snow

Chilled at Lullingstone
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Chilled at Lullingstone

Lullingstone park is a great place to feel the winter vibes in the North Downs, with sweeping views of the Darent valley, big skies, mists swirling down by the river and a variety of terrain: from grassy expanses to rich beech and oak woods. Some walkers in Kent on Saturday saw a double sun – a trick of the light in which the sun seems to appear twice. It’s also called a sun dog, and is a type of halo. We weren’t so lucky, but the atmosphere was superb – wispy cloud, patches of cobalt sky, a low sun and a light mist. Small flocks of linnets were feeding in scrubby fields at the start of our route, up by the golf course entrance. It was the last day of this week of snow and freezing temperatures so we wanted to make the most of it, taking a 4-mile route around the park. A very deep frost had formed on top of the snow, producing some incredible branch-like crystal structures. It was a truly memorable stroll.

See an Ordnance Survey map of the route we took across Lullingstone – with GPX.

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A wintry reminder
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A wintry reminder

The gloom of December and early January has lately given way to bright, often mild conditions.
Great tits are blasting out their rhythmic calls optimistic that spring is around the corner and thrushes have been showing off at dusk with their varied, almost tropical-sounding tones. But this time last year all was silent: we were in the grip of a rare icy blast with heavy snow on the 7th and freezing conditions for the following week. If you’d stayed in south-east London you might have thought the snowfall was very light. But out in Kent, beyond the M25 and on the escarpments of the chalk North Downs and the Greensand ridge, the storm struck more powerfully. It seemed a good time to get out and get the feel of things, so here’s a photographic reminder of what real cold actually looks like. And believe me, the top of Fackenden Down on 12 February was bone-shakingly cold. Enjoy the photos! (Pictured are scenes from the Knole and Fackendon walks)

Snowtime
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Snowtime

It’s nailed on they say. Bound to happen. Everything is in place. The polar vortex is distorted. Sudden stratospheric temperature change has occurred. Low pressure and a front moving in from the north. The North Sea is suitably cold. Tottenham Hotspur keep losing (an extremely unpleasant winter development in my view). But – after a load of rain forecast on Saturday afternoon – it’s going to snow from the early hours of Sunday on and off for a couple of days or more. From 3am on Sunday the temperature won’t get above 0C until sometime on Thursday, which is sobering. Many of us don’t plan on staying sober, however. The rain will turn to snow well before dawn and the daytime will see us having fun in parks, woods and countryside. A little bit of Norway coming to Kent and south-east London.

Snow done properly, Rochers de Naye, Montreux, only by rack and pinion train. A FANTASTIC place.

But – hate to be a killjoy – there’s a pandemic and we mustn’t let our guard down. The usual scenes of sledging and snowball, snowman abandon may be missing. I don’t know how dangerous or not playing in the snow and ice really is but hospitals are certainly not the place to be right now, and they certainly don’t need A&E full of sheepish snow berks. Whatever we do, social distancing must be observed and I reckon masks worn when out, with hand gel at the ready. The best idea is to stay local and enjoy the unaccustomed spectacle stoically and cautiously. Keep the bird feeder as full as you can and enjoy nature close to home. Hey, there’s the Six Nations to watch and the usual football (thank God). Normally I’d suggest places to go sledging but I don’t feel I can do that this year, sadly. I can recommend a flask of hot chocolate and a dash of rum, however.

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I do wish I’d invested in a pair of skis sometime ago, when my limbs felt more flexible. I’ve never been skiing, but love watching it – it’s just incredibly spectacular and sort of romantic. It’s probably not for me as I recently found I’m extremely uncomfortable on chairlifts; a summer trip to the Pyrenees a few years ago having alerted me to this. It’s also a good thing I don’t ski because I can’t even go jogging without falling arse over tit and spraining my ankle. I’m OK now, though, thanks for asking.

Lullingstone – winter walking wonderland
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Lullingstone – winter walking wonderland

The walks through Lullingstone country park (nos 3 and 12) take in superb chalk grassland, rewilded areas of scrub, wonderful beech woodland and long views of the Darent Valley. Walkers don’t truly need to follow the prescribed routes; you can take off in whatever direction you fancy, just don’t walk straight across a golf fairway if there are golfers visible. If you have time it’s great to wander in Beechen Wood, a site of special scientific interest, with 500-year-old oaks, hornbeams, towering beeches and ash.

The park is great for winter walks, not being quite as muddy as some of the routes on this site (One Tree Hill you have been warned) and dusk brings excellent sunset views. There’s adventure playground stuff dotted around too, if you have kids you want to bring. Buzzards and kestrels are usually seen at all times of the year and field birds such as yellowhammer, corn bunting and skylark are often spotted despite the decline in their numbers. And it’s easy to get there to on public transport: it’s just 20 minutes’ walk from Eynsford station with its trains to south-east London (Peckham Rye/Catford line). Throw in the terrific Roman Villa and Lullingstone Castle you have a great day out.

Here are some winter pix over the years, two from yesterday and a passing rain squall.

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Snow on the North Downs ridge

Stunning walk at Fackenden Down today. Far more snow than I expected. Just a few extra metres at the top of the ridge made all the difference and there were some reasonable accumulations in Magpie Bottom. I had birdwatcher Dave for company which led to some more exciting sightings than I even manage without him. We saw bullfinch, coal tits, heard linnets, a probable marsh tit and, best of all, saw a short-eared owl hunting low over a rewilded field at Romney St. Big thanks to those who donated to the site today, much appreciated.

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In the grip of the beast: snow in north-west Kent

Little gets the south-east England as excited as the prospect of a bit of snow. It is fairly unusual, particularly in the London suburbs, so the ‘Beast from the East’ has real novelty value. The hills of the North Downs regularly get a lot more snow than the local London boroughs, however, so if you fancy a good old crunching snow walk, with scenes reminiscent of a winter’s day in Finland, hot foot it out to the walks on this website – even if your part of the metropolis has drawn a blank. Below are pictures from previous years, but I reckon this period will see much deeper snow – until a thaw sets in at the weekend.

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Right now the heavy snow showers seem to be slanting across the area north-east to south-west in a line. They are making landfall between the Isle of Sheppey and Margate and dumping the white stuff on Canterbury, Ashford, Maidstone and Sevenoaks. Places further north and west, like Bromley and Lewisham are not seeing anything like as much. Late on Thursday a different weather system will swing up from the south and may deposit several inches of wetter snow across the western parts of Kent particularly, including London.

Not being able to get out and photograph it all is a bit frustrating for me but the best hills for sledging are on the Shoreham circular and Romney St walks. One Tree Hill and Ightam Mote have thick snow but getting a car out there might be a problem. Knole Park should be easy to reach though and would be great.