Hildenborough to Groombridge walk

Hildenborough to Groombridge

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Distance: 11.3 miles.
Time without long breaks: 6 hours (add time for pubs).

Terrain: Generally very easy, but a few small hills.
How to get there and back: Train to Hildenborough from Charing Cross. Return from Groombridge by bus or Spa Valley Railway to Tunbridge Wells and then train. It might be cheaper to buy a return to Hildenborough if valid on the route back and then two singles.

Pubs: There are plenty of village pubs on this route, all fairly evenly spaced: The Fleur de Lis in Leigh, the Leicester Arms in Penshurst, the Spotted Dog in Smarts Hill (a must) and the Chafford Arms in Fordcombe. The walk ends at the Crown in Groombridge.
More information: If you want to travel back via the Spa Valley Railway, it usually only operates at weekends. See here for details.

This walk takes you through the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Starting from Hildenborough and passing through the scenic village of Leigh, it traverses the Penshurst Estate. At the heart of the estate is Penshurst Place, one of the best-preserved fortified medieval manor houses in Britain. Penshurst village itself has a collection of fine timber-framed buildings. South of Penshurst, the route continues via the Spotted Dog pub to Fordcombe and the valley of the River Medway. It then joins a section of the Wealdway long-distance footpath before reaching Groombridge and the Crown Inn.

As you come out of the approach to Hildenborough station, turn right up the road, crossing over a railway bridge. After about 300km, turn left into Philpots Lane. Just after you cross the tracks again via another bridge, look for a gap in the hedge on your left with a footpath sign and cross over a stile into a field. Passing a pond on your left, head diagonally across the field to the far corner. Go over the stile and head down the edge of the next field, crossing over a further stile to reach a lane. Go through the gate opposite by the house into a cow field. Carry on straight ahead towards a gate and go over a bridge into the following one. At the end of this field, go through a walkers' gate into the woods.

Walk down towards the village green and turn right along the pavement. Leigh has many beautiful old houses, including South View and the old blacksmith's forge, which you pass on your right. Carrying on down the main street, you pass some more half-timbered dwellings and the old village well When you reach the Fleur de Lis pub, turn left and follow the road, going under the railway arch. Continue along the road, being careful of the traffic, as it ascends the hill, passing a double-cowled oast house. You will come to a driveway to a house. Just by the gate, turn down the mud track on your right as indicated by the old stone footpath sign.

After going through the gate, you pass a small lake on your left. Go through another gate and carry on along the path with a line of trees to your right. After passing a cricket pitch, you cross over a driveway. Penshurst Place is straight ahead on your left. This 14th-century manor house, a celebrated architectural gem, has been owned by the Sidney family since 1552 (see panel). It attracted many royal visitors and was used as a hunting lodge by Henry VIII. It has also been featured as the setting for films and TV shows, including Wolf Hall. You probably won't have much time to visit the house and gardens on this walk, but you can find out more here.

To the right of the square is the Leicester Arms, which was once owned by the Sidney family. There is a beer garden out the back with great views. To continue the walk, from the church turn left and follow the road round the corner past the gatehouse to Penshurt Place, crossing over two stone bridges. After the second bridge, which crosses the Medway, you ascend Rogues Hill. Look for a footpath sign on the right opposite a small stone house. Go through the metal gate and follow the track along the edge of the field, with views of Penshurst to your right. Keep on along the path as it enters another field, with trees and bushes on your left.

When you reach the junction at the top of the hill, turn left. You will soon come to the wonderful Spotted Dog pub. It's definitely worth taking some time out here. On leaving the pub, head back along the road the way you came. When you find yourself back at the junction, carry on straight ahead, and then a few yards further on take a left into Nunnery Lane. After passing some houses on the left, the narrow lane heads downhill. Half a mile on, just past a house on the right, turn left into Sandfield Road. At the end of this lane, turn right and walk briefly down the main road, watching out for the traffic. After a stone bridge, turn left following the sign and follow the path around alongside the river.

Halfway up the field, go through a metal gate on your left and continue in the same direction on the other side of the hedge. When you've almost reached the top, go through a walkers' gate on your right and follow the path that cuts diagonally across the field towards some houses. It runs alongside a garden fence before emerging at a road in the village of Fordcombe. Turn right for the Chafford Arms pub or turn left past the village green to continue on the walk. After passing The Lane on your left, look for a footpath sign on your right. Follow the path across the recreation ground and then into a field via a stile with a hedge on your left. You are now on the Wealdway long distance footpath.

The path then runs through a long narrow field with a wood down on your left. At the end of this field, go through a gate by an old wooden signpost. Turn left here and take the path that enters the woods via a small metal gate. As the path swings right, ignore the track that goes off on your right through an avenue of trees but keep going straight ahead to the bottom of the valley, where you cross over a stream via a small bridge. Ascend the hill on the other side. A track crosses your path but keep going ahead up a small steep ravine. At the top follow the sign, going between two wooden gateposts. Walk up this wooded track with fields either side and then a wood on your left. It emerges at a lane.

