Pluckley to Hamstreet - 16 miles
Pluckley to Ashford - 10 miles
This is the only section of the Greensand Way that I haven't yet walked. It starts in familiar territory through Pluckley village and Little Chart, before heading out to Hothfield Common and Hothfield Bogs, passing by Godinton House and Park, for a lunch stop at Great Chart. From here you can follow the River Stour into Ashford, or continue along the Greensand Way as it skirts round Ashford to Kingsnorth before heading off south to its finish at Hamstreet.
Some useful places along the way:
Great Chart - 8 miles - Swan and Dog, food all day. No 2 bus to Ashford: 13:56 16:09. 2 miles walk to Ashford station along the link route (Stour Valley Walk).
Kingsnorth - 11.2 miles - Queens Head, food til 14:45. No 2a bus to Ashford: 14:57 17:36 18:24.
Hamstreet - 16 miles - official end of the Greensand Way. The Dukes Head in the village centre looks like the only option for refreshments.
Walk Directions/Maps
You will need a map for this walk. The route is shown on Ordnance Survey maps, or Kent County Council have a nice booklet to download with OS maps, walk instructions and some information about the places on the way. If using this booklet, take the link route shown from Pluckley station to Pluckley village and start at Chapter 3.3, in section G, by turning left after St Mary's Church.
Train Times:
Outward: Charing Cross 9:10, London Bridge 9:19, Pluckley 10:20. Or St Pancras 9:10, Pluckley 10:08 (change at Ashford).
Return: Frequent from Ashford. Hamstreet xx:02.
t=swc.152
5 comments:
The routes can also be found in SWC 152 and 153, if I'm not mistaken?
Is that correct Bridie2?
yes - there's not much info on the SWC 152/3 walk pages but turns out there are gpx/kml files to download
It would be great if someone could take a few notes & photos to complete the walk's write up. There is a curious brewery (a pub/restaurant) by Ashford Station.
n=9 walkers on this one, initially splitting into 3 + 6, but later into 3 x 3 as became apparent in the lunch stop village. The weather was overcast initially, then rain set in over lunch, then we had a few more short showers later on. w=showers-in-the-afternoon
This was an outing almost of two halves: the Pluckley to Great Chart (ie fringes of Ashford) route is almost faultless, beautiful and varied, and the Great Chart to Ham Street bit (SWC 153) initially very dull to at times not very nice, with in parts slack waymarking, plenty of new housing estates on former agricultural land, some disruptive farmers and homeowners and plenty of stretches where the waymarking suggests a very different route from what the OS map or the online Kent Council drafted walk directions show. The last third of the afternoon route was very pleasant though with some interesting woods and fine, gentle countryside and Ham Street is a fine enough village to end a walk.
More detail about the route of SWC 152: the link route from Pluckley station to village crosses some pastures and then you have a stretch along a busy road into the village (on pavement), which is probably the only part of the walk that is not really enjoyable. From Pluckley to Little Chart a series of fine orchards are walked through on good paths. The Greensand Way then runs concurrent with the Stour Valley Walk, and consequently you follow the Great Stour river (mostly at some distance) through the pleasant, mildly undulating landscape. Forests, pastures, a common heathland and a bog are walked through, all on good paths, before the route circles around the very large Godinton Park Estate (the house is always out of view though). And before you know it, you are in Great Chart at the Swan and Dog, which seemed a very well run pub and indeed had a fine menu (us few lunchers ate outside). The link route to Ashford Station looks very urban on the map, but might just be ok, as it follows the Great Stour and skirts a few parks en route. Another time...
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