DARENT

VALLEY TROUT FISHERS: THE BEATS

This document offers a brief description of each beat, how to access it and where the parking and catch return boxes are located: It also includes grid references for locations on most of the beats which are useful when using other maps and when reporting poaching incidents to the Environment Agency hotline (0800 80 70 60).

Furlongs Farm
Bank access: left bank only (looking down stream). Do not antagonise landowners by standing on the right hand bank. Catch return box: there isnt one yet. Please use a catch box on another beat if convenient or email or phone Colin Lambert 01689812134 or 07846 070648. Please include date, size, beat and mention if any fish had an intact adipose fin (as per the instructions on the catch return sheet).
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Darent Valley Trout Fishers Limited Registered office: Yew Tree Cottage, Upper Green Road, Shipbourne, Kent, TN11 9PL, UK Place of Registration: England Registration Number: 08393711

Furlongs Farm is our newest and Northernmost beat. It is approximately 1.5kms long although only the bottom half and a short portion of the very top is currently fishable. We are working with the EA and NorthWest Kent Countryside Partnership and the landowners to improve the upstream stretch between the housing estate and Eynsford cricket ground. The entrance is along a small road between the bridge and The Plough pub in Eynsford. The track leads through a gate into a small industrial estate on the farm. The gate is usually open on weekdays. Please leave the gate as you find it. If the gate is locked there is a key to unlock the 2 padlocks. The key can be found by walking through the gap on the left of the gate and turning left to follow the inside boundary fence/hedge back along the road for a few yards. You will see a box in the hedge. The box might be secured by a combination lock, if so the combination is 2128: Open the box and in it you will see a key hanging about half way up. Please replace the key after use. When you drive in turn to the right, as there is an anti clockwise one-way system in place, then follow the road to the left between the buildings. DVTF members may park to the left or right of the gate into the field in front of you. An alternative used by some members which requires less walking is to park in Oliver Crescent, which is a turning on the left along the A225 just passed the end of the open field/meadow. You can then walk back along the main road and enter the field by the gate either by walking down the path to the right and entering the river by wading in the shallows below the fallen tree: Or walking further along the meadow and going through a white gate after which you can cross the shallows there to get to our bank and to the stile which gets you into the field. There are 4 fields separated by gates and fences. The first gate can be climbed up and over: there is a combination lock (2345) if youd rather not climb. The gate between fields 2 and 3 is especially difficult. The fishing is only really viable from field 3 down to our bottom boundary, which is where the river splits into 2 streams at a weir. Field 1 has a short but good stretch of stream although access is very difficult currently. The river on this beat is the least accessible of our beats. We installed stiles along the bottom stretch (the ~400m of river downstream of the housing estate situated half way down the beat) to assist in getting over the fence that keeps the cattle out of the river. The beat does require more effort to access but it holds wonderful hatches and fishing for browns and some large chub that frequently come to the dry.

Darent Valley Trout Fishers Limited Registered office: Yew Tree Cottage, Upper Green Road, Shipbourne, Kent, TN11 9PL, UK Place of Registration: England Registration Number: 08393711

Roman Villa
Bank access: both banks Catch return box: Upstream of the Bailey Bridge, near the toilets in the car park, on the other side of the tree with the old DVTF sign on it.

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The beat is accessed by turning left off of the A225 in Eynsford (traveling away from Shoreham), crossing over the bridge and following the road either parking at the Viaduct bridge or the Roman Villa area. The beat is split into 3 sections starting at the downstream end: Home Farm - from the farm buildings at the upstream limit of Eynsford to the Viaduct Roman Villa A - From the Viaduct to the wooden beat sign half way up the field Roman Villa B From the wooden sign up to the Bailey bridge at the Roman Villa parking lot For Home Farm and RV A you can tuck your car up next to one of the sides of the road that goes over the bridge below the Viaduct. For RV B you can either park as above and fish through both (all) beats or you can park in the Roman Villa car park: if you wish to park in the car park, take a receipt from the machine and go to the shop. Let the staff know you are from the DVTF and would appreciate a token to get out of the car park when you leave. Remember to get your token before the shop shuts. This free parking is a very kind gesture from the Roman Villa staff so please show much gratitude. Do not park on the verge between roundabout and Bailey bridge.
Darent Valley Trout Fishers Limited Registered office: Yew Tree Cottage, Upper Green Road, Shipbourne, Kent, TN11 9PL, UK Place of Registration: England Registration Number: 08393711

