Railway station

Chalk in an early spring walk
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Chalk in an early spring walk

After such a rainy winter it’s likely this weekend will see a mass exodus to our Kent footpaths, some of which have taken on a rather liquid quality in recent weeks. Sunday looks as if it’ll be the better of the two days but Saturday will be dry and mild – maybe the better bet if you want a bit of peace and quiet.

I recommend to bide your time… wait until things have dried out a bit, especially if you are thinking of a Greensand Ridge walk around Sevenoaks or Westerham. I’m no expert but the soil and geology of the walks on the sandstone and on the clay of the Weald tend to get very boggy at this time of year; the soils are thicker and water sits a lot more. Add into that the popularity of One Tree Hill, for example, and you find churned up paths and impassable stretches without detours into the brambles.

However, up on the chalk hills the surface water drains away pretty well through the thin soil into the porous chalk – generally speaking that is. Downe has got very squelchy despite having a chalk foundation. This is partly because of the silly fenced in path around the initial fields and the farming-induced quagmire at the end of the final field by the bus stop as you come back into the village. I’ve gone off it a bit out of season I’ve got to say.

  • Flooded woods, Bough Beech
    Flooded woods, Bough Beech, March
  • Bough Beech nature reserve
    Bough Beech nature reserve, March
  • View from Fackenden Down
    View from Fackenden Down, March 2023
  • Gills Lap, Ashdown Forest
    Gills Lap, Ashdown Forest, early March.
  • Petts Wood walk in March
  • Lullingstone in March
  • Chevening walk Point 3-4. March
  • Cherry tree blossom

If you’re in doubt which kind of walk is which, the chalk walks are numbers 2, 3, 5, 12, 14, 16, 18, 19, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 30 (see top of the page to click on the links – I can’t be bothered to link these here!)

There are also tracks when you can get out of the mud – on the Chiddingstone, the Underriver, Knole and Bough Beech routes there are hardened paths to give relief. I’ve written about the tiny, quiet lanes here.

But there’s another factor to encourage you to walk on the chalk walks – the train. Eynsford, Shoreham (Kent), Otford are all on the Thameslink line down from Blackfriars. Kemsing is served by Victoria trains (but not Sundays sadly) and you can just about use Knockholt on the London Bridge line for walks starting in Andrews Wood (like Polhill and Pluto) if you don’t mind a walk to the start of the walk. There’s also the Hayes (not Middlesex!!) line from London Bridge via Lewisham for walks to Keston Ponds and Downe via Hayes Common.

A break in the rain – quick, catch the train to Shoreham!
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A break in the rain – quick, catch the train to Shoreham!

The unrelenting rain so far this year has put a bit of a dampener on Kent walks. There has been the odd decent day; the Saturday just gone for example so all has not been lost. The increased rain is pretty much in line with what weather scientists have been predicting given the pace of climate warming – and who would be surprised if by June we are in a drought? It seems to be the way of it these days. Personally, I’d love a bit of snow before February is out, but it seems an unlikely prospect.

Shoreham winter february
The path by the white cross with a view of the Darent Valley

Taking advantage of the sun on Saturday and in need of Vitamin D I hastily organised a train walk with a friend. The Thameslink from Catford whisked us to Shoreham within about 30 minutes – so much better than driving. We put together a route that’s a kind of hybrid of Shoreham Circular mk1 and mk2… so let’s call it Shoreham mk3. Starting from the station we: headed up White Hill to Warren Farm; turned south to Fackenden Down; west down the hillside to the A225; crossed the railway line and headed north up the valley floor; turned left and headed west up Water Lane to Filston Lane – then straight up to hill; turned right and headed north along the path above the white cross, back down to Mill Lane and the riverside path to the Samuel Palmer and back up to the station along the field-edge path. 5.5 miles of bliss in the sunshine. Birds of prey were plentiful: kestrel, buzzard and the now commonly seen spiral of red kites close to the village.

Of course, the paths were quite busy once down in the valley – people knew it was the only day to get out before the rain returned. The mud wasn’t too bad apart from one area of the Filston Lane field where cattle and trodden it into a mire. Otherwise you could have done it in trainers… that chalk geology does drain so well and there are several stretches of hardened paths/tracks on the route in any case.

CLICK HERE FOR GPX INTERACTIVE VERSION OF THE MAP BELOW

OS map of walk
Map of Shoreham mk3 route
It’s time for Fackenden Down
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It’s time for Fackenden Down

The Fackenden Down walk in late May on a breezy sunny day cannot be bettered. This is the walk on this site with most rewilding going on and plenty of Kent Wildlife Trust-maintained land. The results are a good variety of wildflowers, including several orchid species and sainfoin, lots of butterflies, burnet moths and birds such as buzzards (very common), whitethroat (from May to September) and yellowhammer (if you’re lucky). Some ancient species of livestock such as highland cattle are often used to graze the grasses in small numbers. My route is brilliant, if I do say so myself, and easily accessible by train. There’s a great pub at the end of the walk too – the Samuel Palmer.

