1st stop of my visit to Borough Green and its environs: Just a few assembled on my early afternoon arrival inside this ancient and weathered-looking pub which grew out of three cottages originally. In the late 2010s, a property developer purchased the building with plans to convert or redevelop the site. Local villagers banded together in 2017 to protect the pub, successfully designating it an Asset of Community Value. 120 local residents pooled their capital to buy the freehold and The Plough successfully reopened in 2020 as a community-backed independent pub. A warm welcome from the couple running it as an independent pub and who I also remember from my first and last visit exactly a year before. A pleasant amble along the footpaths from Borough Green and past some local geese also ambling along the very quiet approach road to the hamlet of Basted past an old mill pond. A couple at The Plough joined me on the bench seating in the pub’s pleasant rear garden and told me they were local at Borough Green and told me the two geese I spotted on my walk here are a local feature of the neighbourhood. They also told me there used to be a paper mill near Mill Lane which I happened to mention for my walk to the Old House at Ightham Common and which became a key supplier of the secure paper stock used to print British and colonial postage stamps. Very good banter to be had.

My second visit of the day and now late afternoon after some very scenic walks around the countryside surrounding Basted. Never so thirsty and so ready to try their other two real ales also on, on this fine sunny day. A warm welcome and prompt service and made for the rear garden which was where all the punters were hanging out and supping their ales.

Quiet footfall for my early afternoon visit to this old country pub which grew out of a row of three farming cottages in the hamlet of Basted just outside Borough Green. A warm welcome and prompt service.