Walking in Kent

Guidebook for the best walking routes in Kent, as well as recently discovered routes in all corners of the county. There’s plenty to appeal to both family strollers and determined ramblers, and each route has been rewalked by the author and carefully revised.

KENT – A WALKER’S COUNTY

The diverse nature of its landforms makes Kent a wonderland to explore on foot, and with more than 4200 miles (6876km) of footpaths, bridleways and byways criss-crossing the county, the walker is spoilt for choice. Every natural feature has its own particular charm, and every season its own brand of beauty.

The chalk ridge of the North Downs stretches right across the county in an extensive arc reaching from Westerham to Dover. Covering almost a quarter of the county, the Kent Downs region was designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1968. Though one side of the ridge slopes gently to the Thames and Medway estuaries, or off to the Swale or low-lying Thanet, its ‘front’ makes an abrupt, steeply pitched wall that acts as a natural boundary to the Weald. Far-reaching vistas from the scarp edge provide a bonus to explorations, while secluded hamlets nestle in folds of the back-country to underline their apparent isolation. The chalk being overlaid in places with clay and flint makes this a fertile land, and in both the back-country and on the broad downland crest, large arable fields and sheep-grazed meadows act as springboards from which larks rise singing. Step lightly as you explore, for deer may be seen straying from cover; there are fox-runs and badger trails, and wild flowers that adorn meadow and woodland alike – especially the orchids and cowslips that are so characteristic of the Downs.

For the long-distance walker, the North Downs Way keeps mostly to the scarp edge on its 130-mile (208km) journey from Farnham in Surrey to Dover, with an alternative section that breaks away near Wye to visit Canterbury before curving round to the coast. The Pilgrims Way, however, traces a route along the base of the Downs, but as this is tarmac road for most of the way, it’s lost much of its appeal for walkers. Not so the broad crest, the scarp edge and the inner valleys where abundant opportunities exist for walks of varying lengths; delightful half-day rambles or full-day walks, some of which can be found in this book – from Lullingstone, Shoreham, Camer Country Park, Stansted and Trosley and Wye.

The Greensand Hills act as an inner lining to the North Downs. But the ridge which shadows that downland wall is much narrower and more clearly defined than its better-known neighbour, and the views arguably even better from its crest. Overlooking the Weald, this ridge also stretches right across the county, entering Kent from Surrey a little south of Westerham, and making a long curve towards Hythe and the edge of Romney Marsh. Unlike the chalk Downs, the Greensand Hills are, as their name suggests, sandy in places – although this is not evident everywhere. The vegetation is different, with bracken-covered heaths, stands of pine and birch and many handsome beechwoods. The hurricane winds of October 1987 flattened vast areas of woodland, but time has served to heal the landscape and, following programmes of replanting, large wooded sections have recovered well. One of the legacies of that hurricane is the welcome spread of bluebells, wood anemones and wood sorrel, so walking along the Greensand Hills in springtime can be truly spectacular.

While the North Downs wall is accompanied for much of its length by major roads, the ridge of Greensand has been spared such company, and rewards with some of the finest, and most extensive uncluttered views, not only in Kent, but in all of southern England. With so many great vantage points to exploit, walks along the Greensand Hills count among the best of all. Westerham, Crockham Hill, Toys Hill, Ide Hill, Sevenoaks Weald, Shipbourne; all these give memorable days out. But so do Yalding and Linton, where the south-facing slopes are hung with orchards; and Ulcombe and Pluckley from whose footpaths you gaze across great open spaces. For the long-distance walker the Greensand Way traces a route along the ridge for 110 miles (177km) between Haslemere in Surrey and Hamstreet, south of Ashford, and is a very fine route indeed. Recognising this, a few sections of that long trail are adopted by circular walks described in this book.

In common with the North Downs and Greensand Hills, The Weald is not confined to Kent, but spreads beyond the county’s boundary into Surrey and Sussex. This vast region is contained by the North and South Downs and consists of a complex series of fertile hills and vales, among which are to be found the fields of soft fruit, the platts of cobnuts, the orchards, vineyards and hop farms that gave Kent the epithet the ‘Garden of England’. But there are also large areas of meadowland and extensive woods; and in Wealden hollows hammer ponds, now a haven of peace and tranquillity, recall a time when they were at the heart of England’s ‘black country’ as local iron ore was smelted then hammered into cannon. Centuries later heron stalk the margins of these ponds, whose outlet streams flow between banks bright with wild flowers. Fine houses built by the iron masters remain largely tucked away, but some are seen from walks included here. Elsewhere, several of Kent’s loveliest villages punctuate the Wealden landscape, their sturdy churches beckoning across the acres, their streets lined with black-and-white half-timbered houses and pubs.

