There's been a request for a lavender walk so here you go. Options b or c are suggested but suit yourself. Long, short, whatever,.
Main walk with shorter afternoon (option b) 18¾ km , 11.7 miles.difficulty 5/10
Short Walk, omitting Otford: (option c) 14 km, 8.7 miles
In the afternoon, these go past both Lullingstone Roman Villa and the lavender fields near Castle Farm. The farm’s Hop Shop sells all things lavender - and all things hop. (There's an option to finish early at Shoreham (point 62) if you want, but there'll be no lavender or villa for you. For refreshments, detour into Shoreham first)
Trains: get the 09:45 Sevenoaks train from Blackfriars (Elephant & Castle 09:49, Peckham Rye 09:56), arriving Eynsford at 10:52
Return from Eynsford at xx:11 and xx:41 (Shoreham xx:08 and xx:38)
Get a return to Eynsford or, if you might finish there, Shoreham (the further station).
Lunch in Otford: (for option b)
The Woodman 01529 522 195 and The Bull, 01529 523 198
Lunch/Tea in Shoreham
The Samuel Palmer 01959 525442 (formerly Ye Olde George) near the church and the Crown on the High Street 01959 522903 There’s cafés in the Aircraft museum and, nearest the station, the Mount Vineyard's Coffee Box (it closes at 3)
Tea near Eynsford
There's a Café in Lullingstone Country Park Visitor Centre.
In Eynsford itself, you've got the Malt Shovel, the Five Bells, and the Castle Hotel. The Riverside tea room 01322 861551 closes at 4.
Attractions:
You should be able to see Castle Farm's lavender from the footpath (harvest permitting) but for real devotees, there are organised tours (£4.50 each - book in advance).
Lullingstone Roman Villa (definitely worth a visit, open till 5 cost £9),
A detour near the end will take you to the ruins of Eynsford Castle – Free entry - open till 6.
Directions: available here
click on option b or c (or, to keep all options open, don't click on nothing)
T=swc.59.b
Sunday, 24 July 2022
Sunday Walk: Eynsford Circular
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Eynsford Circular – Sun 24th July 2022
There were #12 on the platform but eventually this was increased to a total of around #16 joining and separating at various points in the walk. Weather #sunny_and_warm with a light breeze and plenty of shade along the way.
About 8 of us opted to do Option 5 and the others did the long version I believe.
Some of us had lunch by the riverside in Shoreham whilst 3 others had lunch in the Crown, then we all joined together to walk through the colourful and fragrant Lavender farm. Stopped in the lavender Castle Farm for shopping and icecreams, then split up again.4 of us walked to Lullington castle for tea then were joined by one of the long walkers to walk to Eynsford along the higher route (not the road). At Eynsford we took off our shoes and splashed in the ford by the bridge – joining in with the many families who were doing the same in the river in the village. We then caught the 18.41 train home. Would be good to know what the others did.
A wonderful day out – thank you M Tiger for posting.
A cautionary tale: of the #5 who opted for the longer route via Otford, 1 went to The Bull, a popular Greene King pub with a large garden full of tables, only to find that it had no chef and was not serving food. He said it was the second such pub he'd come across that week. In these times of acute staff shortages, perhaps wise to phone ahead even if it's only one diner.
Between Shoreham and Lullingstone we came across >100 walkers on a "Ken's Events" walk from Shoreham to Eynsford - not a bad day's work at £5 each! Fortunately, we powered past them and were first in the queue at the ice cream stall at Castle Farm (lavender flavour is delicious.)
And #3 intrepid walkers powered ahead taking option b. After admiring the views back toward London and Canary Wharf we arrived in Otford where seeing the Bull offering no food we ended up at the Hospices of Hope Tearoom for sanchwhiches, cakes and homemade ice cream. Of we went in the afternoon on the walk to Shoreham where we stopped again at vineyard for a mid afternoon break to sample some local wines and musical entertainment. Off we the went past the lavender fields, Lullingstone Castle and the Roman Villa before making a final turn back to the station. Lovely walk - thank you for posting.
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