Time Out Country Walks near London Volume 1

Walk 23 : Otford to Eynsford

River Darent, two castles and a Roman villa

Length	13.9km (8.6 miles), 4 hours. For the whole outing, including trains, sights and meals, allow 8 hours 45 minutes.
OS Landranger Map	Nos.188 and 177. Otford, map reference TQ 532 593, is in Kent, 4km north of Sevenoaks.
Toughness	5 out of 10.
Features	The walk has two steep uphill sections. The first half of the walk can be very muddy. The suggested route takes in three villages steeped in history, one palace, two castles and a Roman villa. At times the route runs along the River Darent, at other times through fields and woods. At the start of the walk there is the Otford Solar System, which claims to be the only scale model of its kind in the world. It shows the relative position of the sun and planets at the start of the new millennium. The sun and inner planets are on the Recreation Ground, and you pass two of the outer planets on the first part of the walk. In the afternoon, you come to Lullingstone Park Visitor Centre (which offers exhibitions and information about the park, serves tea and is open till 5pm in summer; till 4pm October to February) and Lullingstone Park with its (early summer) orchids. Lullingstone Castle has a new visitor attraction, the World Garden. There are fast trains to Otford from Victoria and slower ones (which also call at Eynsford and Shoreham) from Blackfriars.
Shortening the walk	To avoid the mud on wet days you could start the walk from the suggested lunchtime stop by travelling directly to Shoreham Station (or you could end the walk in Shoreham). You can cut 1.2km off the end of the walk by following the short cut at [*] below.
History	Otford goes back to the sixth century when the Anglo-Saxons called their settlement Ottanford ('Otta's ford'). The Archbishop's Palace in Otford, the remaining fragments of which are on open view, once rivalled Hampton Court for splendour, until Henry VIII forced Archbishop Cranmer to surrender it in 1537. St Bartholomew's Church, Otford, parts of which are thought to date from 1050-1080, contains memorials to Cromwell's great-grandsons. The Water House in Shoreham is where the artist Samuel Palmer lived and worked from 1827 to 1834. The poet William Blake visited him there in 1825. The Church of St Peter and St Paul in Shoreham has many interesting features, including an outstanding wooden rood screen spanning the width of the building and a stained glass window by the Pre-Raphaelite artist Burne-Jones. Lullingstone Park was a deer park from the Middle Ages until World War II, when the park was used as a decoy airfield - the heavy bombing so terrified the deer that they escaped. Species of tree that deer would not eat have been planted through the centuries, thus ancient hornbeam pollards remain. Lullingstone Castle (tel 01322 862 114) is the residence of the Hart Dyke family, having remained in the Dyke family for centuries, with the original house built during the reign of Henry VII. Its gatehouse is one of the earliest all-brick buildings in Britain. It is open to visitors on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays between April and October. Lullingstone Roman Villa (tel 01322 863 467) was first occupied in 80AD by a rich Roman who practised pagan worship of the local water sprite in a room here, which later became a Christian temple. The ruins include two mosaic floors. It is normally open daily (not Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year's Day) from 10am to 6pm in summer; from 10am to 4pm in winter (October to the end of March), but is currently closed for refurbishment until May 2008. Admission (2006) is £3.90; concessions £2.90. The Church of St Martin of Tours in Eynsford is unusual in having retained the Norman ground plan with apsidal chancel. In about 1163, Thomas a Becket excommunicated Sir William de Eynsford III, the Lord of the Manor who controlled the patronage for this church. The excommunication was cancelled by Henry II and the issue became part of the quarrel that led to Becket's murder. Eynsford Castle was built in the eleventh century and vandalised in 1312. John de Eynsford, who lived there, is said to have assisted in Becket's murder.
Saturday Walkers' Club	Take the train nearest to 10.15am (before or after) from Victoria Station to Otford. Journey time 35 minutes. Buy a day return to Otford. Trains back from Eynsford go to Blackfriars, twice an hour; you can change at Bromley South for Victoria. Journey time 46 minutes. Note that no cafes are open near Blackfriars station on a Saturday. If coming by car, Otford Station car park is free at weekends. Alternatively, there is a free public car park opposite the Bull pub. There are trains every 30 minutes from Eynsford back to Otford.
Lunch	The suggested lunchtime stop is the Kings Arms pub (tel 01959 523 100) in Shoreham, which has in its front wall the country's last remaining ostler box (like an enclosed little sentry box, where the ostler used to wait to attend to customers' horses). The pub serves food all day. Alternatives include Ye Olde George Inne (tel 01959 522 017) in Church Street, which serves food midday to 3pmweekdays (all day weekends); the Two Brewers pub (tel 01959 522 800) at 30 High Street, which serves food midday to 2pm (Sunday to 2.45pm); and the Crown pub (tel 01959 522 903) at 84 High Street, which serves food midday to 2.15pm (Sunday to 3pm).
Tea	The suggested tea place in Eynsford is the Plough and Harrow pub (tel 01322 862 281), which has an attractive riverside location and serves tea and coffee as well as normal pub fare. Other pubs in Eynsford are the Malt Shovel Inn (tel 01322 862 164), the Five Bells (tel 01322 863 135) and the Castle Hotel (tel 01322 863 162). Earlier in the walk, the cafe at the Lullingstone Park Visitors' Centre (tel 01322 865 995) is open daily to 5pm in summer, 4pm in winter

