Sevenoaks Circular Walk

Main walk: 16km (9.9 miles)

With extra loop to Shipbourne: 18.2km (11.3 miles)

3 out of 10: gentle gradients

OS Explorer 147, OS Landranger 188

This walk goes through a lovely slice of Kentish countryside, starting by passing through the deer park of the National Trust owned Knole House (the house can be visited at either the start or the end of the walk) and then carrying on into a gentle area of fields and woods. You then descend through newly coppiced woodland to Ightham Mote (pronounced "I-tam"), a rare moated manor house, also owned by the National Trust, whose self-service restaurant is an option for lunch or tea.

The real glory of the walk comes next: a wonderful stretch of the Greensand Way which slowly climbs the escarpment of the Kent Downs with superb views over the Weald to the south. This is especially enchanting in late April when it has many fine bluebell woods (particularly around One Tree Hill) and one wild garlic wood too. Finally the walk finishes by passing through Knole Park once again.

In late October or early November the walk also offers lovely leaf colour, with plenty of golden beeches and a wide range of other trees. Particularly common in this area are sweet chestnuts, whose leaves turn a lovely yellowy-gold and whose nuts litter the ground in late October. In winter many paths on this walk have relatively firm surfaces, though there is inevitably some mud.

The main walk does not have a pub stop (though you can have lunch at the National Trust cafe at Ightham Mote: see below). An optional extra loop has therefore been added to the walk taking you to the wonderful Chaser Inn in Shipbourne for lunch, which adds 2.2km (1.4 miles) to the walk length, making a total circular walk from Sevenoaks of 18.5km (11.5 miles). Since this crosses some low-lying fields, it is muddier in winter than the rest of the walk. Towards the end of the loop there is fairly steep but scenic climb up onto the escarpment.

A fairly regular bus - the 222 - lserves The Chaser Inn Monday to Fridays. (There is no weekend service, unfortunately.) There are five departures a day in either direction, going one way to Tonbridge station and the other to Borough Green station on the Maidstone to Victoria line.

There are several fast trains an hour from Charing Cross, Waterloo East and London Bridge to Sevenoaks. You can also get to Sevenoaks on slower Thameslink services from Blackfriars via Bromley South.

Either way aim to start the walk at 10.45am to get to Ightham Mote or the Chaser Inn comfortably in time for lunch. In spring and summer it is also possible to start an hour later, and have lunch in at the Bucks Head in Godden Green and then tea at Ightham Mote.

There are early lunch options at the National Trust-run Brewhouse Cafe at Knole House, 2.6km (1.6 miles) into the walk, and at at the Bucks Head (01732 761 330) in Godden Green, 3.9km (2.4 miles) into the walk: the latter is open from Wednesdays to Sundays, serving drinks all afternoon, and lunch 12-2.30pm Wednesdays to Saturdays and 12-4pm on Sundays.

More centrally placed is the National Trust-run self service restaurant at Ightham Mote (8.4km/5.2 miles into the walk), which these days is open year round till 5pm (4pm November to early February) and does hot dishes and soup from 12pm to 2.30pm.

For a pub lunch, an optional extra loop to the walk takes you to the excellent Chaser Inn in Shipbourne (01732 810360), 9.7km (6 miles) into the walk, which serves food all afternoon and evening daily. This is a large pub with a range of different seating areas including outside tables in summer in a garden next to the church: however it is also popular and booking might not be a bad idea.

For tea the Brewhouse Cafe at Knole House is recommended. It is open till 5pm daily (4pm November to early February). Otherwise Sevenoaks has several cafes including a Gail's Bakery open until 6.30pm Monday to Saturday and 6pm on Sunday, and pubs such as the Chequers and the Restoration.

After the walk, please leave a comment, it really helps. Thanks!

You can also upload photos to the SWC Group on Flickr (upload your photos) and videos to Youtube. This walk's tags are:

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

Oct-24 Peter