Saturday Walkers' Club

Time Out Country Walks near London Volume 1

Walk 28 : Chilham to Canterbury



Canterbury Cathedral & the Great Stour River

Length 17.7 km (11 miles), 5 hours. For the whole outing, including trains, sights and meals, allow at least 10 hours 45 minutes
OS Landranger Map No.179. Chilham, map reference TR 106 553, is in Kent, 8 km south-west of Canterbury.
OS Explorer Maps Nos.137 & 150.
Toughness 3 out of 10.
Features This particular pilgrimage to Canterbury starts beside the Great Stour River and its attendant lakes, visits the church and green at Chartham, and passes through hop fields and apple orchards to the suggested lunch pub in Chartham Hatch. In the afternoon, the way is through Church Wood and Blean Woods Nature Reserve, to the parklands of the University of Kent, with fine views down over Canterbury Cathedral. The entrance to the city is along the River Stour, through the Norman Westgate and down the medieval high street and alleys, entering the cathedral precincts through its ornate Christ Church Gate.
Shortening the walk There are buses into Canterbury, three times an hour, from near the Plough Inn in Upper Harbledown. There are also buses into the city from near the Hare & Hounds pub on the A290 and from the University of Kent. The route passes near Canterbury West Station on entering the city, for those who wish to go home without visiting the city centre; and there is a suggested short cut in the walk directions (below) once within the city, to Canterbury East Station.
History

Attacked by marauding Picts, Scots and Saxons, the Britons could not defend the walled city of Durovernum Cantiacorum, once the Romans had abandoned it. When St Augustine and his followers arrived in 397 ‑ at the instigation of King Ethelbert and his French Christian wife, Bertha ‑ the walls were repaired and the overgrown streets cleared. The city was now called Cautwaraburg.

The Cathedral which St Augustine founded was sacked by the Danes in 1011. It was within the cathedral, on December 2nd 1170, that Thomas á Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, was murdered by four of Henry II's knights. The city became a place of pilgrimage, as celebrated by Chaucer in his Canterbury Tales, although these pilgrimages were interrupted in 1538, when Henry VIII had St Thomas declared a traitor and his shrine pillaged and all references to him destroyed.

Entrance to Canterbury Cathedral (tel 01227 762 862) is free if attending evensong, which normally takes place at 5.30pm. Monday to Friday, 3.15pm Saturday, and 5.15pm Sunday. Otherwise admission is £7-50. The cathedral is open till 7pm in summer, till 5pm in winter. Entrance to just the sur­roundings and perimeter of the cathedral is free from 5pm.

Huguenots fleeing France, after the St Bartholomew Massacre of 1572, settled in Canterbury. The Weavers' House in the High Street is an example of one of their high‑gabled houses, with loft doors for lifts.

The Westgate is the only surviving gateway into the city, built by Archbishop Sudbury before the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. It was used as a gaol. The medieval wall around the city follows the line of the third‑century wall in Roman times.

The mainly medieval church of St Peter's, in St. Peter Street, may be of Saxon origin.

Saturday Walkers Club

Take the train nearest to 9- 15 am from London Victoria Station to Chilham. Journey time about 1 hour 45 minutes. Trains back from Canterbury East to Victoria run about twice an hour. On some days there is also a service from Canterbury West to Charing Cross.

Note : trains on Sundays go from Charing Cross station.

Rail ticket: buy a cheap day return to Canterbury.

Lunch

The suggested lunchtime pub is the Chapter Arms pub (tel. 01227 738 340) in Chartham Hatch, which serves food midday to 2.30pm every day; groups of more than eight people should phone to book. In addition to its indoor dining areas the pub has outdoor covered and open dining areas. The food menu extends to a good variety of light lunches, main courses and specials, including a fish menu on Fridays and Saturdays.

3 km further into the walk is the Plough Inn (tel 01227 763 882) in Upper Harbledown, which serves food 3pm to 10pm Monday to Thursday and 12 noon to 10pm Friday to Sunday; groups of more than six people should phone to book. Or you could have lunch nearer the start of the walk at the Artichoke pub (tel 01227 738 316) in Chartham, which serves food midday to 2pm every day.
Tea There are any number of places to have tea in Canterbury, but if you like to finish your sightseeing first, the suggested tea place is five minutes from Canterbury East Station: the White Hart pub (tel 01227 765 091) in Castle Row. This is open daily till late. The pub will serve sandwiches and ploughmans if requested. There is also a friendly station snack bar offering hot drinks and snacks, open until 7.30pm daily. Other tea places open late include (in order of nearness to Canterbury East Station): Il Vaticano (tel 012227 765 333), mainly a pizza restaurant, at 35 St Margarets, open till 10.30pm daily; and Cafe des Amis (tel 01227 464 390) by the Westgate as you enter the city, open till 10pm daily.
Travel by Train
  • Out: (not a train station)
  • Back: (not a train station)
Travel by Car

