Hever to Tonbridge Walk

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13. Main Walk (16½ km)

1. Short Walk 1, finishing at Penshurst (12½ km)
2. Short Walk 2, starting from Leigh (12½ km)

Walk Directions

Click on any section heading to switch between detailed directions and an outline, or the heading above to switch all sections.

If you doing Short Walk 2 (from Leigh), start at §D.

1. Hever Station to Hill Hoath (4 km)
• Cross the footbridge and leave Hever station on a path sloping up the bank to join the Eden Valley Walk (EVW), heading south-east. Turn left onto Hever Lane to cross the railway. At a T-junction keep ahead on a footpath leading to Hever Road, and turn right onto this to reach Hever village. Take the footpath through the churchyard and along the south side of Hever Castle grounds. Continue around the edge of Park Wood, across a lane and through Moor Wood to the hamlet of Hill Hoath.

This section is mostly the same as Walk 1–19, but with a different start in order to join up with the Eden Valley Walk on its route from Edenbridge.

1. Arriving from London on Platform 2, do not go out through the station forecourt but cross the footbridge and take the path sloping up the bank behind Platform 1. At the top bear left onto a narrow path, joining the Eden Valley Walk? (EVW). Follow the path past a few cottages and continue on a driveway, going through a wooden fieldgate along the way. At the end turn left onto a minor road (Hever Lane).
2. Go over the railway bridge to a T-junction and take the signposted footpath opposite, a fenced path to the right of a driveway. After going over a stile the path continues between the attractive Chippens Bank House? and its ornamental lake. The spire of Hever church is visible ahead on your right and later the Walk 1–19 route joins through a gap in the hedge.
3. At the end go through a wooden kissing gate and turn right onto Hever Road; you need to take care as there is no pavement for the next 500m of road walking. In 50m turn left to stay on Hever Road (ahead is Uckfield Lane). Follow this round a right-hand bend and up a slope into Hever village, passing the King Henry Ⅷ inn at a sharp left-hand bend.
4. Go straight ahead on a signposted footpath through the lychgate of St Peter's church? (which is worth a visit) and follow it through the churchyard. At the back the path swings right and left, crosses a stream and continues between fences; you will probably have to negotiate one or two awkward waterlogged stretches as you pass the grounds of Hever Castle? on the left.

   Through the trees you can sometimes glimpse events taking place in the grounds, but there is no view of the castle or its ornamental gardens from the public footpath.

5. In 450m the path turns sharply right into woodland, away from the castle grounds and alongside a driveway. The right of way used to continue along this path, but unless a collapsed footbridge up ahead has been replaced you have to join the drive. The original right of way eventually rejoins from the left and continues on a broad grassy verge alongside the drive, initially heading SE and then turning left.
6. After heading ENE for 250m the path swings right towards a pair of cottages. Go through a wicket gate in front of the left-hand cottage onto a fenced path heading ESE, usually with llamas or alpacas in the fields on your left. At the end go straight across a lane onto the continuation of the footpath. In 150m this narrow and potentially muddy path zig-zags right and left, crosses a couple of streams and enters Moor Wood.
7. Follow the path up a short flight of steps and through the wood, crossing one or two horse rides along the way. The path bends right and comes to a T-junction with a bridleway in front of a field. Turn left onto this path, which goes gently uphill through a sandstone rock cutting, then descends. Keep ahead on a short lane, passing an attractive low-lying house Withers? on the left and coming to a T-junction.
2. Hill Hoath to Penshurst (village) (3¾ km)
• Head south-east through Hill Hoath and follow the footpath across Wellers Town Road, past Wat Stock and along the old coach road into Penshurst, crossing the River Eden along the way. Turn left briefly onto the B2176, then double back on a footpath through Penshurst Park to enter the village via the churchyard.
1. At the road junction turn right, leaving the Walk 1–19 route and passing a few cottages in the hamlet of Hill Hoath. Bear left where the lane opens out, ignoring another footpath ahead past some stables. Head E along a track and then a surfaced path to the left of some new buildings. Continue on a grassy path and fork right where this splits, onto a clear straight path heading SE.
2. In 300m, soon after a narrow path joins from the left, go through a kissing gate into a wood. Continue along a broad woodland path for 400m, climbing gently at first. At the far end of the wood go through a metal kissing gate onto a minor road (Wellers Town Road).
3. Cross the road and continue on a bridleway just off to the right, going through a metal gate and across a field on a grassy path. On the far side leave through another gate and turn left onto a tarmac lane. After this has curved left round a pond keep ahead on an unsurfaced track past some derelict farm buildings.
4. You now follow this potentially muddy track (the old coach road) all the way down to Penshurst, with a huge array of polytunnels behind the line of trees on your right and glimpses of the Eden Valley on your left. After a long descent the driveway from Salmans Farm joins from the right and you cross the River Eden? on a brick bridge.

