The bluebells are truly finished. They won’t be mentioned again until next year. So what’s replacing them? Well, don’t expect such fantastic sheets of colour in the woods themselves, now they’re becoming increasingly shady but around the fringes and in the glades foxgloves will begin to bloom. Some of the best are on the Oldbury, Ide Hill, Hosey Hill, One Tree Hill and Underriver walks. Red campion, stitchword, wild garlic (brilliant on the One Tree Hill walks on the path to Ightham Mote) and soon orchids are the other main contenders. If you missed the bluebells, don’t worry – there are plenty of vivid hues to come on the walks but they’ll be more dotted about a bit. The orchids are my favourites – but we’ll talk about that later. Having said all that, we will need some rain …
Common spotted orchids on the Oldbury walk
Common spotted orchid, High Elms/Cuckoo Wood, Kent
Fragrant orchid Polhill
Foxgloves, Hosey Common
Iris at Bore Place on the Bough Beech walk
Poppies near Romney Street
Sainfoin, a very insect-friendly plant
Meadow brown butterfly on scabious flower on side of Fackenden Down
It’s time for the big reveal. The bluebells are at their best as I write so if you want to see them, you’d better get on with it.
The judging is over. The woods of north-west Kent have been perused and dreamy drifts of deep or light blue flowers (it all depends on the light, you see) assessed. The criteria, as ever was distinctly arbitrary – much depending on how I felt at the time. The judging panel (me, again) did not use any clever techniques such as cross-tabulation, quantitative and qualitative analysis, but simply looked around and gauged my immediate emotional response. I did peer into the distance to see how far the bluebells went – I think that’s the key to this; each of the shortlisted entries have bluebell vistas that stretch as far as the eye can see in the woods. The rest is down to something indefinable – the angle of the sun, whether there’s a glade to offset the tangle of trees. But I will lay down the law down on one aspect of all this: there must not be more than the absolute bare minimum of brambles. Sadly I wasn’t able to check out the bluebells at Petts Wood this year, or Oldbury, Heaversham, Kemsing, High Elms, Downe Bank. Apols for that! And I ought to remind readers that photographing bluebells isn’t easy – they are usually in tangled ancient woodland with little in the way of a view. They are strangely unphotogenic you could say, however beautiful they are in person.
So here is the top 5 this year – all of which could easily be visited in a single day (less than five miles separate the shortlisted drifts):
OK so this gem isn’t actually on one of the walks though it is quite near to the Knockholt Pound-Chevening route and is on my cycle route 3 on Single’s Cross Lane. The wood – part of the same continuous woodland that starts at Newyears Wood to the west – runs along the tiny lane and is an untidy but excellent tangle of hazel, beech, oak and so on. No one can walk in this fenced-off tract, the best you can do is stand by the barbed wire fence and gaze open-mouthed at the unbroken swathe of blue. Round the corner on Blueberry Lane (what a great name for a country road) is the bluebell field of Elgin House, also spectacular (and the inaugural winner in 2024). Kirsty tells me: “Its garden was open to the public at peak bluebell time in 2022 and we visited it then. We were able to walk in the bluebell field. It is truly amazing, I think because of the lack of understorey and the spacing of the trees.” The whole area is full of little woods flooded with bluebells. Maybe bicycle is the best way to get around it.
4 Andrew’s Wood, between Halstead and Shoreham
Early bluebells in Andrews Wood, April 2026
This wood, close to Polhill Nursery and on the Polhill/Pluto walking route has a useful car park. The rushing traffic noise of the M25 detracts slightly. But once you’ve crossed over the motorway and heading east things start to align nicely. The best bluebells are on the east facing slopes bordering the nicely secluded dry valley. Some recent timbering work has probably enhanced the wildflowers, giving them more space. Maybe. It’s a lovely spot in any case though I’m pretty sure the bluebells used to extend further west where brambles seem to have spread.
