musingstudio

This is another walk from the Kent Pathfinder Guide, starting from the village of Linton. We had lunch at The Bull Inn, which has extensive views across the Kent countryside, including the orchards and vineyards that formed the route for our walk. The full walk in the book is 7 miles (11km) but we reduced it to 7km by walking just the second half, which crosses the Bon Fleur cross-country course (sadly, there weren’t any horses on this occasion) and includes extensive apple orchards and vineyards.

Lamberhurst is a pretty village near Royal Tunbridge Wells, with a couple of pubs. We had an excellent lunch at The Chequers, before walking the second half of the “Lamberhurst and Hook Green” walk from the Kent Pathfinder Guide. The plan had been to stop for refreshments at The Elephant’s Head at Hook Green, but unfortunately that was closed on Mondays!

The walk was almost entirely away from any main roads, making it very peaceful. There were plenty of grouse around the wooded areas (see below) and the walk also skirted the edge of a vineyard which seemed to have a fine yield of grapes this year.

This is a short walk of about 5km, starting at the village of Leeds. Cutting through the village cricket ground, the route joins a footpath into the grounds of Leeds Castle, where you can get views of the castle itself and enjoy the views across the Great Lake. Whilst visiting the buildings themselves needs a visitor pass, the views are free and this was a delightful walk, including refreshments from the Whistle Stop coffee stop.

This 9km circular walk starts in the pretty village of Four Elms and cuts across farmland for a brief encounter with Bough Beech Reservoir. Don’t be fooled by the picture above though, which I took through a chain link fence – the route does not get particularly close to the water! While the reservoir and its visitor centre were disappointing, the footpaths through the fields were superb. One field was full of peas in pods ready to be picked, another boasted tall sweetcorn plants, with the cobs just appearing among the silky tassels.

There is a garden centre at Four Elms with a delightful restaurant for refreshments.

This was a lovely, quiet 9km walk, starting from The Kentish Horse inn in Markbeech, as published on AllTrails. Markbeech is notable for a tree planted in 1897 to commemorate 60 years of Queen Victoria’s reign, and a village hall built at the same time. The walk was a delightful mixture of meadows and woodland, with only short periods along roads in between. We particularly enjoyed the fine views across the Kent countryside and the huge rock at Hoath Corner, from which The Rock Inn takes its name. It must be noted that although we were following footpaths marked on the map, the trails themselves were not obvious on the ground and the gates/styles were often well-hidden at the sides of fields. Other walkers had commented that this walk was very muddy, so be warned if trying this walk other than during the summer.