July 18, 2026 by ammcculloch49

Evening sun walks – pick Shoreham!

Why didn’t I write this a month ago? Anyway, I am now. The heat is on. Obviously there are negatives to this extended dry, hot period for our water supplies, agriculture and some of our trees (I’ve been checking on our nearest street trees which are still pretty young and thirsty). But our countryside has taken on a drowsy, hazy quality that’s best enjoyed in the evening. My advice is this: take the Thameslink train out to Shoreham (in Kent, not -on-Sea in W Sussex!!!) from a station on the Denmark Hill-Bromley South-Sevenoaks line at between 5 and 6pm. Step out from the station and head up the track almost opposite on the Fackenden Down or Eastern Valley (take secateurs!) walks. Complete the walk in 2.5 hours and head to the Samuel Palmer pub for refreshment then catch the 9.32pm or 10.02pm train back to London.

View across head of Darent Valley, July evening 2026
Sunset in the Darent Valley at Shoreham
Nearing the pub, in the Darent Valley
Scabious, Austin Spring
Nearing Romney St on the Fackenden walk summer evening July
Evening view from Fackenden Down, July 2026
Scabious flowers July 2026, Austin Spring, near Shoreham

What’s particularly wonderful about these walks just now is the spate of wildflowers. Namely, scabious, marjoram, oregano, wild carrot, knapweed, hawks-beard and so on. The extent of scabious coverage on the Fackenden route right now is amazing, particularly in meadows of Magpie Bottom and Austin Spring; no doubt it’s the same on the Eastern Valleys route. We were amazed. We also heard yellowhammer calling and watched a kestrel gliding and wheeling around. I usually do the Fackenden route in reverse, so starting with the steps, so only get to the second wonderful view at Point 4. The North Downs escarpment above Chevening appeared silvery in the dreamlike light, the meadows seemed to float like gossamer in the warm air. Beauty was everywhere. When we got to the pub 80s music was booming out – Whitney Houston, Madonna, Cyndi Lauper. It was great fun.

Allow 10 minutes to comfortably make the train from the Samuel Palmer; I’ve been caught out before if I try to cut it finer.

June 3, 2026 by ammcculloch49

Oldbury’s trees make for a cool heatwave stroll

The recent heatwave was great for a short Kent walk – especially under a tree canopy. Last week I headed to Oldbury, near Sevenoaks for the Iron Age Fort walk. It is the shorter of the two Oldbury walks, at 4.2 miles; the longer one is more like 7 miles and takes in Ightham Mote and Stone Street. I didn’t have time for that, great though it is, having set off mid-afternoon.

Check out the interactive OS map of this walk here

Both Oldbury walks take in two wonderful, contrasting woods: Oldbury woods (and its adjoining Styants wood), on the iron age fort; and sandy Fishpond woods behind the steep cliff of Raspit Hill. The fort – one of the largest in Britain – is clearly defined. It has a deep ditch round it, a flat top and holloway paths through the sandstone. Its woodland is a site of special scientific interest and is mostly of oak, birch, rowan and beech. The ramparts of the 2,100-year-old fort – 2.5 miles long and enclosing an area of 124 acres – are really impressive and apparently built by the Celtic ‘Wealden’ people who spoke the common Brittonic language. The National Trust looks after the woodland and reckons it’s possible that the hill was the site of a battle against Roman invaders around 50BC. It may not have been Celts fighting against Romans but Belgae, the old foe of Julius Cesar in Gaul, who had displaced Celts in the region a few years earlier. Anyway, it’s easy to appreciate the strategic value of the fort as you look out across the Vale of Holmesdale and Heaverham/Kemsing on the chalk escarpment to the north and towards the Weald to the south. Saxons took over the area after the Romans left and began coppicing the trees – a practice that has continued to this day.

It’s natural attractions, away from the arboreal wonder, include plenty of orchids in the grassy wild meadows just north of the fort, wheeling buzzards and red kites, song thrushes, chaffinches and amphibians.

Fishpond wood
Orchids by the fort
Sand path through Fishpond Woods, Oldbury
North Downs escarpment view from Oldbury hill fort – Kemsing and Heaverham

My walk was made even more interesting by my encounter with Long Distance Walkers’ Association hikers on their annual 48-hour 100-Mile Challenge (a circular route via Meopham to Crowborough). One them told me they had to walk through the night and would just take a few minutes’ sleep by the path. They were complaining a bit about the heat, having walked 18 miles already. It didn’t look like fun or even particularly companionable with many walkers seeming to stagger slightly. I’m sure it will have felt good when they finished though – 82 miles later! Perhaps a good bath may be on the agenda … I’ll never know.