3 Newyears Wood/Birches Croft, east of Cudham
Newyears Wood, April 2026
Last year’s winner. On the delightful but understated Cudham chalk paths walk this one. I think the Birches Croft segment are best… real long-distance swathes of cobalt beneath stately oaks. And quiet; unlike Andrew’s Wood and Meenfield Wood you don’t see many people here. So why only 3rd this year if they are so good? Great question you ask there, Adam. The answer may be because I visited them on a Sunday rather than a Saturday. The latter is a happier day.
2 Meenfield Wood, Shoreham
Early bluebells, Meenfield Wood, April, 2026
High on the ridge west of Shoreham, this wood is on four walks: Shoreham and Polhill Bank; the classic Shoreham circular (with extension); Shoreham circular via Otford; and Polhill/Pluto (sort of). The judge visited on a breezy, bright mid-April day; superb conditions for walking. I particularly like how the bluebells slope east and west on either side of the ridgetop path – so you could catch glimpses of the valleys, the sky and distant countryside beyond. Timber work has let in more light than in previous years so the bluebells have flourished and there are brilliant drifts that seem to go on forever. I had it down to win, until …
1 Home Wood, Lullingstone
Like Meenfield Wood, a Saturday visit in late afternoon light showed off this tract at its best. Home Wood is on the southern edge of Lullingstone country park, where it butts up to Redmans Lane. It is encountered on the Full Lullingstone 4-mile walk, not the Eynsford-Lullingstone one. The feeling of the “secret wood” is at its most powerful here – and the path goes obligingly around the perimeter of the bluebells before rejoining the main route through Beechen Wood and eventually down to the Lullingstone visitors’ centre. It wins because of its tranquillity and obscurity – it’s like an exquisite work of art left in a forgotten room in a vast crumbling stately home. Few make it there, but nobody who does is left unmoved.
What about the others?
Andrews Wood bluebells April 2026 on the Polhill walk
Wilmot Hill bluebells 2026
Home Wood, Lullingstone
Ide Hill, April 2026
Elgin House bluebell field, April 2026
Apologies to the bluebells that didn’t make it to the shortlist. Emmetts Garden and Scords Wood on the Ide Hill route will once again snort with derision at being left off, while Hever, Oldbury and Petts Wood will understandably feel cold-shouldered. I just can’t get around all of them in time. One Tree Hill and Wilmot Hill had some nice bluebell patches last weekend but here they adorn the walk rather than saturate it. The same can be said for Hosey/Westerham and Chartwell routes although their advocates will be fuming. They may note that I’ve favoured the chalky North Downs bluebells over the sandy Greensand Ridge ones. It does seem a bit unfair but that’s life in the woods I’m afraid.
Bluebell season is upon us and it’s only Easter! ‘We’re not ready’, you say, ‘they’re too early’. It’s true – as I discovered last week at Ide Hill, they are a bit too keen this year. No idea why; wet February, dryish March, not too cold? Who knows, but usually they peak around 20-25 April in these west Kent parts. This year the peak looks like being around 10-20 April. They are already fairly spectacular, though not yet at full bloom.
The new contender for Best Bluebells of Kent Walks Near London is Home Wood in the Lullingstone Country Park. This is an obscure corner of the park just south of Lower Beechen Wood. It’s a less frequented neck of the woods and little known to me but the bluebells are great. Check out the map here to locate Home Wood. It’s kind of on the Full Lullingstone route I describe on this page – but use the map to find Home Wood.
Swathes of bluebells can be found on most of the Kent Walks near London – but One Tree Hill, Ide Hill, Meenfield wood on the Polhill walks, Cudham, Lullingstone (not the Eynsford route but the above mentioned full circuit) stand out in particular.
