Teynham to Faversham walk

Teynham to Faversham

Distance: 7.5 miles.
Time without long breaks: 3 1/2-4 hours walking – but add time for pub breaks and exploring Faversham.

Terrain: Flat throughout.
How to get there and back: Train from Victoria to Teynham, return from Faversham. Buy a return ticket to Faversham as both stations are on the same line (make sure you catch a train that stops at Teynham).
Pub breaks: The Three Mariners in Oare is great for a mid-walk lunch break. The route also includes the Shipwrights Arms.by the creek at Hollowshore, a pub full of old-school character (check opening hours before setting off). Faversham itself has inns a-plenty. We recommend the Albion, the Anchor (for its beautiful garden), and in the town centre, the Sun, the Bear and Furlongs Ale House taproom.
More information: The parts of this walk that follow the estuary can be swampy, so it's a good idea to bring your boots.

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Starting in the village of Teynham, this walk takes you through the flatlands south of The Swale estuary. True to Kent's reputation as the 'Garden of England', you will encounter vineyards, hop fields and orchards, which supply local wine, beer and cider producers – appropriate, as there is no shortage of pubs on this route. Passing the atmospheric boatyards of Oare Creek to reach the Shipwrights Arms and then crossing a marsh, the walk ends in the historic port town of Faversham.

Exit Teynham station via Platform 2. You will see a converted oast house on your left and a metal gate ahead. Take the footpath straight ahead, keeping the houses to your left. After 150m, the path meets a track. Turn right, skirting the farm buildings. When the track meets a lane, turn left. You emerge at a bend in a road by a recreation field. Turn left again. In about 500m you will come to Teynham Court Farm on the right. Take the lane to reach St Mary's church. Although the present building dates from the 13th Century, it was listed as one of Kent's pre-conquest 'minster churches'. There was also once an archbishops' palace nearby.

Follow the grassy track across the field. It emerges back at the lane (Deerton Street) by a sign. Turn right and follow the lane around the bend. It soon turns sharply right. Just past an old farmhouse is the entrance to a natural burial ground, marked by an unusual monument. Further down the lane, you pass a hop field on your left. Just before you reach the buildings ahead, look out for a track on the left and a green footpath sign. The track runs alongside an orchard and leads to a stile. Follow the path. It crosses a track and then runs along the edge of another field before emerging at a lane.

The small collection of buildings here include a manor house, a farm, oast houses and a disused church, formerly the parish church for the hamlet of Luddenham. Parts of the church, which is now looked after by the Churches Conservation Trust, date from the 12th century. It is open to the public most weekdays. An interesting curio inside is a 13th-century stone coffin lid with an engraving of hands holding a heart. There is also an unusual modern gravestone in the churchyard in the style of a wheel and a sheep's head. To the east of the church, on the other side of the lane between some farm buildings, is a green sign indicating two footpaths. Go through the metal swing gate and take the path that cuts across the field.

A good place to stop for food, the Three Mariners has a terraced beer garden with views over Oare Creek. As with many pubs in the area, it is a Shepherds Neame house (the brewery is in Faversham). On leaving the pub, continue down the street, passing another pub, the Castle. Cross over the creek, with boats to your left and meadows to your right. Go past the building on your left, and then turn left by the sign opposite the road junction. Then take a left again down a road with a fence to the right. The lane forms part of the Saxon Shore Way long-distance footpath, which runs around the coast of Kent. Passing the marina, there are views across the creek to Pheasant Barn and the church.

On the other side of Oare Creek to here lies the hamlet of Uplees, once the site of a huge munitions factory (Faversham was a centre for the gunpowder industry). In April 1916, a massive explosion ripped through the factory, killing 106 people. There is a memorial to the victims in Faversham cemetery. Leave the pub via the road that leads off the car park. In about 1/4 mile it meets another road. Turn left (alternatively, take the footpath across Ham Marsh, but it can get very swampy). The road soon runs alongside a large lagoon. When it turns right, rather than following the road, go straight ahead into the entrance to a farm.

Turn left to cross over the bridge and you will see the Shepherd Neame brewery ahead of you. Turn left here and follow the road round into Quay Lane. Faversham is a town worth exploring, full of historical buildings, elegant Georgian houses – and lots of pubs! If you've not visited before, we recommend you follow our directions below (marked as detours on the map). But if you are heading straight back, turn right into Court Street. It becomes pedestrianised Market Place. When you reach the town hall, turn left into Market Street and then right into Preston Street, past Furlongs taproom. This will take you directly to the station.