WALK DIRECTIONS

Note: Bold numbers in square brackets refer to the Walk Map in Time Out Country Walks near London Volume 1.

1. [1] [Numbers refer to the map.] Coming off the London train, go over the railway line and exit the Otford Station building. Turn left into the car park and, 40 metres inside the car park, on the right-hand side, go through the gap in the railings and take the tarmac path heading west away from the station, soon with an open field on your left-hand side. Keep to this path through a bend to the right. A wooden kissing gate takes you through to the churchyard and to St Bartholomew's Church, which is worth a look inside.
2. Leaving the church, a detour to the left takes you in less than 100 metres to the north-west gatehouse, virtually all that remains of Otford Palace.
3. The walk continues (to the north-west of the church) from the far side of the village pond (the pond is itself a 'listed building' and is home to ducks that occasionally disrupt the traffic). Take the road left (westwards) by the Crown Inn, soon passing the Ellenor tea shop on the left and the seventeenth-century Forge House (now a restaurant) on the right.
4. Keep on this road. In 120 metres, by the Bull pub (part of which dates back to 1500), a short diversion to the back of the public car park on the opposite side of the road will take you to a map showing the planetary locations of the Otford Solar System. In 200 metres you pass on the left Pickmoss, a medieval open-hall house; on your right the Darent Valley Path; and then cross over the River Darent. 200 metres or so past the imposing gates of eighteenth-century Broughton Manor to your left, and just beyond a wooden bus shelter [2], you come to a concrete pillar representing the planet Uranus. Immediately after this, turn right through a kissing gate to the right of a wooden field gate on to a signposted and well-used public footpath, your direction 330 degrees. In 230 metres, having kept to this main path, go through a kissing gate - a potentially very muddy area - to carry straight on with a hedge on your right-hand side.
5. In 400 metres go through a rusty metal gate and follow the path between a hedge and a fence. In 120 metres cross a stream on a slab of concrete and 10 metres later fork right along a path towards a horse chestnut tree about 100 metres away. The path curves to the right past this tree (ignore another path close by on the left) and in 130 metres merges with a farm track from the right.
6. [At this point, you have a choice. To go past the planet Pluto, turn right after 10 metres along a signposted footpath, soon passing under mini-pylons. In 240 metres you pass the concrete pillar representing the planet Pluto. In another 180 metres, at the end of the field, continue forward along a car-wide track between a hedge and a fence (marked as a road used as a public path on the OS map).
7. In 500 metres you pass an open barn on your left, part of Filston Farm, and can see an attractive gabled house ahead, Filston Oast. Follow the farm track round to the left, soon bending right and then left around a farm building, to head for a prominent hopper attached to a large industrial shed. Turn right here to reach the farm access road and then turn left up this road to reach Filston Lane in 140 metres; pick up the main directions at [4] below.]
8. To follow the original published route, however, keep on this farm track. In 250 metres [3] you come to an orchard with, behind it, Sepham Farm (so marked on the OS map) and its oasthouses. Here, by a post on your right with yellow arrows on it, you turn right, your direction 40 degrees, to go under mini-pylons, along the edge of the orchard.
9. In less than 100 metres, ignore a left turn through the orchard towards the farm, to continue straight on, along a footpath marked SR10, across a network of open fields (with a stile about halfway) towards Filston Farm (so marked on the OS map) visible in the distance.
10. On nearing the farm, and by an industrial shed turn left (a marked footpath) on to a car-wide track and follow this leftwards up to the car road [4].