   This is the one and only place where the Eden Valley Walk meets the river after crossing it outside Edenbridge at Delaware Farm.

5. In a further 500m you reach the B2176, with Penshurst Place visible in the grounds ahead. To stay on the EVW turn left onto the road, briefly heading away from the village. In 125m go through a metal kissing gate into Penshurst Park and take the right-hand of two signposted footpaths (almost doubling back), a faint grassy path heading directly towards the church tower.
6. In the corner of the parkland go through a kissing gate onto a path through the churchyard of St John the Baptist church? (which is worth visiting; its entrance is on the south side). Leave the churchyard through an archway and go past the picturesque houses in Leicester Square? to the B2176.
7. The walk continues through the entrance arch for Penshurst Place off to the left (with the Porcupine Pantry 500m further on), but if you want a pub lunch turn right to come to the Leicester Arms Hotel on your left.

If you are doing the Main Walk (to Tonbridge), go to §E.

3. Penshurst (village) to Penshurst Station (4¾ km)
• Retrace your steps through Leicester Square and the churchyard. Take the footpath heading north and then north-east through Penshurst Park. At the top of a slope fork left onto a footpath towards Park Farm, eventually coming out onto Penshurst Road near its junction with Cinder Hill Lane. Turn left briefly onto this road, then turn sharp right to go along Cinder Hill Lane for 500m. Continue on a footpath along field edges past Little Moorden to the B2176 at Moorden. Turn right onto this road and fork left onto the long station approach road to reach Penshurst station.
1. For Short Walk 1 retrace your steps through Leicester Square and the churchyard. On entering the parkland take the right-hand of two grassy paths ahead. The path stays close to the hedge-topped stone wall guarding the manor house and then curves gently to the right. Cross the estate's driveway via two metal kissing gates and continue along a tree-lined avenue, in 75m merging with another grassy path from the left.
2. Follow the path through the right-hand line of trees and across Penshurst Park, gradually moving away from the avenue. In 300m go through a kissing gate in a fence and turn half-right to continue across the parkland, later alongside a wooden fence with a line of clipped yew trees on the other side.
3. After going through another gate the path turns left past the lifeless stump of the veteran Sidney Oak? (designated one of the country's “Great British Trees” in 2002) and one of its replacements. Follow the grassy path up a gentle slope, through a side gate beside a wooden fieldgate and then up a broad tree-lined avenue.
4. At the top keep ahead at a three-way footpath signpost to go through a wide gap in the trees (unless you want to make for Leigh station, 2 km away along the avenue to the right). After going through the trees do not continue on the broad grassy path ahead but immediately fork right onto another grassy track. Follow this through the parkland for 500m, heading NE.
5. At the bottom of a dip go straight across an estate track to continue on a grassy track climbing through a lightly wooded area. In 250m the track passes a huge oak tree and turns half-left, dropping down to a T-junction at the edge of the estate. Turn left to come out onto Penshurst Road.
6. Turn left briefly onto Penshurst Road, cross over carefully and almost immediately turn sharp right into Cinder Hill Lane. Follow this narrow country lane down a slope, past a few houses and between fields and a wood for 500m, making several turns to the left.
7. Where the lane turns right to cross over the railway line, keep ahead briefly on the driveway to Little Moorden, signposted as a footpath. In 100m, where it bends left and there is a fieldgate ahead, go over a stile between them to continue along the left-hand edge of a large field, parallel to the drive on the other side of a hedge.
8. In 400m keep ahead through a fieldgate and continue along the edge of another field. In the next corner follow a grassy farm track into the trees on the left. In 100m go past some outbuildings and veer left onto a driveway going up a short slope and then round to the right, coming out onto the B2176.
9. Turn right and go along this road for 125m, taking care as there is no pavement. Where it bends right after passing a converted oast house “Moorden” fork left and go all the way up a long straight lane (Station Hill).
10. At the far end go across the parking area for a timber yard onto Platform 1 of Penshurst station?, for trains to Redhill. Cross the footbridge to Platform 2 for trains to Tonbridge and/or refreshment at the Little Brown Jug, directly opposite the station on the B2027.
4. Leigh Station to Penshurst (village) (3¾ km)
• Head south from the station along the road and turn right onto a footpath. Follow this through the Penshurst Place Estate, veering left after 1½ km to go downhill, past the lake and through Penshurst Park. Pass to the right of Penshurst Place and go through the churchyard to the B2176 in the village.

