Saturday Walk - Tunbridge Wells Circular

Length: 23¾ km (14.8 miles) or 19.5km (12.2 miles) with an afternoon shortcut. T=swc.19

6 out of 10, 6 hours walking time

Note: older versions of the route are inaccurate, as the route across RSPB land is no longer available.

"This walk through the High Weald near the border of East Sussex and Kent has plenty of interest and variety. After escaping from Tunbridge Wells you climb through woodland to a possible early lunch stop in the elegant hill-top village of Frant. The walk continues with an attractive but potentially muddy stretch through the landscaped parkland of the Nevill Estate's Eridge Old Park, where Forge Wood has a fine display of bluebells in spring.

After the suggested lunch stop in the hamlet of Eridge Green the route passes Eridge Rocks, the first of three impressive sandstone outcrops. The walk continues along the southern edge of Broadwater Warren nature reserve (free entry), once a gloomy conifer forest which is gradually being restored to heathland and woodland by the RSPB. 

At the point where you leave Broadwater Warren there are three onward routes: the full route via Harrison's Rocks and Groombridge, a short cut omitting the loop around the rocks, or the shorter afternoon which bypasses both the rocks and Groombridge. "

Trains: 9.45 train from Charing Cross (9.48 Waterloo East, 9.54 London Bridge) to Tunbridge Wells, arriving 10.40. Return trains 1634, 1705, 1738, xx09, xx38.

Lunch: The suggested lunch stop (after 10 km from Tunbridge Wells) is the Nevill Crest and Gun (01892-864209) in Eridge Green, which has a large garden and serves good food all day from noon.

Tea: As well as the Pantiles, there is Juliets at #54 the High Street (5pm) on the way to the station. For a pub, there is the Opera House, a splendid building which more recently was a cinema and bingo hall and is now a JD Wetherspoon pub; it is a five-minute walk up Mount Pleasant Road from the station.