On leaving the church, head back towards the road via the path that cuts across the graveyard (with the church tower behind you). You pass a pond on your left, in the grounds of Teynham Court. Cross over a stile to emerge back on the road. Turn right. In 150m, take another right at the junction, past a half-timbered house called Banks Farm Cottage. There are some vineyards to your right and views back towards the church. When you reach another half-timbered house, follow the road around the bend to the right. You will soon come to a bridge over a stream with a house straight ahead. Rather than follow the road round the corner, go through the gates to the left of the house.

Turn left and follow the road round the bend. On your right is an old converted pub, with its name 'The Mounted Rifleman' still etched on the frontage of the house. Carry on along the lane, which runs between hedges and then past an orchard. You pass the driveway to the intriguingly-named Hawks and Beetles Farm on your left. About 500m from here, look out for the green footpath sign on your left, next to a metal swing gate and two other gates. Go through the swing gate and take the path which runs along the edge of a field with trees on your left. Aim for the line of trees ahead, go over the stile and then cross over a stream to reach Luddenham Court.

The path crosses another field, passes a barn and emerges at a lane. Cross over and go through the gate opposite, proceeding down the track as indicated by the sign. About 200m on, take the path that forks off to the right. It comes out via a metal swing gate at a lane on the edge of the village of Oare. Turn right and proceed down the road to the centre of the village. At the junction with Church Road, you will find the Three Mariners. There is an optional detour here of about half a mile. If you turn up Church Road it will take you to Pheasant Barn and its insect-friendly gardens (only open in June and July) and to the Norman parish church.

After passing some salt lagoons, host to a variety of wildlife, the road bends to the right at a wharf, where there is an old weathered wooden building. Go round the corner and take the path that comes off to the left. It runs between overgrown hedgerows along the back of old desolate boatyards. When you reach a lane, cross over to continue as indicated by the wooden posts. You walk alongside the creek and some more boat moorings until you reach the end of the peninsula. Here on the right, in the most unlikely of locations, you will find the Shipwrights Arms, a wonderfully quirky traditional pub.

Walk between the farm buildings and when they end, turn right along a track that winds its way between the fields of the marsh. You will see some houses ahead. The path leads to an alleyway that runs between a fence and a wall. Turn left when you emerge at a road. There is an unusual white police box next to some gate posts by a small industrial estate. Take the footpath to the right of the pillars as indicated by the sign. The path leads down to the banks of Faversham Reach, back on the route of the Saxon Shore Way. If you fancy a stop off, you will shortly come to the Albion Taverna. Continue along the waterfront until you reach a road.

If you have more time to spend, from Quay Lane, take a left into Abbey Street, probably the finest street in the town. This leads to the Anchor pub, which has a lovely beer garden. Follow Abbey Road round to the right to reach Standard Quay. Another nice detour is to turn right when you reach the town hall. Go past the Sun pub to the junction with North Lane and continue along West Street opposite. Follow the road round past the Bull Inn into Tanners Street, passing the Three Tuns on your left. Near the bottom of Tanners Street is a shrine to St Jude (see panel below). Then turn left up South Road, past the old almshouses, and take a right back into West Street to return to the town hall.

Tucked away down unassuming Tanners Street in Faversham is the National Shrine of St Jude. A relatively recent sacred place, it is on the Augusto Camino from Rochester to Ramsgate and is popular with modern-day pilgrims – at least the car park and gift shop would suggest so; it was pretty empty when A Trip Out visited. It was opened in 1955 by Father Elias Lynch, leader of a group of Carmelite monks, to foster hope after the ravages of the Second World War and bring Anglicans and Catholics together in celebration of St Jude – or Judas – as he is also known. He was one of Jesus’s disciples (no, not that one) and a relatively uncontroversial figure and we’re not sure how he got to be the patron saint of hope and lost causes, but it sounds poetic to us – better than Saint Polycarp of Smyrna who got to be the patron saint against dysentery and earaches.

The shrine is in a side chapel of the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and contains a small piece of bone belonging to St Jude donated by St Peter’s in Rome, which holds the rest of his major relics. The reliquary stands in front of a 15th-century wooden carving of Jude in a magnificent gated grotto surrounded by colourful mosaics, creating a spectacular setting for the small piece of ossified matter. The shrine leans heavily on magical thinking and the shop sells cards and prayers for specific ailments. It is also packed with beautiful modern stained glass and some iconography that could be confusing for the secular visitor. Depictions of transportation trains and a nun wearing a yellow star turned out to be Saint Edith Stein who converted to Catholicism and was killed by the Nazis. There is also iconography of Saint Titus Brandsma, a Dutch friar who spoke out against antisemitic laws and was given a lethal injection at Dachau. Don’t miss the adjoining church and its slightly surreal shrine to the Holy Infant Jesus of Prague. But if you have a lost cause that needs attention, have a word with St Jude. BH

Full-day country walks in SE England and beyond

Teynham to Faversham

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

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Full-day country walks in
SE England and beyond