This section is the same as the start of Walk 1–15.

1. From either platform at Leigh station, take the path down to the road. Turn left and walk along it for 250m, taking care as there is no pavement. At Paul's Hill House turn right up a rough track which soon enters the Penshurst Place Estate. Where it comes to an open field, follow a grassy path across it to the far left-hand corner.
2. Continue in the same direction along a broad tree-lined avenue for 1 km, ignoring a footpath off to the right after 100m and another to the left after 500m. Eventually, where another footpath joins from the right, turn left downhill along another tree-lined avenue towards a lake, with Penshurst Place beyond.
3. After going through a side gate beside a wooden fieldgate bear right to continue on a clear grassy path. In 200m you pass the lifeless stump of the veteran Sidney Oak? (designated one of the country's “Great British Trees” in 2002) alongside one of its replacements. Go through another side gate and continue alongside a fence, with a line of clipped yew trees and the lake off to your left.
4. Follow the grassy path up to a kissing gate in the fence. Go through this and head S across the parkland towards the right-hand side of Penshurst Place. After passing a cricket pitch on your left, cross the estate's driveway via two metal kissing gates. Continue towards the corner of the hedge-topped stone wall guarding the manor house and keep ahead with the wall on your left-hand side.
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5. Penshurst (village) to Haysden Country Park (4 km)
• Head east out of the village on the access road to Penshurst Place. Continue on the private road towards Well Place Farm, which you skirt by taking a footpath up a field to its left. Head north-east along a track to Killick's Bank. Turn half-right onto a footpath going down to the River Medway and continue alongside it to a road. Cross the river on Ensfield Bridge and turn left onto a path along the other bank. Continue alongside the western part of the Straight Mile into Haysden Country Park.

Apart from the last 500m, this section is the same as Walk 1–19.

1. From the centre of the village return along the B2176 and go past the houses in Leicester Square. Where the road turns right keep ahead through the stone and brick archway for Penshurst Place, signposted as Cycle Route 12 (which you will be following intermittently into Tonbridge).
2. As you go along the driveway a locked gate in the high brick wall on your left affords you a glimpse of the formal gardens. At the end of the wall you pass the large car park for Penshurst Place on the left.
   • The Porcupine Pantry is at the back of this car park. If you detour there for refreshment, return to this lane afterwards.
3. Continue along the driveway for 400m (shown as a private road to Well Place, but still a public footpath). Shortly before it starts to ascend, turn left through a squeeze gate into a field, temporarily leaving CR 12. Go along the field edge parallel to the road, then through another squeeze gate. Follow a broad grassy path diagonally up the next field (with a fine view back to Penshurst Place).
4. At the top go through a squeeze gate to the right of a fieldgate and head NE along a track. In 80m keep ahead where it joins a concrete lane, rejoining CR 12 for the next 600m to Killick's Bank. After passing this isolated house veer right across a lane junction. Go through a squeeze gate (or over a nearby stile) into a field.
5. Follow a faint grassy path downhill, heading E. At the bottom of the field cross a wooden bridge over a backwater and go across the grass to the River Medway. Turn left and walk along the riverbank to Ensfield Bridge. Turn right onto the road to cross over the river, rejoining CR 12 again.
6. On the other side of the bridge turn left and follow the cycle route for about 400m. Where it bends left down a slope go through a side gate next to a metal fieldgate to maintain direction near the left-hand edge of a large field. On the far side go through a metal gate and bear left across the corner of a field towards another gate. Go through it onto a short path through the tree boundary to a path crossing.
7. Turn right at this path crossing onto a broad tree-lined path between two abandoned waterways (the western part of the Straight Mile?), rejoining CR 12 for another 500m but finally leaving the Walk 1–19 route. Just before a footbridge over the channel ignore a path off to the right (signposted as the cycle route through the country park) and cross the James Christie Bridge into Haysden Country Park?.
6. Haysden Country Park to Tonbridge Station (4¾ km)
• Follow the perimeter path around three sides of Haysden Water, then go under the A21 Medway Viaduct and over the flood embankment to continue alongside the eastern part of the Straight Mile. Turn left to cross the channel on Straight Mile Bridge, joining the Wealdway (WW). Go under the railway line, cross the New Cut on Friendship Bridge and head north-east alongside the water channel for over 1 km. On the far side of the country park turn right at a T-junction and follow the path under the South Eastern main line. Go around the edge of large playing fields and past Tonbridge Castle to Big Bridge in the town centre. Turn right onto the High Street to reach the station.
  