I left the brave LDWA walkers close to the picturesque school and church above Stone Street. I turned east, along the cliff top to Raspit Hill then down through Fishpond woods. There are more conifers here than at Oldbury, which make them popular with goldcrests and coal tits, I noticed. A small frog hopped out of my way on the sandy path, alerting me to the ponds themselves, shrouded in lily pads, reeds, irises and fallen logs. The first two, as you head north back to the Styants car park, are particularly beautiful, the final one more of a muddy pit. Overall, it’s a fantastic woody walk – up there with Chislehurst/Petts Wood, Ide Hill and the nearby One Tree Hill figure of eight route as my favourite tree strolls.

April 19, 2026 by ammcculloch49

Stunning spring scenes on the Kent walks

Conditions for Kent Walks near London this weekend have been ideal. The countryside looks amazing, all dressed in a cobalt carpet of bluebells. Meanwhile, wild garlic is beginning to bloom along with primrose, stitchwort, cuckoo flower and campion adding further brilliance to the colour palette. On the One Tree Hill figure of eight yesterday the scenery was sensational, and the hues of green, blue and white, dazzling. Birdsong was vibrant – goldcrest, nuthatch, blackcaps, whitethroats, ravens were all heard along with the more regular chiffchaffs, robins, song thrushes, wrens and blackbirds. No finches though, which was weird.

It was great to see so many people out on the walks yesterday; particularly groups of young people, many of whom were using this website (I took a sneaky peek at the pdfs being held). I absolutely love to see that.

I’m collecting evidence for my annual bluebells of the year competition, a far from complete and completely absurd awards process. But at least there won’t be bow ties, chortling chumps, cheesy speeches and mercenary celebrity hosts at the ceremony. Well, there won’t be a ceremony at all! Pictured below are some of the contenders along with some images from yesterday’s strolling. The results will be announced this week.

Once again, apologies for lack of newsletter – I have done none at all this year. Time has been the biggest problem, but also the service provider has moved the goalposts and now wants too much money. I will have to find a solution because I have more than 1,000 subscribers. But when?

Wilmots Hill view on the One Tree Hill figure of eight walk. Looking towards Ashdown Forest
Beech trees growing out the Greensand Ridge, Wilmots Hill, on on the One Tree Hill figure of eight
Meenfield Wood, April 2026
Home Wood, Lullingstone country park
Foliage and cloud under the greensand escarpment on the One Tree Hill walk
Emmetts bluebells April 2026
Centuries old yew tree growing out of the Greensand Ridge at Wilmots Hill, Sevenoaks
Andrews Wood bluebells April 2026 on the Polhill walk
Wild garlic alongside the One Tree Hill path at Rooks Hill, Sevenoaks
Meenfield Woods bluebells, April 2026

April 4, 2026 by ammcculloch49

Bluebell season is here – perfect for Easter walks

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…

Emmett Gardens
Near Downe. April 24
Wilmott Hill bluebells
Meenfield Wood, April 2022
Early bluebells, Cudham
Meenfield wood
Mariners Hill, Hosey walk
New Years Wood bluebells, just starting to bloom

March 29, 2026 by ammcculloch49

Early bluebells and owl on a British Summer Time stroll at Ide Hill

The clocks have gone forward, the hurly-burly months are upon us. Hibernation is over. I marked this momentous day with a stroll on the Ide Hill route on the Greensand Ridge. The promise of early sun had vanished as altocumulus set in with scudding lower clouds driven by a decidedly sharp, brisk westerly. I was later than I hoped because I had overslept and then, after chores, decided to put on some music – mostly jazz, predictably enough. I drove out past Hayes and Keston listening to an interview with Miranda Hart on Radio 3. All very interesting; the programme was called Private Passions and Miranda discussed her various TV shows, where she was at and so forth. Her musical choices were interesting; there was some Grieg – as featured in a famous Morecambe and Wise sketch with Andre Previn – a haunting choral piece called O Magnum Mysterium by Morten Lauridsen and Stephane Grapelli’s take on Sweet Georgia Brown featuring Yehudi Menuhin. What a good set-up for a walk I thought, better than the usual football commentary.

