one hand, of which we get a peep through 

 the breaks in the foliage, or under the grotto-like 

 bridges which span some of the paths to the beach, 

 whilst on the other hand we have the tall cliffs, some 

 two hundred feet high, covered from top to bottom 

 with, eye-refreshing verdure, and cut through in 

 zigzag fashion by the picturesque sloping paths which 

 lead the weary traveller to the breezy plateau of the 

 Lees. Pine-woods flourish on the slopes, nourished 

 by the sandy loam in which they have to spread their 

 roots ; here the mulberry and the elder cover the 

 grassy banks, whilst the wild poppy and others of 

 nature's weeds add their beautiful freshness to gratify 

 the rest -seeking eye. 



The very wildness of the slopes, the unconventional 

 manner in which nature is allowed full scope for her 

 No. 341. — May 1893. 



idiosyncrasies, shows that their owner — for are we 

 not reminded by notice-boards, ostentatiously placed, 

 that the cliffs are private property — is alive to the 

 demand for the beauties of nature in preference to 

 the triumphs of art. Asphalted paths are fortunately 

 few and far between, the undercliff road has no 

 smooth curbing of foreign sandstone, and in the place 

 of artificial landmarks, blocks of unhewn native rock 

 give refreshment to the eye, which elsewhere than in 

 Folkestone is wearied with conventionalism and 

 regularity. 



Then at one end of the rural Lower Road, as it is 

 called, have we not a good old-fashioned turnpike- 

 gate, and are we not half-inclined to long for the re- 

 appearance of the Rebeccaites, who were to possess 

 the " gates of their enemies," in order to free us 

 from this relic of a bygone age? And yet, perhaps> 

 it is but in keeping with the rest of the landscape, 

 and its removal might be the commencement of many 

 other so-called improvements. Nay, let the wild 

 flower here still grow wild, let the thistle and the 

 nettle still grow to their present alarmingly large 

 proportions, and let the unhewn blocks of neocomian 

 sandstone long serve in place of the art-delved 

 product of a foreign quarry. « 



But the natural beauties of the town were only 

 possible where the geological foundations were such 

 as here obtain, and perhaps it would be well to con- 

 sider the underground features which are here met 

 with. 



No one who visits the town fails to pay a visit to 

 the Warren, which is but a short and pleasant walk 

 from the eastern end of the town. This is a geological 

 feature which will serve as our coign of vantage from 

 which we can proceed to survey the geological forma- 

 tions on which the town rests. The Warren is a 

 wild tract of land which, from the ruggedness of its 

 beauty, constitutes one of the chief and most pleasant 

 attractions which the town possesses, and as such 

 should be regarded with a jealous eye by the town 

 authorities. It has been enthusiastically called 

 " Switzerland in Miniature," and although the 



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