Start: Chilham Station is near : CT4 8EG [gmap]

Finish: Canterbury East Station is near : CT1 2RB [gmap]

Return to your car by train:

  • (park at the start) at 4pm
  • (park at the end) at 10am
OS Explorer Map

137 : Ashford [Amazon]

149 : Sittingbourne & Faversham [Amazon]

150 : Canterbury & the Isle of Thanet [Amazon]
Revised

This walk was fully revised in : Aug-09.

Download the PDF (link above) for the revised instructions, but for the map, you'll still need the book.
Other North Downs (Kent) Walks Wye (round walk), Lenham to Charing, Cuxton to Sole Street, Knockholt to Otford, Eynsford Circular,

Walking Instructions 



[Numbers refer to the map]

  1. [1] Coming off the platform from London at Chilham Station, walk through the car park, your direction 340 degrees, and up the tarmac road away from the station. In 50 metres you come to the A28 where you go left, your direction 240 degrees.
  2. In 80 metres take the left fork, the A28 signposted to Ashford (take care here because there is no pavement on this stretch of road).
  3. In 140 metres, just before the Ashford Road service station, turn left , your direction 135 degrees, on a tarmac lane to the railway crossing.
  4. In 80 metres cross the railway lines and continue on the tarmac lane the other side.
  5. In 80 metres go on a bridge over a river and bear right with the lane on the other side. In 65 metres you pass Chilham Mill on your left-hand side. In 20 metres go over a second bridge, with Setford Lake on your right-hand side. On the other side of the bridge, go left, your direc­tion 150 degrees, on a gravel car road, then – just before a house gate - bear left on a path, soon going uphill, with the Great Stour River on your left-hand side.
  6. In 110 metres, [2], at the top of the incline, by a broken wooden barrier and a post marked with yellow arrows pointing ahead and to the left, you turn left, your direction 30 degrees, with the river below you on your left-hand side. Walk along a grassy, car-wide track following the edge of the trees which are on your left-hand side.
  7. In 560 metres, ignore the farmgate ahead. Bear right then in 20 metres left to follow the farm hedge on your left-h and side. In 150 metres you come to the start of the sheds of Stile Farm (marked on the OS map) on your left-hand side. In a further 85 metres, go over a stile (a metal fieldgate on its left-hand side) on to a tarmac lane [3] where you go left.
  8. Stay on this tarmac lane and in 50 metres, go over a dilapidated stile on your right (or go through the metal fieldgate to its left), to continue on, a quarter right, your direction 70 degrees, keeping a band of alder and ash trees 40 metres away to your left-hand side.
  9. In 150 metres, where the field narrows, go over the stile ahead of you and keep straight on , your direction still 70 degrees, with the fence of the previous field by your left-hand side. In 150 metres, by a pole with a yellow band at the top, the fence ends and you go straight on across a field, your direction 70 degrees, heading to the right of Pickelden House Farm ahead.
  10. In 160 metres, beside the farmhouse, exit the field through a gate or over the overgrown stile to its left and out on to a tarmac lane where you go right, gently uphill, your direction 70 degrees.
  11. In 150 metres [4] as the lane swings right, you follow the footpath sign ahead, to go straight on, through a wooden fieldgate, with Lake House on your left-hand side, your direction 50 degrees.
  12. In 15 metres ignore the gate on your left and continue straight on, with a hedge on your left, and in 40 metres you start going across a vast open field, with lakes away to your left-hand side, your direction 55 degrees. In 280 metres at a path crossing marked by a footpath post, keep ahead.
  13. In 270 metres, you come to a tarmac road [5] where you continue straight on. In 30 metres you ignore a public footpath to the left. Continue uphill and in 135 metres, ignore the Stour Valley Walk sign to the left.
  14. In a further 175 metres, you come to the end of this road (Bobbin Lodge Hill) and cross Shalmsford Street to go straight on, down Bolts Hill.
  15. In 170 metres ignore a public footpath sign to the right (by the Royal British Legion building).
  16. In a further 200 metres, by Rose Cottage, you ignore the public footpath to the left across the railway line, and continue with the tarmac road, now Parish Road, towards the church.
  17. In 300 metres go over the river bridge and in 80 metres you follow the right-hand edge of Chartham village green, past a timber-framed building away to your left-hand side. At the far side of the green go into the churchyard of St Mary's, passing the church entrance (the church is open 3 to 5pm, May to September) and keeping on, along a tarmac path. In 40 metres you come to the road by a house called The Glebe, where you go right, your direction 125 degrees.