 Grid references: Viaduct 534 655 Middle of beats A and B 532 653 Bailey Bridge (top of beat B) 531 651

Darent Valley Trout Fishers Limited Registered office: Yew Tree Cottage, Upper Green Road, Shipbourne, Kent, TN11 9PL, UK Place of Registration: England Registration Number: 08393711

Castle Farm
Bank access: both banks Catch return box: On the corner of the packing shed in the DVTF parking area

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From the A225 drive down the long straight road toward the Hop Shop. There is an automatic gate that is normally open, if not edge toward the gate and it will open. You can also access from Redmans Lane coming in over the farm bridge. There is also an automatic gate here. To leave via this gate (which shuts at 5:30) press the green button on the right hand side of the bridge as you drive onto the bridge. Turn right after the gate and park in the DVTF parking, which is between the side of the barn and the fence. There are 3 sections to this beat: Castle Farm A - From the road at the downstream end to the farm bridge. Access over fences or through gates as required. Castle Farm B From the bridge to the weir pool known as Cobbetts Pool. Access through gate next to bridge.
Darent Valley Trout Fishers Limited Registered office: Yew Tree Cottage, Upper Green Road, Shipbourne, Kent, TN11 9PL, UK Place of Registration: England Registration Number: 08393711

The Hopgarden From the weir pool to Preston Farm. Access through gate next to bridge and then walk along the river in CF B. you can bypass CF B by walking over the bridge and turning left along the farm track next to the poplars that passes through the farm buildings. Turn left at the big barn at the end and walk through the field to Cobbetts Pool. Grid references: Castle Farm A at road bridge at the downstream end of the beat 526 638 DVTF parking area 526 636 Cobbetts Pool (point between CF B and Hopgarden sections) 526 634 Hopgarden 527 630 Laybye on A225 (poachers sometimes park here) 529 634

Darent Valley Trout Fishers Limited Registered office: Yew Tree Cottage, Upper Green Road, Shipbourne, Kent, TN11 9PL, UK Place of Registration: England Registration Number: 08393711

Preston Farm
Bank access: both banks Catch return box: On the wall in the car park

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Traveling from Shoreham toward Eynsford on the A225 there is a sharp left hand turn onto a road 50 meters after you pass under the railway bridge. There is an electric gate with a button to open it. On exiting back onto the A225 the gate opens automatically. Drive straight for a few hundred meters and then right toward Preston Farm buildings and Down to Earth tree services. Drive through the farmyard, turn left before the bridge and park next to the barn, against the wall with the DVTF sign and catch box. The beat is divided into 3 sections: Paddock From the top of the Hopgarden beat under the bridge at the farmyard in Preston Farm to the first low weir in the first field. Preston Farm A From the low weir around the left hand bend and on a further ~150 meters to a low concrete weir where a side channel exits the main river. Preston Farm B From the low concrete weir to the downstream limit of Shoreham village. A side channel joins the river and a lawn and house lie in front of you on the peninsula formed by the channel, as you look upstream.
Darent Valley Trout Fishers Limited Registered office: Yew Tree Cottage, Upper Green Road, Shipbourne, Kent, TN11 9PL, UK Place of Registration: England Registration Number: 08393711

Grid references: Preston Farm 528 628 Middle of Beat (concrete weir) 524 626 Top of PF B (shoreham end) 521 623

Darent Valley Trout Fishers Limited Registered office: Yew Tree Cottage, Upper Green Road, Shipbourne, Kent, TN11 9PL, UK Place of Registration: England Registration Number: 08393711