I decided to park by the Ide Hill Community Store, just round the corner from the village (Kent’s highest allegedly) – it’s a fantastic spot with a great view of the weald and Bough Beech reservoir. I walked up through the woods to the Octavia Hill seat amazed at the number of bluebells in bloom considering we were still in March. A nuthatch called stridently and seemed to dart at me, while tits tittered and greater spotted woodpeckers thrummed away in the background. What with the slightly odd weather and the clocks going forward it all seemed strangely out of synch; an impression reinforced by the sudden woo-wooing of a tawny owl – at 2pm for heaven’s sake.

Early bluebells in March at Emmetts Garden/Scord’s Wood
Weald view on a dull day, near Ide Hill
Wet woodland, Scord’s
Celandine, anemone, bluebells in March
Emmetts early azaleas
Early bluebells at Scord’s wood, late March 2026

Later, in Scord’s, a wonderful wet woodland with lots of mossy old alder trees, my Merlin app picked up the sound of a marsh tit, quite unusual and another first for me. More nuthatches zoomed around purposefully and a pheasant joined in the tumult of bird song with its ridiculous rasping call that must alert every fox for miles around. I was hoping for a redpoll, a siskin or a treecreeper – all of which I’d seen here previously, but didn’t see any. The bluebells should be out in full within 10 days or so… they seem earlier this year than ever before. Is that just me? The National Trust’s Emmetts Garden was superb as ever with its cafe serving great coffee and cake.

All in all a memorable walk despite dull weather and not particularly muddy at all. No sheep or cattle encountered unlike last week at Fackenden Down when the highlanders surrounded the stile at the top of the Down itself. It just lacked a pint at the end; I was on my own so felt like heading off sharpish when back to the car.

March 24, 2026 by ammcculloch49

Early spring flowers on Kent walks near London

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

March 5, 2026 by ammcculloch49

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, 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.

February 16, 2026 by ammcculloch49

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

November 10, 2025 by ammcculloch49

Autumnal tones on the Kent walks

Autumn in these parts is spectacular. I know people talk in hushed tones about the colours of New England, Canada and Italy’s Apennines in the fall, but really the effect is pretty similar wherever there are trees! Once again, don’t overlook what’s on one’s doorstep in favour of an expensive and laborious trip. The November views of the Weald from Wilmot’s or Mariner’s Hill, or across the Darent Valley and the beech woods of Lullingstone are undeniably amazing. The ever-changing wide skies of Kent are a big factor in teasing out colours and optimising certain tones with the lower sun offering saturated reds, yellows and pinks. And greys, let’s not gloss over.

What’s surprising to me looking at the photos below is how green the countryside is in the Penshurst photo compared with those from elsewhere, yet it was taken on 1 November one week before this weekend’s Hosey walk, and a week after the trip to Shoreham represented here. Strange… could be sunshine and time of day I suppose.

I have lots of great autumn photos from over the past nine years of operating this website. But a selection from the past two weeks (mostly – the Downe and Ide Hill photos are from previous years) is enough to make the point – autumn is a terrific time for a hike on any of the routes at KWNL.

Mariners Hill view across the Weald on the Hosey walk
Sunbeams and silhouettes looking west from Mariner’s Hill on the Hosey/Westerham walks
Tower Hill, near Westerham, on the Hosey/Westerham walks
A view across the Darent Valley looking east from between Eynsford and Shoreham.
Infant Darent River from the Hosey path
Near Penshurst on the Chiddingstone walk
Mariners Hill
Country lane near Romney Street
View from Shoreham station bridge
Mariners Hill view again
Wilmot’s Hill, One Tree Hill figure of 8 walk, at dusk
Downe walk
A deer in Downe, autumn
Fackenden Down view
Start of Ide Hill walk. Autumn
Classic autumnal Kent view from Emmett’s Garden looking across Bough Beach to Chiddingstone and the Weald
Ide Hill field, dusk, autumn
Wilmot’s Hill, late October 2025. One Tree Hill – Ightham walks

August 4, 2025 by ammcculloch49

Secret valleys on these NW Kent walks

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

Hidden valley behind Wilmots Hill, Ightam 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.