We note with regret from the reports of the meeting
hell at Reigate on Monday last that the attempt which is bell made by the National Trust to purchase Colley Hill, the beautiful sweep of chalk down rising to a height of 750 feet above the town, is obtaining such meagre support. Unless £7,000, of which only about £1,500 has yet been found. can be raised before the middle of February next, the bill must pass into the hands of the speculative builder. At present people wander freely about the bill, but there are no rights of way, and therefore any building scheme must mean the total exclusion of the public. The hill is not only beautilul in itself, but there is a magnificent view from it over the wide- spreading green-blue Weald of Sussex. As it is the south slope which is for sale, the hill provides many very tempting sites for houses. There is nothing which the Londoner who goes to settle in the country likes, and rightly, so much as a site some 500 or 600 feet above the sea, facing south, and with a noble view in front and protection from the north behind. He feels that his house is set like a peach on a kitchen-garden wall. In these circumstances we feel sure that the National Trust is not encouraging any inflation of land values near London in agreeing to buy Colley Bill at the rate of about £130 an acre should they be able to raise the money.
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