The Wealdway makes a roughly north–south crossing of 82 miles (131km) from Gravesend on the Thames to Beachy Head and Eastbourne in Sussex; and the High Weald Walk follows nearly 28 miles (45km) of footpaths on a circuit near Tunbridge Wells. However, within this collection of walks, those that begin in the far west of the county at Four Elms, Marsh Green, Cowden, Chiddingstone, Penshurst and Groombridge are full of variety, while routes that explore the Weald’s rolling hills around Brenchley and Tenterden are no less rewarding.

Kent’s long Coastline is forever changing. While the tides chew away at the coastal fringe in some places, in others land is reclaimed from the sea. Nothing illustrates this changing shape of the county more vividly than a walk along the Saxon Shore Way, from Gravesend to Hastings in Sussex. When the Romans arrived here they found a very different coastline from that which we would recognise today, for although some of it has disappeared beneath the waves, elsewhere we now walk on one-time sea-cliffs several miles inland!

Separating the Isle of Sheppey from mainland Kent, the Swale is edged on both shores with mudflat and marshland loud with wildfowl, while the River Wantsum (which until the Middle Ages was as wide as the Swale and, linked with the Stour, helped make Thanet an island) is now a minor stream, beside which ploughs turn the soil where ships once sailed. The White Cliffs of Dover remain white because they’re crumbling; were they not they’d be green like the band of grassed-over cliffs at Stone-in-Oxney. Stone, of course, is now marooned from the sea by the expanse of Romney Marsh, but look at the map and allow imagination to roll back the centuries, and you’ll see how things once were. Some of the walks in this book can bring history alive if you understand the clues, and those that follow the coastline as it is now – near Leysdown on Sheppey, for example, or routes near Newington, Faversham, Sandwich and Dover – illustrate the diverse nature of coastal scenery. The walk on Chislet Marshes from St Nicholas at Wade, and that which includes Appledore and Stone-in-Oxney, take footpaths where a few centuries ago it would have been necessary to travel by boat.

Of Kent’s Rivers, the Medway is perhaps the best known. Dividing the county in two, it was once renowned for separating Kentish Men from the Men of Kent – the former were born west of the river, with Men of Kent to the east – but few bother with that distinction today. Rising among the hills of Sussex, the Medway draws from many sources, and by the time it reaches Tonbridge is substantial enough to be navigable by barge. Plans to extend the navigation as far as Penshurst failed, yet today there are no less than 10 navigational locks and flood control sluices between Leigh and Allington. A towpath accompanies the river from Tonbridge to Maidstone, giving a delightful 16-mile (25km) walk. A continuation as far as Rochester (not towpath but on paths that are either on the riverbank or not far from it) adds another 12 miles (19km) to what is known as the Medway Valley Walk. In this present collection of walks, that which starts from Teston Bridge enjoys one of the best sections along the Medway’s valley.

While the Medway divides the county into west and east, that other long river, the Stour, makes a writhing journey from its source near Lenham to the sea at Pegwell Bay, via Ashford, Canterbury and Sandwich. This too is a delightful river, but its character is quite different from that of the Medway’s. Meandering through downland, woodland, orchards and hop gardens, it almost loses its identity on entering Canterbury. But that identity is regained outside the city walls, and just beyond Fordwich (which lays claim to being Britain’s smallest town) it snakes among lakes, dykes, and a magical marshland nature reserve. One walk suggested from Stodmarsh unravels some of the mystery of this utterly charming district, while the Stour Valley Walk journeys for a little over 51 miles (82km) from source to sea. The Stour and the Medway are both rivers of character, but the little Nailbourne stream is sometimes dry for months – or even years – at a time. However, the valley it drains is a delight of small villages linked by the 22.5 miles (36km) of the Elham Valley Way, sampled here on walks from Bridge and Elham itself.

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