IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Blackheath Lane, GUILDFORD, GU5 9AU

Isolated cottage north-east of Blackheath village. The cottage is next to Blackheath Common with its dense network of paths and tracks.

Looking downstream along the Lawbrook valley. The hedge conceals a fish-farm, perhaps established on the site of old watercress beds. The first item in this sequence is Image

Not far upstream you come to a trout farm (screened by hedges) and beyond that the old farm buildings at Ford Farm. In many places along the brook there are good growths of watercress - traces of commercial exploitation in the past.

Looking upstream (and roughly south-east) from a point close to Blackheath Lane. There is a good deal of watercress growing along this little river, and this must once have been exploited commercially - the words 'Watercress Beds (disused)' appear on the map a little downstream. Although a number of minor roads cross the Lawbrook valley at various points, there is no road that runs along it, so that it feels very secluded by the standards of south-east England. There is - it has to be said - a railway line, but there are only a few trains per hour, and they don't intrude for long.

Looking upstream. In the shady foreground are the remains of an old watercress bed. The local economy still makes use of the waters of the brook, as there is a fish-farm a short distance upstream, beyond the fence.

The fence across the stream appears to mark the downstream end of the trout farm. Beyond it - on the south side of the stream - there is a chain of rectangular pools. Visible in the foreground of this shot are large clumps of watercress - perhaps traces of the beds which were part of the local economy in the days before fish-farms.

The first geograph for this grid square is of a very similar view (http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/187697 ). The security notice on the gate has been added since then.