Bleak view from homes in a blighted valley: The intended BR route has brought disquiet to Kent's rural idyll. Martin Whitfield reports

COLIN CARTER has looked over Boxley valley for eight years. Perched high on the North Downs, his house has a stunning view across to Maidstone and beyond.

'We moved here because it was tranquil. We did not want an urban landscape and were fortunate enough to be able to pay the price. There is no compensation for having a view destroyed.

'It will devastate the whole valley. I can't think of anybody in this area who would support it. I can see the need for a fixed link but the thing is, where it should go. They must take care of the environment.'

Mr Carter, 48, owner of a graphic design company, and Doreen, his wife, had hoped to move to a small farm. With exquisite timing, they booked an estate agent to call to value the property on the morning it became clear that British Rail favoured the Boxley route.

'I used think that a man's home was his castle. But it isn't any more. All the plans that we were going to make will have to come to a halt.'

The house, in an area of special scientific interest, stands in four acres above the Pilgrims' Way and was formerly Lord Romney's summer house. Mr Carter said he had spent pounds 250,000 on restoration work.

Before the end of the housing boom it would have been worth more than pounds 650,000. A valuation now of between pounds 450,000 and pounds 500,000 would drop by an estimated pounds 100,000 if blighted by the link.

Stanley Smith of Ibbett Mosely, chartered surveyors called in to advise on the sale, said the impact would be the same across the valley.

'This is one of the loveliest remaining parts of Kent. It will put a stop on all property moves in this area.'

Sir John Best-Shaw has already had his idyllic 18th-century property blighted by the noise of the M20. The quacks of ducks swimming in the pond at the front of the house are drowned by the drone of car and lorry engines. The motorway, opened in 1980, lines one side of his property and is being widened to eight lanes. The rail link will cross his land and border the other side of the house.

'We have had five years' waiting for the decision,' said Sir John's son, Samuel, 21. 'We will be sandwiched between the motorway and the railway. It's not very pleasant.'

The line would pass 300 metres (330 yards) from the 60 'Tudor and traditional-style detached houses' on the Bluebells estate, on the A229 between Chatham and Maidstone, which British Rail has already bought once. It may now have to buy it back again.

By this week it had sold about half of the homes, which were blighted in 1988 when it was first suggested that the route should come through the Boxley valley. Prices varied from pounds 79,995 for a three-bedroom house to pounds 137,500 for the most desirable four-bedroom property.

Owen Lampard, 37, who bought his four-bedroom house in June last year, said: 'I am extremely angry with BR. Somebody must have known what was going to happen.'

Although, like other buyers, Mr Lampard has been offered an option by BR to sell his house back at either the market rate or the price he paid, he thinks people have been badly misled.

'Both my wife and I work from home and we wanted to be here for a number of years,' he said.

The clubhouse of the 101-year- old Rochester and Cobham Golf Club is in line to be demolished. John Irving, the manager, said yesterday: 'I can't believe they will be able to get the trains through here.'

In a reference to an engineering consultancy that had advised BR, he said: 'When the Ove Arup route was chosen some years ago, the trains were going to be run through tunnels in this area.

'Once we know what's going on, the matter will be placed in the hands of the club's solicitors to sort out.'

Also likely to be demolished is the 18th-century Mucky Duck pub in the village of Sellindge, on the outskirts of Folkestone.