Here is last year’s Bluebell guide… very much applicable to this year I’d imagine! More on this soon, when I’ve decided on the results this year…
I write this on a dark Tuesday night with rain, driven by an angry, unpredictable wind, lashing down on to the roof of my conservatory. My little electric radiator is working overtime as I listen to the elements filling the sky above me. But I’m here to write about the onset of spring, about how the Kent walks near London have largely dried out rather well and how early bluebells, wood anemones, primroses and celandine are spangling woods and meadows with vivid colours. I also want to mention how great the blackthorn bushes and trees look this year. The snow-white flowers of blackthorn, the stalwart of early spring blossom, are a vital source of nectar and pollen for bees in spring. The Woodland Trust website says its foliage is a food plant for the caterpillars of many moths, including the lackey, magpie, swallow-tailed and yellow-tailed and that it’s also used by the black and brown hairstreak butterflies. Its thorny, dense thickets are great for birds to nest in too and of course its gorgeous sloe berries in autumn are a rich source of sustenance for a variety of creatures.
Blackthorn is seen on all the walks; take a close look, it’s definitely one of those sights we take for granted but the more you look, the more you are rewarded.
Yes, all this happens every year but it seems so miraculous each time, as long as you don’t forget to look. And right now we need to look, given the gloom visited on us by the horror of unwanted wars and fears over our livelihoods.
Early spring at Romney Street, Eastern Valleys walk
Primrose in Scord wood on the Ide Hill walk
Blackthorn on One Tree Hill, Sevenoaks, Kent
Wood anenomes on Fackenden Down
Cuckoo flowers and bluebells near Bore Place, Bough Beech
Celandine on the Fackenden Down walk
Magpie Bottom view, late March
Primroses on the chalk downs of Kent at Austin Spring, near Shoreham
Blackthorn on Fackenden Down
Wood anemones and bluebells
Colours of late March
Blackthorn clump between Austin Spring and Romney Street, Fackenden 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, March
Bough Beech nature reserve, March
View from Fackenden Down, March 2023
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.
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.
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.
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Kent Walks Near London can offer several lovely, lonely little valleys with their own microclimates, special flora, shelter and that precious sense of seclusion. Here are four of the best on the walks here.
1 The Darent… but not as you know it
Tower Hill, Westerham viewed from the ‘secret‘ valley of the infant Darent stream
On the Hosey and Westerham walks I love the little south-north valley that winds its way from the sandstone ridge at Mariner’s Hill down to Westerham. It’s actually the valley of the River Darent just after it rises from a spring just behind the Greensand Ridge. I was delighted to realise this was where the Darent started, the stream is more associated with the chalk of the proper Darent Valley of Samuel Palmer fame – Shoreham, Otford and so on – not this obscure place near Chartwell.
Harebells in the shadow of Tower Hill, Hosey walk
The river is bounded by beech and conifer (with Tower Hill a dark bump just to the east) and initially runs through a delightful meadow of wild grasses, unseen from the path. It suddenly broadens into large shallow pools as it heads to Westerham before turning east and making its way to its ‘proper’ valley. Autumn colours here are wonderful.
2 Magpie Bottom – great name, great valley
Magpie Bottom viewed from Austin Spring on the Fackenden walk
This stunning little rift in the landscape features on the Fackenden Down, Otford/Romney Street/Shoreham and the Eastern Valleys walk in different guises. It is so secluded that only walkers know of it. And the few residents of the curious hamlet I think called Upper Austin Lodge on the OS map.
Magpie Bottom is a classic steep-sided chalk dry valley (similar to but more dramatic than the ones on the Downe, Polhill and Cudham walks) running north to south from behind the escarpment. These are caused by glacial meltwater long departed. The valley’s head at Great Wood and Eastdown just behind the chalk escarpment of the North Downs to Rose Cottage farm is a series of wonderful spots unreachable by car, but really it’s gorgeous all the way down past Romney Street, Round Hill, Upper Austin Lodge and Eynsford where it meets the Darent Valley. Possibly my favourite place on all the walks, and all the better for no longer having a golf course in it!