I love Magpie Bottom in particular, a sheltered secret feeling valley alive with flowers and great variety of tree foliage colours. Then there the views from Fackenden Down itself, the wild “garden“ along the foot of White Hill and the Down, the view of London and Essex from the high point at Romney Street … it’s terrific, and a good workout with a few steep sections. It comes in at around 12,500 steps.

The Kent Wildlife Trust is in need of volunteers to monitor its livestock. Also it’s looking for urgent donations to enable it to purchase more land at Polhill, across the valley from Fackenden, where it monitors and maintains similarly superb chalk hillside. I’ve diverted the donations to this site to the appeal, but please make sure you chip in.

Awesome orchid wonderland
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Awesome orchid wonderland

I was bowled over by the wildflowers on the Fackenden Down walk yesterday. I’ve never seen so many orchids; with yellow trefoil and tall ox-eye daisies blazing away as a background some of the meadows were mesmerising. Full credit to those managing the sites of special scientific interest at Magpie Bottom, Austin Spring and Fackenden Down along to White Hill (Kent Wildlife Trust in conjunction with local landowners?). Their hard work has produced a superb return. I’m not good at identifying orchids beyond the pyramidal variety, but I’ll give it a shot for the photos.

To strike a more negative note, I got the feeling there should still be more insects enjoying this abundance; there were plenty of bees around but not a lot else (a few marbled white butterflies, the odd peacock butterfly and red admiral notwithstanding). There was a distinct lack of swallows, martins and swifts, too. These species haven’t made it to these shores in great numbers this year it seems and that could be because of the effect of insecticides. But anyway, a beautiful and memorable walk.

And remember, this wonderland is only 50 minutes direct on the train from Peckham Rye, with the walk starting opposite Shoreham station.

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Fabulous Fackenden
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Fabulous Fackenden

The Fackenden Down walk is such a winner at all times of year – and it’s so easy to get to from SE London, because it starts right outside Shoreham train station. In yesterday’s perfect weather wildflowers illuminated the hillsides and meadows; cirrus clouds offered a dramatic dreamscape high above and incessant birdsong filled the air. So many highlights on this walk: the bit when you leave the ancient beech wood and enter the timeless Magpie Bottom valley is my favourite. And the distant views of the City and the Shard from Romney Street are dramatic too. I was disappointed to see my team lose in the Champions League final later on (yet so thankful we got to the final) but the memories of the walk compensated. I created a GPX track of the walk too… so going off-route is now impossible (if you have a smartphone that is). The walk does have some steep sections though, so take it easy.

Interactive pdf of walk (to print or download on phone) is here.

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Lullingstone country park – perfect for a winter walk in fading light

The open spaces and long valley views of Lullingstone make for a very atmospheric walk at this time of year in clear conditions. The Shoreham-Eynsford stations walk takes in an area of the park, as does Walk 12 but its easy to devise your own stroll from the Visitor’s Centre or from Eynsford’s Roman Villa car park (not free) or train station. There is also parking in Eynsford village or in laybys along the road to the Villa. It’s a bit cloudy as I write but on Thursday the sky was fantastic, though there was no moon.

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Shoreham, Kent – a perfect village for a stroll

Nine of the walks on this site involve the Shoreham neighbourhood, in the Darent Valley. This is good, because Shoreham is a decent little place with its four fine pubs, vineyard, Battle of Britain museum, river walk and houses from down the centuries. And it has a station, served by trains from London Blackfriars (sometimes Victoria too) via Peckham Rye and Bromley South, and Sevenoaks. Otford down the road is alright too. My walks use the valley rims, east and west; the valley floor along the river and the ‘dry’ valleys (geographical feature – not a reference to any shortage of pubs!) that flank the main one. The Darent river itself rises south of Westerham, on the shallow slope of the Greensand ridge and its early stretches can be seen on walks 15 and 21. Try not to drive through the village itself. On the east side of the village there’s a car park by the station and a huge layby almost opposite the station. On the west side there’s a free car park at Filston Lane. Best of all though, arrive by train if possible. There’s only one (tiny) shop in the place, so don’t expect to do your shopping there.

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It’s a great village to stroll around, explore the ancient church and paths that skirt the northern side, around the back of the vineyard. Full details can be found on each Shoreham walk page. The Darent Valley path itself, which the walks here take in stretches of, is 19 miles long, starts by Sevenoaks station and ends at Dartford, as the river enters the Thames. So that’ll take awhile.

The sublime nine Shoreham walks

Shoreham station is most convenient for the eastern walks but it’s only a half-mile walk down Station Rd to connect with the western valley ones, too. Each of the walks can be adapted into something much longer by joining them together. 