  18. In 40 metres, just before the bridge over the river, you follow the Stour Valley Walk sign to your left, on a tarmac path, your direction 65 degrees, with the river on your right hand side. (If you want an early lunch at a pub here, continue over the bridge instead of going left. Pass Chartham Paper Mills on your right-hand side, coming in less than 200 metres to the part timber-framed Artichoke pub.)
  19. In 325 metres, where the tarmac ends, go through a gap and onwards, now on a stone and gravel path, with the river still on your right-hand side and a barely-visible lake on your left.
  20. In 140 metres pass under an overhead conveyor and gantry. In 200 metres, by a derelict bridge on your right-hand side, and with a metal kissing gate ahead of you [6], go left on a grassy car-wide way, your direction 330 degrees. In 180 metres go across the railway lines via metal swing gates on either side.
  21. Continue ahead on a driveway and in 75 metres you go across the A28, to go left along its pavement , your direction 240 degrees.
  22. In 50 metres a discreet concrete public footpath marker on your right -hand side (to the right of the driveway of CarIton Lodge) and a green footpath sign (potentially overgrown) on a pole indicate your narrow path, marked with a yellow arrow, between hedge and fence, your direction 25 degrees.
  23. In 65 metres go through a gap and on, with an orchard on your left-hand side. Keep ahead along an unmarked path at the bottom of the orchard, bearing left then right, until in 100 metres you come to a post on your left-hand side, marked with a yellow band. Here turn left, up between the rows of orchard trees, your direction 315 degrees. At the top of the field turn right and almost immediately left into a wood, at a footpath sign.
  24. In 150 metres go over a stile to exit the wood. Keep ahead, now with the wood on your right-hand side. In 150 metres go over a stile and up over the railway lines. On the other side swing left and in 20 metres go over a stile on your right, to continue with the field fence on your right-hand side, gently uphill, your direction 305 degrees. In a further 620 metres, go through a gap in the hedge ahead, with a tall aerial mast on your left-hand side, to carry straight on through an orchard, your direction 320 degrees.
  25. In 110 metres you exit the orchard over a stile (or through the open gate 15 metres to its left) to come out onto a tarmac road , where you go right, uphill -this is signposted the North Downs Way, and your direction is 45 degrees.
  26. In 140 metres you come to the Chapter Arms in Chartham Hatch on your left-hand side, the suggested lunchtime stop.
  27. After lunch, go straight ahead from the pub door to regain the tarmac road , where you go left, your direction 25 degrees, on New Town Street.
  28. In 150 metres you come to a T-junction where you go left on Howfield Lane, your direction 5 degrees.
  29. In 35 metres, as the road swings left, take the North Downs Way signposted footpath straight on, your direction 355 degrees, between fences.
  30. In 100 metres cross over a tarmac road to follow the North Downs Way sign onwards, up a concrete driveway. In 15 metres you fork to the right. In 8 metres you pass a wooden barrier (a metal gate on its left-hand side) to continue on, following the North Downs Way sign, with a playground on your left-hand side and house fences on your right, your direction 60 degrees initially. Keep along the part-enclosed path by the right-hand boundary beside a fence and hedge.
  31. In 145 metres go through a wooden gateway down into Petty France Wood (as marked on the OS map), following the North Downs Way arrow and ignoring ways off, initially downhill.
  32. In 310 metres, as the wood comes to an end, take the stile on your left-hand side (at the beginning of a line of poplars, also on your left-hand side), to follow a path ahead up and over the top of a hillock, your direction 15 degrees. In 125 metres you pass under mini-pylons. Continue ahead, now down the hill, your direction 350 degrees. In 140 metres go over a stile and on two planks over a stream.
  33. In 5 metres you come to a track at the edge of a hop field , where you turn left, then right, to follow the left-hand edge of the hop field , your onwards direction 310 degrees. In 110 metres you pass under mini-pylons to continue with the field edge on your left-hand side, gently uphill, your direction now 325 degrees, with an orchard now to your right.
  34. In 270 metres you come to a grassy track to your right (there is bridleway off to the left, through a gap in the hedge between fields, marked by a white metal post on the left). [7]. Take the track to the right, your direction 80 degrees, up through the orchard.
  35. In 220 metres, at a crossing of the ways, with a footpath post on your right, continue straight on, gently downhill, ignoring ways off, with hop fields and orchards on either side.
  36. In 350 metres you pass industrial sheds on your right. In a further 100 metres you pass primitive staff quarters on your right. Now pass around the right-hand side of a metal gate and bear left , your direction 35 degrees, onto a surfaced road. Over to your left behind a hedge are new houses / farm conversions.