1. On the other side of the bridge you could take an inconspicuous path on the right which loops through the trees to a viewpoint across Haysden Water, but there are soon good views of this sailing lake from the main path. Ignore all side paths and follow this perimeter path for 500m around three sides of the lake, eventually heading SSE parallel with the A21 Medway Viaduct.
2. Where you can see the path rising up a slope 50m ahead, veer left across a patch of open ground underneath the viaduct. This leads to a grassy track with some plastic matting which crosses a stream at Botany Bridge.
3. Climb up the flood embankment ahead, from the top of which you can see several paths into the trees ahead. Make your way onto the path just to the right of some low metal railings, which you will find are protecting a water channel flowing out of a culvert (the eastern part of the Straight Mile).
4. Follow the path alongside the channel for 300m, then turn left to cross it on the elegant Straight Mile Bridge, joining the Wealdway? (WW) for the remainder of the walk. Ignore Rainbow Bridge on the right (signposted to the Car Park) and squeeze under the railway bridge carrying the Redhill–Tonbridge line?.
5. Follow the path round to the right by the entrance to Heusenstamm Wood?, then in 50m turn left to cross the New Cut? on Friendship Bridge. On the far side turn right onto a tree-lined path parallel to the wide water channel, with large farm fields on the left. In 1 km you pass a white-painted latticed metal bridge (Lucifer Bridge) carrying the cycle route which diverted away before the country park.
   • The pedestrian and cycle routes stay close together and occasionally merge; where they split again, ignore the CR 12 signs and stick to the footpath.
6. After passing a well-camouflaged WW Ⅱ pillbox in the undergrowth and crossing a couple of bridges over side streams the path comes to a T-junction. Turn right onto a broad woodland path alongside a water channel, the outflow from the Powder Mills? site. In 250m follow the path under a low railway bridge carrying the South Eastern main line and continue between playing fields and meadows.
7. The path eventually swings right and comes to the access road to some car parks on the outskirts of Tonbridge?. Keep ahead through a small car park, passing an outdoor model railway? on the right. Veer left in front of Tonbridge Swimming Pool to cross a footbridge over a stream.
8. Turn right onto a tarmac path, with the tall Motte of Tonbridge Castle? beyond the ditch on your left. Unless you want to detour into the castle grounds for a closer look at the imposing Gatehouse (or to climb the mound), continue alongside the River Medway to come to Tonbridge's High Street by the town's Big Bridge.

   A new information panel on the High Street denotes the meeting point of “Three of Kent's Finest Walks”: the central section of the Wealdway, the eastern end of the Eden Valley Walk and the western end of the Medway Valley Walk.

9. There are several cafés and pubs nearby, on both sides of the river. Tonbridge station is nearly 600m away to the right, so unless you want to look for places on this side of the river, cross the bridge to walk along the High Street.
10. The beer garden you might have noticed across the river belongs to The Humphrey Bean, one of the first buildings on the right. The Finch House Café & Bakery is 300m further on, on the left-hand side of the High Street at the front of the Pavilion Shopping Centre.
11. To complete the walk make your way onto the right-hand side of the High Street and follow it up the slope beyond the roundabout. The station entrance is at the top; trains to London usually leave from Platform 2 (down the steps on the left).
    