Keep going straight ahead with a field on your right. The path swings left and then emerges at the grounds of a house with a small gipsy caravan. Turn left down the track. After about 200m, with a large field on your left, look out for a wooden post on your right and a footpath sign. Take this path through the woodland and then follow it across a large beautiful meadow which is bordered by trees. At the end, you pass another post with a sign and then go over a bridge. Follow the path as it runs alongside a fence, then go through a gate into the next field and continue. You will soon see Leigh church on your right. Passing through an iron gate, the path comes out by the church lychgate.

Past the trees, the track continues into a field and then enters the Penshurst Estate, continuing along a broad grassy track with trees on either side. Keep ahead into the parkland, following the sign. There are views of the Weald across to your left. When you reach a wooden post with green signs, turn left down a track that runs alongside a fence, heading downhill. Go through a metal gate and then, rather than walking straight ahead between trees, fork off to the right aiming for a gate. You pass the remains of the 'Sidney Oak', an old oak tree that had lasted 1,000 years, and a new oak tree that has been planted alongside it.

Just past the house, you will see Penshurst church on your left. Follow the path around the side of the church emerging at the front churchyard. The first priest was installed here in 1170 by Thomas Beckett, his last official act before he was murdered. The church contains a tomb to the Sidney family and Ann Boleyn's brother is also commemorated here. The churchyard has a rare medieval dole table, which looks like a flat tomb, where gifts for the poor were deposited by villagers on saint days. Leave the churchyard through the timber archway in the 16th-century Old Guildhouse which leads to a stunning square of timber-framed buildings.

When you reach the next field, rather than go straight ahead, take a right along a path that skirts the field, with trees on your right. The path turns left to run along the bottom of the field and then reaches a metal footbridge. Turn right on the other side of the bridge then follow the path as it cuts across a field. On the other side, follow the sign and take the path straight ahead and then turn left down a lane. It comes out opposite South Park farmyard, which contains a collection of lovely old Grade II-listed farm buildings. Take the right-hand fork at the road junction, following the sign for Smarts Hill, and walk down the road past the houses.

When you come to a narrow bridge on your left, don't cross it. Instead, turn right and follow the path around the other side of the field. Look out for a wooden bridge (might be slightly hidden) in a gap in the hedge on your left, opposite an electricity pylon. Proceed up the field with a double-cowled oast house and farm buildings to your right. At the top, turn left and follow the path as it enters a small wood. The path crosses a bridge over a stream and heads through the wood towards a field. Rather than enter the field, turn right and follow the path up that runs parallel to it. You come out at the bottom of another field. Carry on straight ahead.

Keep going straight ahead along a track that runs along the edges of fields, going through a metal gate into a field with an oak tree in the centre and woods on the other side. Head for the farm buildings. Passing a house on the left, cross over a stile by a gate and go down the track. When this meets Broad Lane, turn left to reach the road junction. Then turn left and follow the road around the bend. You will come to a gate on the right by a waymarker for the Wealdway next to a house called Stone Cross. Take this path which goes past some buildings and then up some steps on the right before running alongside a wooden fence. It goes through some trees and then emerges at a field via a metal gate.

Turn left, go up to the road junction and then turn right. After about half a mile you reach Groombridge. Turn left across the top of the village green to reach The Crown and the end of the walk. The bus stop for buses to Tunbridge Wells is round the corner, just past the side of the pub. Alternatively. if you want to travel back via the Spa Valley Railway, the station is half a mile away. Walk down the hill, passing the entrance to Groombridge Place, and then take a left at the mini-roundabout into Station Road. The entrance to the station is on the left, just past The Junction pub.

The most famous son of Penshurst Place is Sir Philip Sidney, who was born in 1554. Sometimes compared to Shakespeare, he was one of the most important poets of the Elizabethan era, although he forbade any of his writings to be published during his lifetime. His most notable literary works are The Arcadia, which influenced King Lear, Hamlet and The Winter’s Tale, and Astrophel and Stella, a collection of 108 love sonnets, which apparently inspired Charles Dickens' Great Expectations. Sidney was also a courtier, an MP, an ambassador and a knight. As a young man, he travelled extensively in Europe, witnessing the St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in Paris, which may have strengthened his Protestant resolve (such was his conviction, he once challenged the Earl of Oxford – who wanted Queen Elizabeth to marry a Catholic – to a duel). On his return to England, Elizabeth granted him the prestigious title of cupbearer (this meant he had to pour the Queen’s drinks to prevent poisoning, a role only given to those who could be fully trusted).

In 1585, Sidney was appointed governor of the Dutch town of Flushing, aiding the Dutch protestants against the Spanish in the Battle of Zutphen. It was here that he met his fate, after being shot in the thigh. His reputation for gallantry can largely be traced to this event, with the story being that he had removed his armour to give to one of his unprotected men. After being shot, he then offered his water to another soldier, saying ‘Thy necessity is yet greater than mine’ (a fable that has inspired the Philip Sidney Game, a model used in signalling theory in evolutionary biology). Often regarded as the archetypal chivalrous knight, Sidney was memorialised in an elegy by the Renaissance poet Edmund Spenser as the epitome of noble English manhood. Such was his heroic status, he was given an ornate funeral (so expensive it almost bankrupted his father-in-law) and buried at St Paul’s Cathedral. KB

Full-day country walks in SE England and beyond

Hildenborough to Groombridge

Click on the image below to access the full map on plotaroute

Full-day country walks in
SE England and beyond

Click on the image below to access
the full map on plotaroute