Time Out Country Walks near London Volume 1
Walk 50 : Yalding to Borough Green
Mereworth & the Kentish Weald
| Length | 13km (8.1 miles), 4 hours. For the whole outing, including trains, sights and meals, allow 7 hours 20 minutes. |
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| OS Landranger Map | No.188. Yalding, map reference TQ 685 502, is in Kent, 10km north-east of Tonbridge. |
| Toughness | 3 out of 10 (uprated from 2 in the book). |
| Features | This is an easy walk through the woods and fields of the Kent countryside, without too much in the way of hills, and with only short sections liable to be muddy - a good walk for a brisk winter or autumn outing, or for eating blackberries. You will however, as indicated above, need gumboots in muddy weather. It starts beside the River Medway, follows the Greensand Way to Roydon Hall (the self-styled Maharishi's 'Capital of the Age of Enlightenment'), and then goes on to the Lunch stop in Mereworth, a village dominated by its massive Palladian church, the steeple of which is visible for miles around. After lunch, the walk is principally through the vast Mereworth Woods, on the Wealdway, then up following a stream to the tearoom in Borough Green. |
| Shortening the Walk | You can get a bus about once an hour to either Maidstone or Tunbridge Wells from a stop on the way into Mereworth near the church. |
| History |
Roydon Hall is a Tudor manor house, built in 1535, which has changed ownership only twice: in 1834 from the Roydon/Twysden family to William Cook, a city merchant who accepted it in settlement of debts; and in 1974 from the Cook family to the Maharishi, for his Transcendental Meditation centre. In the nineteenth century, a water diviner told the Cook family to dig into the lawn - where they found a collection of large silver dishes, probably buried in the Civil War. The Church of St Lawrence, Mereworth, has been described as 'one of the most remarkable neoclassical churches in Europe', with a portico supported by six Tuscan columns, and a steeple 'so tall', wrote Horace Walpole, 'that the poor church curtsies under it'. Admiral Charles Lucas, who won the first Victoria Cross in 1854 for throwing overboard a live shell that hit his ship, is buried in the churchyard. |
| Lunch | The suggested lunch stop, the Torrington Arms, has closed down but the previous alternative Queen's Head, Butcher's Lane, Mereworth (tel 01622 812534) is still just open (as of Dec 2000, anyway). Should this close, another alternative is the Beech Inn, 501 Seven Mile Lane, Mereworth (tel 01622 813038) which serves lunch from 11.30am to 2.30pm (daily except closed Mondays). To get to it, from the bottom of page 388, column 1, instead of crossing the B2016, detour to your right up the B2016 till you come to the pub by the telephone box, opposite the end of Beech Road. |
| Saturday Walkers Club | The Saturday Walkers Club do this walk each December. |
| Driving |
Start: Yalding Station is near : ME18 6HN. [gmap] Finish: Borough Green & Wrotham Station is near : TN15 8AJ. [gmap] |
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| Driving |
It is not possible to return to the start of the walk by train, as the 2 stations are on different railway lines. |
| Train Travel |
London to Yalding | Borough Green & Wrotham to London |
| Major Updates | Small route change to avoid walking along a private drive. Wear long trousers (nettles) in summer. [details] |
| Warning | The text above was taken from an older edition of the book, and is a little out of date. Please check the updates for this walk. |
Walking Instructions
For a map and detailed walking instruction, please see Time Out Country Walks near London Volume 1
