WHERE TIME STANDS STILL

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 30 April 1927, Page 6

WHERE TIME STANDS STILL

A QUAINT OLD VILLAGE FOURTEEN MILES FROM LONDON

Only fourteen miles from London is a village in which time stands still. Hidden hi a fold of the Kentish downs, in the very shadow of the metropolis, it ignores'Ford and Edison as contentedly as if it had never heard of them. It has no electricity, no gas, no main sewerage, no cinema, no doctor, no bus line, no char-a-banc. Its houses arc lit by oil lamps. Its 700-year-old church is lit by candles. The yew tree in its churchyard is as ol d as the church itself and was planted in order that its branches might provide wood for bows. Tu addition to its littie church it has two inns, a little village hall where whist drives are sometimes held, and a general store, where one can buy anything from a thimble to a motor 'cycle. But when its young men buy motor cycles they ride away and never come back. Its name is Downe, and in order to reach it you have to walk three miles across the downs from the nearest suburban station. Fifty years ago it had a horse bus, but to-day, although it is almost within the area of Greater Loudon, it has no bus service. The country bus lines of Kent operate excellent services, but none calls at Downe. Itremains ;is peacefully isolated from the roaring world beyond the downs as if it were Tristan do Cunha. One reaches if by walking through High F.lms, Lord Avebury's country estate, where fir trees and browsing cattle surround an old-fashioned mansion of no particular architectural merit, but solidly, comfortably and spaciously built. The present Lord Avebury is less widely known than his versatile father was. Banking, polities, literature, and natural history were among his father's interests, and High Elms Used to be the scene of experiments on ants, bees, wasps and other insects which made it known to scientists' the world over. Some day London will climb up the slopes of the downs as it; is now crawling out; through the valleys- in the downs. Some day it will swallow up the village. But to-day, only fourteen miles from Charing Cross, in the heart- of tlie West, End. Oowne is one of the most contentedly primitive villages in England.