Chilham Circular Walk

15.4 km (9.6 miles)

5 out of 10, with all the climbing in the morning

OS Landranger 179; Explorer 137.

Starting from Chilham station and crossing the River Stour, this walk climbs in stages up through a pleasant area of downland and upland fields and woods to the hamlet of Sole Street. The pub here is now only open for lunch at weekends, so on weekdays this walk no lunch stop.

The finest section of the walk follows, taking you along a downland escarpment with panoramic views. You then descend to pass through the attractive estate of Godmersham Park, a house that was owned by the brother of writer Jane Austen, and where she stayed several times. The walk finishes along a quiet back lane which takes you to the picture postcard hilltop village of Chilham, dominated by the stately home of Chilham Castle.

All the climbing is in the morning half of the walk, with the afternoon largely downhill or flat. There are a few small bluebell woods in the central section of the walk, flowering in late April and early May, and some good displays of snowdrops towards the end of the walk in February.

Since this walk shares the same lunch pub (weekends only) as the Wye Circular walk also on this website, it is possible to combine the morning of one and the afternoon of the other to do a Wye to Chilham of 17.7km (11 miles) or a Chilham to Wye walk of 16km (9.9 miles). Of the two, the Wye to Chilham walk perhaps has the best of the scenery.

Chilham is a stop just before Canterbury West on the line out of Ashford. It is served by one direct train an hour out of Charing Cross and London Bridge, with a journey time of 1 hour 50 mins.

However, you can reduce that to 1 hour by taking a high speed train from St Pancras International (supplement payable) to connect with the direct train at Ashford.

If doing the Wye to Chilham option, Chilham is one stop beyond Wye, so you will need a day return to Chilham.

When the pub in Sole Street is open (weekends only), take a train that arrives at Chilham no later than 11am to get to lunch in time.

Timber Batts @ The Compasses, Sole Street (01227 531898), 6.5km (4 miles) into the walk, is the only possible lunch option on this walk and is only open at lunch time at weekends: with food served on Saturdays 12-3pm and 6-9pm (and all afternoon for drinks), and Sundays 12-4pm, (with drinks to 6pm). Food is also offered 6-9pm on Friday evenings, and the pub is open 5-11pm for drinks that day and also Thursday. This cosy and quirkly decorated pub offers a short but inventive menu with a selection of homemade burgers and favourites such as ribs. It has a garden.

The best picnic area is the escarpment in paragraph 45 of the walk directions, but there is also a nice bench nearer to the pub indicated in paragraph 40.

If you can get there in time (it is open to 4pm daily except Wednesday), the Church Mouse tea room in Chilham offers a mouthwatering range of homemade cakes.

Otherwise, of the two pubs in Chilham, the White Horse (01227 730 355) has a convenient location in the main square next to the church, and serves tea and sells chocolate bars all afternoon, as well as hot desserts from 5-9pm Monday to Friday and all afternoon to 7pm on Saturday and 8pm on Sunday.

An alternative is the Woolpack Inn (01227 730 351), 200 metres down the hill on the walk route, which serves food till 9pm Monday to Sunday and 5pm Sundays. However, this has received some negative reviews from walkers.

Note that it is 1.1km (0.7 miles) from the centre of the village and 800 metres from the Woolpack Inn to Chilham station, so leave 15 (or ideally 20) minutes to do this. There is nowhere pleasant near the station to spend an hour if you miscalculate.

Godmersham Park was one of three country estates owned by Edward, the brother of the writer Jane Austen, and as such is depicted on the back of the £10 note. We know from her letters that she made several visits to it, and she describes having dinner with the owners of Chilham Castle, so she would certainly have travelled the route between the two houses taken by this walk. The house is now a college and its interior is changed from Jane’s day, but the exterior is substantially as it was.

One assumes that Jane also walked around the estate and enjoyed its tranquil countryside (then undisturbed by the A28), but in fact her letters – written to her sister Cassandra – never discuss such matters, instead focusing on people and gossip.

Edward owned Godmersham because he had been adopted by the rich Knight family, distant relatives of the Austen’s, even though his natural parents were still living. This arrangement – rather odd to us – meant he got the education of a gentleman, went on a Grand Tour, and – crucially – was able to help the rest of his family financially.

Edward’s eldest daughter, Fanny, was a favourite of Jane’s, and in her letters to her the author made several famous remarks about her work which are now much quoted. However, Fanny secretly found her aunt a bit common. Later in life she described Jane as “not as refined as she ought to have been” and said that had her father not invited her aunts to Godmersham “they would have been very much below par as to Society and its ways”. Jane in turn drew on her experience as the poor relation in a grand house in her novels - for example in her depiction of Fanny Price in Mansfield Park.

In the 1980s Chilham Castle used to stage medieval banquets and jousting. It now leads a much quieter life hosting bespoke upmarket events and "experiences". The castle has a history going back to William the Conqueror which you can read on www.chilham-castle.co.uk, but it has basically always been a family home. The current house dates to 1616, but the keep of the old medieval fortress also survives. One of its more recent owners was Stuart Wheeler, founder of spreadbetting firm IG Index, who passed away in July 2020.

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National Rail: 03457 48 49 50 • Traveline (bus times): 0871 200 22 33 (12p/min) • TFL (London) : 0343 222 1234

Dec-24 Peter