  37. In 160 metres you pass the three-storey China Farm Barn on your right-hand side (a residential conversion), to bear left, uphill, with the tarmac road.
  38. In 215 metres you come to the A2 bridge, which you cross, ignoring the bridleway sign to the right on the other side.
  39. In 70 metres, at a T-junction, [8] take the footpath to the right-hand side of St Mary's Hall, Upper Hambledown, your direction 320 degrees, into Church Wood (marked on the OS map), with a stream on your right-hand side. (But if you want to get to the pub in Upper Hambledown, turn right on this road, and you come in 110 metres to the Plough Inn. Just beyond the pub is the bus stop.)
  40. In 185 metres you fork right to keep near the edge of the wood. In 15 metres you cross a ditch on two planks. In 50 metres you pass a ruined stile. In 300 metres the field away to your right ends, and you are walking though a wooded area with heather beside the path.
  41. In 300 metres you reach an earth road T-junction where you go right, your direction 75 degrees. In 30 metres ignore the suggestion of a way to your left. In 85 metres, at a major junction [9], turn left, your direction 30 degrees, with Scots pine trees on your left-hand side, beyond a ditch.
  42. In 85 metres you ignore a path to the right.
  43. In 270 metres you cross a major car-wide gravel track to continue on, along a car-wide earth way into Blean Woods Nature Reserve, your direction 45 degrees.
  44. In 150 metres cross a path to continue on your way, signposted short cut. In 385 metres you come to a major junction of paths. You go straight on, through a lightly wooded area. In 20 metres you cross a stile, then pass by a redundant stile, to follow a faint overgrown path, half left, your direction 50 degrees.
  45. In 100 metres go through a metal fieldga te, turning right on a path on the other side, eastwards, with the trees now on your right-hand side. In 110 metres go through a metal fieldgate and cross a ditch on a dozen planks, to continue on with the edge of the wood on your right-hand side.
  46. In 150 metres cross a stile to the right of a metal fieldgate. In 200 metres cross a stile to the left of a metal fieldgate. In a further 100 metres go over a stile to the right of a metal fieldgate and come out onto the A290, where you turn left, your direction 325 degrees.
  47. In 80 metres (and 50 metres before the Hare & Hounds pub), turn right on a signposted footpath, down steps, your direction 40 degrees.
  48. Bearing left in 40 metres you pass a scaffolding pole stile and go through a wooden kissing gate and in 5 metres fork right, your direction 130 degrees, away from the stream to your right-hand side.
  49. In 60 metres keep ahead, then swing left, now following a fence to your right-hand side, your direction 100 degrees.
  50. In 220 metres, having had a fence to your right-hand side all this way, you go over a wooden bridge with a scaffolding pole railing, and over the stile on the other side, and 10 metres further on, you follow along the right-hand edge of the field, your direction east.
  51. In 125 metres you come to a bridge with curvaceous metal railings and an earth road. But you continue straight on, still with a stream on your right-hand side and with a large field to your left.
  52. In 275 metres go over another wooden bridge, to continue on (the right-hand fork), your direction 120 degrees, with the stream still on your right-hand side.
  53. In 400 metres you come to a wooden bridge on your right-hand side with wooden handrails over the stream [10], which you cross to go left on the other side, with the stream now on your left-hand side.
  54. In 20 metres pass under the mini-pylons. In 10 metres go over a two-plank bridge, ignore a right fork and go straight on, gently uphill, following yellow blazes on trees, your direction 160 degrees. In 120 metres ignore a scaffold-and-wooden pole bridge on your left. In a further 40 metres, at a path T-junction, turn left, your direction 120 degrees, still gently uphill.
  55. In 120 metres you come to a tarmac road [11], with the University of Kent Electronics Department opposite. Go over this road and carry straight on, your direction 195 degrees.
  56. In 50 metres you begin to pass the Electronics block (with a large white metal pyramid on its roof) on your right-hand side. Walk ahead through its car park.
  57. 20 metres past the end of the block, fork left to pass down the left-hand side of the Sports Centre.
  58. 35 metres from the start of the side of the Sports Centre, you come to a little brick, windowless hut on your right-hand side, to pick up a footpath straight on (to the hut's left-hand side) into the trees, your direction 145 degrees.
  59. In 90 metres you come to a tarmac road junction. Go straight across and in 35 metres, with the Kent Union Venue in front of you, you turn right, on University Road, following a road sign to Canterbury, your direction 190 degrees.