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Quieter Shoreham walks

For anyone who’s enjoyed the Shoreham Circular walk really should give the Shoreham Circular Mk2 a go. It goes along the ridge on the eastern side of the valley before dropping down and eventually joining the Mk1 route by the Darenth golf course. It’s a lovely quiet stroll starting in ancient woods (slow worms, buzzards, woodpeckers), ascending to the top of the hill eventually with great views and wild chalk meadows which teem with butterflies. It all ends by the George pub…

It’s pretty decent for public transport too… Shoreham station is opposite the start of the walk and can be reached by direct train from Blackfriars on the Catford loop line via Nunhead etc (check first, the Thameslink network is chaotic – there’s also the option of a train to Sevenoaks on the London Bridge-Orpington line, then changing). Give it a go this weekend, all is set fair.

If you fancy something longer, ending up in the same place, then the mysterious eastern valleys walk from Shoreham station or the Romney St/Otford/Shoreham circle (from Otford station) will fit the bill.

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Hot bank holiday and Penshurst Place

An unexpectedly superb weekend of weather; it seems to me that late summer and early autumn are now routinely drier and warmer than mid-summer but I’m too lazy to look for figures to back that up. I hope, dear readers, you’ve been able to get out and about. A small component of my family ventured forth by car and bicycle to Penshurst Place (on the Chiddingstone circular walk) yesterday. We parked at Haysden country park a mile or so from Tonbridge station, then cycled the remaining 3.5 miles to Penshurst Place, on lanes at first, then off-road alongside the river Medway.

We passed a good swimming/picnic spot in the river close to the bridge as it passes beneath Ensfield Rd, before ascending the moderate hill at Well Place Farm then freewheeling down the slope to Penshurst Place manor house itself. The gardens are always a joy and so is the cafe by the house in a large courtyard dominated by a lime (I think) tree. I wrote about the house and its interesting history for the Guardian a while back – also got more detail there on how to get there and prices. A great afternoon out if you are fancy free on the bank holiday but best done with a car/bike combination.

There are trains from Victoria (via East Croydon) and London Bridge but Penshurst station is two miles from the house. I haven’t devised a walking route from the station away from the road yet but there must be one. Hmm…

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Find a north-west Kent walk that suits you


Here’s a map of all the walks on this site so far. Click on the pointers to take you to descriptions of the walks online or in printable pdf format. Alternatively, use the walk tabs at the top of this page.

The best walks on this site for public transport, if you live in SE London are:

Best for public transport: Chislehurst/Petts Wood walk (13): direct train to Chislehurst/Petts Wood/Bickley stations from Brixton/Hither Green/Catford/Herne Hill/West Dulwich/Peckham Rye/Nunhead. For the Shoreham/Eynsford and Otford routes (walks 2, 3, 5, 8, 12, 14, 16) there are trains direct to the starts of the walks on Thameslink services between London Blackfriars and Sevenoaks (stopping at Peckham Rye, Nunhead, Catford, Bellingham, Bromley South etc). Trains are relatively frequent and take about 30 minutes from, say, Catford to Otford. Pubs in Shoreham and Eynsford well placed for any delays or cancellations!
So-so for transport: Downe (walk 1): closest route to SE London but involves a (fairly frequent) 25-min bus ride – 146 from Bromley South station
OK for transport: Knole Park (walk 11) – you’ll have to walk from Sevenoaks station (good rail services to Sevenoaks station on Thameslink – see above – or Charing Cross line (Hither Green etc) for nearly a mile to the leisure centre and enter Knole from there, joining the walk as per instructions and map.
Bit of a stretch but do-able: Hever (walk 9) actually has a station, on the London Bridge line via East Croydon, so quite easy from Forest Hill, Brockley etc if you plan ahead. The walk starts at Hever Castle, 1 mile from the station but there’s a path that will take you there from the station.
Not so accessible: Sevenoaks routes (walks 4, 6, 7): can take train to Sevenoaks station on Thameslink or Charing Cross line (Hither Green etc), but then a taxi ride – Ide Hill is about 4 miles from the station; One Tree Hill about 3 miles (also quite close to Hildenborough station).
Car only, although…: I think Chiddingstone is definitely best by car. But, you can take the train to Hildenborough or Edenbridge and get a taxi (more details on walk’s page). Westerham/Chartwell is best with a car, though again bus from Bromley is possible (246), as is taxi from Sevenoaks station.

Always check ‘live departures’ online for trains – service disruption is quite the thing these days you know.

Best for views

One Tree Hill, Ide Hill, Otford circular via Romney St, Fackenden Down, Westerham/Chartwell, Shoreham’s mystery eastern valleys, Polhill, Eynsford/Lullingstone. Oh… actually all of ’em.

Best pubs on the walks – click here

See menu at top of page for full list of walks