11. Turn right on this tarmac road. In 250 metres, just before Water Lane on the right, turn left up a trackway between hedges. Continue over a stile up the public footpath which follows the wood on your right-hand side, up a grassy field. Just before a convenient seat, take the stile on the right. Go straight on, along a wide path, into the wood that is now signposted Meenfield Wood.
12. In 600 metres you come to a crossing, with steps up and down, and you take the steps down towards Shoreham, your direction 120 degrees.
13. In 60 metres go over a stile and continue downwards. On your left behind you is a chalk cross commemorating those who died in WW1. In a further 100 metres, go over another stile and down through hedges. In a further 120 metres, go through a metal kissing gate and keep on the main path down past playing fields on your left-hand side.
14. You come out on to Shoreham's High Street (turn left here if you wish to go to the Two Brewers pub, 100 metres away on the other side of the road, or the Village Stores, a further 50 metres up the road). For the main route, turn right and then in 80 metres turn left down Church Street. In 180 metres you come to the Kings Arms pub on your right-hand side, the suggested lunchtime stop for the walk. Alternatively, continue along the road, cross the river and follow Church Street up to the right. Ye Olde George Inne is on the right 150 metres away, opposite the entrance to the Church of St Peter and St Paul.
15. On coming out of theKings Arms, turn right and go along the road, cross the riverand turn left (from Ye Olde George Inne, return to this point). Go along the Darent Way to pass Water House on your right-hand side.
16. Follow the River Darent (on your left-hand side), keeping to the riverside path. In 500 metres you cross the river by a footbridge with metal railings.
17. In 50 metres you leave the Darent Valley Path to turn left uphill on a car lane, westwards. At the top of Mill Lane you come to a T-junction with the main road(the Crown pub is 80 metres away on your left here). Cross over and take a new permissive path, the Millennium Footpath, which runs parallel to the road on your right-hand side. In 100 metres cross a stile and turn slightly right to head uphill towards the top corner of the field, your direction 330 degrees.
18. Exit the field over a stile to the left of a fieldgate and continue out to a road, where you turn right downhill. In 100 metres continue ahead at a road junction, but then in another 100 metres, turn left into Cockerhurst Road, signposted Well Hill and Chelsfield.
19. After 350 metres of walking uphill between tall beech trees, and opposite a new large bungalow (Combe Vale) [5], take the footpath signposted to the right, your direction 15 degrees, to follow an initially fairly clear path steeply uphill, keeping the hawthorn trees and blackberries on your right-hand side, and the common behind a new fence on your left-hand side.
20. 300 metres from the road, cross a wooden stile and follow the left-hand field edge northwards, towards Homewood Farm (or so it is named on the OS map). Keep on this path, with trees and then hedges on your left-hand side.
21. In 400 metres the path then bends left beside a small house on the right-hand side. In a further 100 metres, you come on to a concrete car road and continue on, your direction 350 degrees.
22. 200 metres later, at the T-junction with a car road, turn right down the road. In 100 metres ignore the car-wide road to your left; but then in 8 metres cross a stile on the left [6] into Beechen (or Home) Wood (so marked on the OS map). In 10 metres turn right, your direction 100 degrees. In 40 metres bear left with this wide path, your direction now 40 degrees. In 150 metres, ignore paths to the left and then the right to carry on (a wooden post, No. 8, has a green arrow saying 'Lullingstone Park'). [NB. The post numbers referenced in these directions are on white discs but many have faded or become illegible.]