Walk Notes

1. The Eden Valley Walk runs for 24 km, linking the Vanguard Way with the Wealdway and the Medway Valley Walk in Tonbridge. There are few rights of way alongside the River Eden itself and from Penshurst much of the route actually follows the River Medway.
2. Chippens Bank House is a 16^thC timber-framed house, much modernised and extended. From 1949-80 it was owned by the Everest Trust, a charity set up so that ‘worthy people could have a holiday somewhere’. More recent private owners have included a UK fly-fishing champion, who constructed the lake and stocked it with trout.
3. St Peter, Hever dates from the 13^thC, but the church was completely refitted in 1894. Its north-eastern chapel contains the very worn Purbeck marble tomb-chest of Sir Thomas Bullen (Anne Boleyn's father), and there is a fine brass of Margaret Cheyne (d.1419) in the raised chancel.
4. Hever Castle was the childhood home of Anne Boleyn, the ill-fated second wife of Henry Ⅷ. It was later bestowed upon his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves. The castle was restored in the early 20^thC by William Waldorf Astor and is now a popular tourist attraction, with some spectacular gardens.
5. Withers is a 15^thC timber-framed hall house, with the bricks on the ground floor being added in the 19^thC. The side facing the lane is actually the rear of the house.
6. The source of the River Eden is in the Titsey Estate, on the slopes of the North Downs near Oxted. It is one of the main tributaries of the River Medway, joining it near Penshurst.
7. The Sidney Chapel in St John the Baptist, Penshurst contains many memorials and a fine armorial ceiling, restored in 1966. By the side altar is the Luke Tapestry (in Greek), made by Penshurst's former village doctor: it honours the partnership between medical science and Christianity.
8. Some of the half-timbered and tile-hung houses around Leicester Square (named after a favourite of Elizabeth Ⅰ) are Victorian imitations, like the post office house of 1850. “My Flesh also shall rest in Hope”, inscribed on the archway from the churchyard into the square, is from Psalm 16:9.
9. The Penshurst Platform Gallery in the shelter on Platform 1 displays works by local artists associated with Jessops Farm Studios.
10. The Sidney Oak was reputedly planted in 1554 at the birth of Sir Philip Sidney but was judged to be many hundreds of years older when it died in 2016. Cloned saplings have been planted around the Penshurst estate and its acorns distributed around the world.
11. The Straight Mile was dug in 1830, the first attempt to straighten out the meanders of the original river. The canal (now cut in two by Haysden Water) never filled with water and the project was abandoned.
12. Haysden Country Park was opened in 1988 after sand and gravel extraction ceased, a process which had created Barden Lake and Haysden Water.
13. The Wealdway runs for 130 km through the Kent and Sussex Weald, from Gravesend on the Thames estuary to the outskirts of Eastbourne.
14. The Redhill–Tonbridge line opened in 1842 as part of the main line between London and Dover, and retained that status until the direct line via Sevenoaks opened in 1868.
15. The trees in Heusenstamm Wood were donated from Tonbridge's twin town in Germany after the 1987 storm. The wood is on the site of a large weir which controlled water levels before the construction of the Leigh Flood Barrier.
16. The New Cut was a more successful attempt to straighten out the river, and is now the main channel. The original course of the river is on the other side of the railway line and is gradually reverting to marshland.
17. Gunpowder was manufactured at the Powder Mills site from 1813 until its closure in 1934, with the channels from the River Medway providing the water power for grinding and mixing the ingredients. The site has been redeveloped for housing but traces of its former existence have been preserved in place names.
18. Tonbridge has always been pronounced Tunbridge and was often spelt that way. The 'o' spelling became standard in the late 19^thC to help distinguish it from its spa neighbour Tunbridge Wells, which retained the 'u' spelling.
19. The outdoor model railway is run by Tonbridge Model Engineering Society, which offers public rides on summer weekend afternoons.
20. Tonbridge Castle dates from the 13^thC, with the imposing gatehouse being completed in 1260. An earlier motte and bailey castle was destroyed after a failed rebellion against William Ⅱ in 1088. The site is now owned by the local council and the grounds are a public park.

» Last updated: October 20, 2024

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