3 A verdant vale on the way to Ightham Mote
Broadhoath woods in the hidden valley behind Wilmots Hill, near Ightham Mote
My final Kent canyon (it’s not a canyon) features on the longer version of the Oldbury/Ightham Moat route and is mentioned as a route alternative on the One Tree Hill figure of eight walk (see the blue line on the Google map at the KWNL page). So on the One Tree Hill routes it’s a diversion, a short cut that you’ll have to check your maps to include. But on the longer Oldbury walk it’s part of the deal. What shall we call it? It’s round the back of Ightham Mote and passes through a wood called Broadhoath behind Wilmot Hill (which has some of the greatest views in Kent). It has a lively little stream that rises just behind the Greensand Ridge, a terrific pond with viewing platform and interesting flora as it descends west to east to Ightham Mote itself, passing a shed built to house early 20th century hop pickers (you’d think hop pickers were in fact horses judging by the design of the housing – the landowners obviously weren’t too bothered by other people’s comfort levels). Like the other little valleys it’s good for birds: marsh tit and bullfinch have been seen here. It’s another totally secret dip, accessible only to walkers, that’s like an entry to another realm; a world away, but its paths are only 55 minutes from Sydenham.
Orchids are in full flower across almost all the Kent Walks Near London. They particularly like the chalky North Downs routes, such as Heaverham, Chevening, Fackenden Down, Polhill, Lullingstone, Eastern Valleys etc (see list of walks above) but I’ve found great clusters at Hever and meadow fringes at Oldbury too, on the sandstone/clay of the weald and Holmesdale Vale. We unexpectedly came across the pictured common spotted orchids (the UK’s most often seen variety) on the Oldbury walk this week. This is one of the routes I’ve walked the least often; in fact I can count the times I’ve hiked the long and short versions on the fingers of one hand. I don’t know why, they are both brilliant strolls. The shorter version is mainly through woods and is one of the quietest walks on this website (apart from the bit near the A25). It takes in an enormous Iron Age fort, meadows facing the North Downs escarpment and a sandy trail past beautiful old fish ponds in rich woodland. I really recommend it – it’s got a special atmosphere, some might say even a bit spooky.
At last, sharp sunny days with frost. Walkers in the North Downs were rewarded at the weekend by a cobalt sky, heavy frost, colourful sunsets and perhaps the remnants of snow from the previous Wednesday night – it was hard to tell where the frost stopped and the snow started. I walked at Beckenham Place Park on Saturday morning before taking the Fackenden Down walk in the afternoon. As soon as we got a bit higher in the hills, the conditions became increasingly picturesque. Magpie Bottom, a hollow that faces north, was a picture, but unfortunately my camera battery had died and we resorted to phone camera images. The last time I saw similar conditions was in January 2022 but on that occasion the temperature must have been even lower because the frost remained glued to the trees even in mid afternoon whereas on Saturday there was some kind of thaw happening where the sun was felt. A sublime, memorable walk.
Please contact me at ammcculloch49@gmail.com with comments about the walks.
Pictured below: sunset from the top of Fackenden Down; moonshine at Fackendon Down; Adam (the author) and Bonny (Photo by S. Hart); looking east into Magpie Bottom; looking along the little valley north from Dunstall Farm; Dunstall Farm; ice on Beckenham Place Park’s lake; swimmers in the lake; looking east along the lake; the lake amid frosty reedbeds
An El Classico of an autumn day. And about time too. We decided that the Hosey walk on the Greensand ridge route at Westerham was the one for us, given the foliage, and views of the Weald from Mariner’s Hill. This time last year the Heaverham circular walk at Kemsing provided something very similar but the warmth of that late October 2023 day seemed freakish at the time. Today was more normal, just a lovely day – neither warm nor cool. The leaf colours, especially in the little valley of the infant River Darent, were superb as hopefully the photos below show, and the vista across the roof of Churchill’s Chartwell gaff as magnificent as ever. I was expecting to see redwings recently arrived from the Netherlands and generally more birds flocking together. But nothing much happened on that front, although mistle thrush were heard and a large buzzard lifted off close to us in one meadow. A pint at the Westerham Brewery place on the way back was an outstanding finale. However, the effect wore off as my football team lost.
Kent walks near London 