Riverdale

After spending Christmas with her parents my mother drove back to Kent on the Boxing Day to prevent Church Cottage from freezing up, leaving me down in Sussex. She was then unable to get the car out of Foxes Lane because of the snow and I had to return by train.

In places, Foxes Lane, the lane down to our house, was deeper in snow than my eight year old height and a footpath through it had to be dug out by hand.
It was ages before vehicular access was resumed, thanks partly to us kids turning the top end of Foxes lane into a toboggan slide by pouring water down it during the late evening, egged on by 'Granpa' Hotchkiss.
I recall 'candle lit' toboggan runs down there.

As well as tobogganning on Foxes Lane we were able to ski on the field behind Church Cottages.

One of Barty Hotchkiss' friends, Bill Chancellor, lived in one of the cottages at Lullingstone Castle and one day we went skating on the lake there.
Paths had been cut and smoothed in the rough surface of the lake using a burner similar to those used by road menders to melt the top of the tarmac. It couldn't be left in one place for long for fear of breaking through the ice.

Even running water froze over, as the pictures from the bridge over the River Darenth at Frank's Hall show, but the water still ran at Eynesford Ford.

Canada Heights and Farningham & Rams Woods were a magnet for outings in the snow, to ski, toboggan or just to walk through.
Skating also took place on the pond in Farningham Woods, although it wasn't unusual for that shallow piece of water to freeze over.

The slideshow contains pictures taken in and around the village and further afield.

This link to the Swanley Village website opens in a new window.