10.07 train from London Bridge (10.22 East Croydon) to Ashurst, arriving 10.58.
Buy a day return to Eridge.
My excuse for posting this walk - apart from that it is a very pleasant outing, with the usual mix of hills, views, woods and pastures - is that once winter comes, the Weald gets too muddy for walking. That is not a problem at this time of year, however, so let's make the best of it.
For pub lunchers there are effectively two possible options. I remember the George & Dragon in Speldhurst as a very nice place, but it is years since I ate there and how restauranty and high-falutin' it has become now I do not know. If it disappoints, the Hare, the lunch pub for the shorter walk, is a later possibility for those on the main walk, reachable by a small diversion off the route. It looks to be more pubby, serves food all afternoon, and charmingly says on its website that it always keeps some tables for walk-up customers.
For tea, the somewhat strange cafe in the Burswood hospital complex (or whatever that place was) is no more, as it went into administration in 2019 (and indeed the walk no longer goes there). But the Crown Inn and Junction Inn in Groombridge are both open for drinks all afternoon, say their websites, and if you go onto the Spa Valley Railway platform a bit before its last train runs at 5pm, its tea kiosk might be open to do you a cuppa.
Otherwise, at the end of the walk the Huntsman is a gem of a pub and situated conveniently right by Eridge station, from where trains back to London are at 50 past the hour.
3 comments:
Groombridge Place's website says "you can visit the Cafe and the Plant Shop without purchasing an admission ticket". However, when I was there a few years ago it was busy and quite noisy. I think Groombridge Station is a nice spot for a tea stop.
I was at The Crown in Groombridge yesterday. Had a lovely Polish meal.
Are there any walks planned for BH Monday!!
Ah, whatever happened to the good old days when n=40 people turned up on a walk? When it was not too cold and not too hot and w=sunny-all-day. When the lunch pub had plenty of space and allowed you to order at the bar. When the group stayed together for tea and end of walk drinks.
Well, reader, such days still exist. 36 got off the train and at least four who had not been at the start joined us by lunchtime. The countryside looked gorgeous under a bright blue sky. I think this may be the greenest September ever: the grass fully recovered from the summer drought, the trees no longer stressed by lack of rain.
I am not sure what time we arrived at the Spedhurst pub, but it was almost empty, its patio bathed in sunshine. There was a wedding going on across the road and some of its guests spilled over into the pub, but otherwise we seemed to have the place to ourselves. Around half the group ate here and the pub had no trouble accommodating us, uttering no warnings about how overloaded the kitchen would be.
For tea (drinks of a stronger kind mostly) at least a dozen of us stopped at the Crown in Groombridge. At the end of the walk some of us saw a steam train pass (belching enormous amounts of black smoke) and eighteen or so assembled in the garden of the Huntsman pub as the sun set.
Many got the 17.50 train and some the 18.50, by which time it was getting a bit chilly. Extra layers unused all summer came out of rucksacks - a sign of things to come…
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