  60. In 150 metres you pass a bus terminus on your right-hand side. In a further 40 metres, you have an unobscured view of Canterbury Cathedral visible below on your left-hand side. Here you fork half left off the tarmac road to follow a clear path across the grass, heading down halfway between the Cathedral and the road you have just left, your direction 170 degrees. In 10 metres you pass a lone oak tree immediately on your right-hand side.
  61. In 400 metres you cross an earth road to continue straight on, diagonally across the grass, on a clear path, your direction 155 degrees. In 200 metres you pass through a gap in the hedges. In a further 30 metres you come on to a tarmac path where you go right, your direction 225 degrees. In 20 metres, at a path crossing, go left on a tarmac path, between bollards, your direction 120 degrees. In 150 metres, you continue straight on, now on Salisbury Road.
  62. In 250 metres, ignoring all ways off, you come to a T-junction (Forty Acres Road) and carry straight on, along a signposted public footpath.
  63. In 55 metres pass through barriers and in a further 55 metres you come to playing fields on your left-hand side, where you keep straight on, through barriers, with hedges on your left-hand side.
  64. In 85 metres (at the end of the playing fields) go through a metal barrier and follow the tarmac path to the right, your direction 175 degrees. In 60 metres go through a tunnel under the railway.
  65. In 50 metres cross a road (The Spires) and go straight on along the path opposite, leading past new houses. In 80 metres join Station Road West and continue straight on.
  66. In 100 metres you come to the main road (North Lane) which you cross over to continue on a tarmac road, your direction 165 degrees, past Deans Mill Court on your left-hand side and across a mill stream bridge.
  67. On the other side turn right, signposted Riverside Walk, with the water on your right-hand side, your direction 240 degrees.
  68. In 80 metres, ignore the lockbridge straight ahead, to go right on an arched bridge. On the other side turn left, your direction 165 degrees, now with the water on your left-hand side.
  69. In 80 metres you pass the Riverside restaurant on your left-hand side across Guys Bridge. In 80 metres you come to the Westgate, with the Guildhall just beyond and the Cafe des Amis du Mexique opposite.
  70. Go left through the Westgate and straight on, your direction 130 degrees, on the pedestrianised St Peter's Street.
  71. In 100 metres, you pass St Peter the Apostle Church on your left-hand side. In 75 metres you pass the Weavers' House on your left-hand side. [To shorten the walk at this point, continue ahead following signs to Canterbury East Station and the bus station, passing the cathedral entrance to the left-hand side.] In 40 metres the main suggested route is to turn left on Best Lane, your direction 60 degrees.
  72. In 80 metres you pass the Thomas Becket pub on your right-hand side. In 15 metres you cross The Friars to continue on King Street, then take the first tarmac road left to the old Blackfriars Gallery.
  73. At the Gallery turn right between terraces of houses, through concrete bollards. In 50 metres pass through a second set of concrete bollards. In 5 metres, take the lane sharp right (Mill Lane), your direction 145 degrees.
  74. In 75 metres you come to a T-junction where you go left (despite a sign to the right for the cathedral), your direction 35 degrees.
  75. In 40 metres you pass the Old Synagogue. In 20 metres ignore Knotts Lane to your left. In 40 metres, with the entrance to Kings School ahead, turn right on Palace Street , your direction 210 degrees.
  76. In 170 metres, with the Seven Stars pub away to your right-hand side, turn left on Sun Street.
  77. In 70 metres you reach the main entrance to Canterbury Cathedral. After visiting the cathedral - it is also worth walking round the outside, through the cloisters - you come out of the same gate to go straight on down narrow Mercery Lane , your direction 220 degrees.
  78. In 50 metres you cross the main street (The Parade) to go straight on along St Margaret's Street.
  79. In 65 metres you pass Cy’s restaurant on your right-hand side. In 70 metres you pass the Three Tuns pub on your left-hand side and go straight on, walking along Castle Street.
  80. In 140 metres, by St Marys Street on your left-hand side , you fork left through the bollards to go through the gardens and the old churchyard , your direction due south. In 60 metres you come to the White Hart pub on your left-hand side, the last pub before the station, and a suggested meal stop.
  81. Afterwards, continue on The Crescent, your direction 210 degrees. In 80 metres, with the remains of the Norman Castle to your right, turn left, opposite Don Jon House , your direction 120 degrees, with the flint city wall on your right-hand side.
  82. In 35 metres, with the Dane John Mound ahead of you, go up steps to cross the bridge . Canterbury East Station, with its snack bar, is directly ahead. For the London trains, go to platform 2 (via platform 1, turning right to go under the tunnel).