23. In a further 150 metres, at a T-junction by post 13, bear right and then in 20 metres turn left into a very wide grassy descent, still heading north-east down the left-hand side of this avenue.
24. In 400 metres you cross a bridleway and in 5 metres [7] - just before a sign on the right-hand side saying 'Caution. Golfcourse ahead' - turn left uphill on a path by post 16, initially heading north-west and then curving all the way around a raised golf tee.
25. In 130 metres, by post 17, follow the golfers' track that goes left downhill to emerge on to the golfcourse.
26. Turn right on the gravel track by post 18 and continue for about 200 metres to reach post 19. Turn half-left here uphill (due east) on to a grassy path and follow the numbered posts every 100 metres or so. After post 26, where you cross a golfers' track, you go uphill. The path bears right at post 27 and you pass a green on your right to reach post 28. Turn right here alongside the green and then go through a gap in the hedge on your left. There are now views across the Darent valley, with the brick gatehouse of Lullingstone Castle in the valley on your left and the Park Visitor Centre building down on your right.
27. Continue along the ridge on a broad grassy path, your direction 210 degrees. In 200 metres the path goes between hedges. In another 100 metres, at post 35, turn left downhill on a car-wide track, in 200 metres reaching Lullingstone Park Visitor Centre (which also has a cafe)
28. Coming out of the Visitor Centre by the same way you came in, turn right along its northern boundary, to go through a wooden kissing gate and then turn left by the bridge, and continue with the water on your right-hand side. In 600 metres go through a wooden barrier [8] and continue straight on to Lullingstone Castle.
29. Beyond the castle, continue straight on, northwards, on a tarmac lane. In 600 metres or so, you come to a truly hideous green corrugated shed on your left-hand side, courtesy of English Heritage, inside of which is the Lullingstone Roman Villa. (You can see something of the interior-without needing to pay the admission fee-from the souvenir shop, which also sells snacks and ice creams).
30. ([*] You can shorten the walk by 1.2km at this point by not going left to the villa, but turning right to cross the river on a bridge to the left of the English Heritage car park. In 600 metres this private road-which is a public footpath-comes to a T-junction with the A225, where you turn left; in 300 metres you go under the railway bridge and come to Station Road on your right-hand side.)
31. Coming out of the villa, go past a pair of wooden barriers and turn left on to the car road, to continue on, your direction 10 degrees.
32. In 600 metres go under the high railway viaduct (built in the nineteenth century with bricks made in Brick Field, just above the east bank of the river) and go straight on, with the river still on your right-hand side.
33. In 400 metres you keep straight on (signposted Eynsford) at the junction with Sparepenny Lane, to go down past the Plough and Harrow pub on the left-hand side (the suggested tea place).
34. 80 metres past the pub, go over the bridge by the ford and then up to the main road.
35. (To visit the ruins of Eynsford Castle, which is about 400 metres away, turn left on the main road and carry on through the village, passing the Five Bells pub on your right-hand side. Opposite the Castle Hotel, turn left on a tarmac lane signposted Village Hall and follow it round to the right to find the Castle car park and ruins.)
36. To get to Eynsford Station you turn right on to the main road, with the Church of St Martin of Tours opposite. You soon pass the Malt Shovel Inn on your left and go uphill for 800 metres, to just over the brow of the hill. Trains back to London are on the far platform, over the footbridge.

Revised	This walk was fully revised in : Oct-06 For the walk map, please see the Time Out Country Walks near London Volume 1
Major Updates	Fully revised in 2006. [details]