T=swc.175
Length: Main Walk: 16¼ km (10.1 miles). Shorter options are detailed in the directions.
Difficulty: 4 out of 10 for the main walk, 2 and 3 out of 10 for the shorter options.
Trains: Catch the 10.07 Uckfield train from London Bridge (East Croydon 10.22) arriving Hever 10.49.
Return trains from Ashurst xx.56
Buy a return ticket to Ashurst
If you plan to start the walk in Cowden, it is one stop beyond Hever. A later train could be taken.
This walk takes in a quiet part of the High Weald on the border of Kent and East Sussex. The route passes several attractive old manor houses. This is a surprisingly remote area of low hills and wooded valleys.
Lunch: The only pub on the walk route is The Fountain (01342-850528) in Cowden village, 7¾ km from Hever (4 km from Cowden station). This is an attractive village pub with a new conservatory and a secluded beer garden. It serves good home-made food up to 2.30pm (later on Sundays).
Tea: There are few refreshment places in this remote countryside, but the route to Ashurst passes the Perryhill Orchard Farm Shop & Tea Rooms (01892-770595) in mid-afternoon. The Farm Shop is open daily to 5pm and sells a tempting range of local ciders (which you can taste beforehand); the tearoom closes at 4.30pm. Allow at least an hour to reach Ashurst station, 4 km away. There are no refreshment options after this.
For walk directions, map and GPS click L=swc.175 to
1 comment:
Eleven off the train at Hever were joined at lunch by a late arrival who took the train to Cowden making a total of n=12 on this lovely walk. Fields of long grass were surprisingly dry after the last few days of rain and there was very little mud between Hever and Cowden.
Most people picnicked in the churchyard in Cowden. Seven of them joined the pub luncher for drinks. Two opted to end the walk in Cowden and due to device failure took the road rather than the footpaths to the station where they caught a train at 3pm. Everyone else carried on to Ashurst, some motivated by memories of cider tasting at Perryfield farm shop on a previous visit. Perhaps they will report back on today's visit. We had a mixture of w=sunshine-and-light-showers which stopped as soon as we donned waterproofs.
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