Walk 21 : Pluckley Circular

11km (6.8 miles), 3 hours 30 minutes walking time. For the whole outing, including trains time allow 7 hours.

OS Explorer Map No 137, OS Landranger Map 189

1 out of 10

There's a remote, 'away-from-it-all' feeling to this short, gentle, peaceful, quintessentially English walk in rural Kent. Passing small farms, oast houses, timber-framed houses, lush pastures, orchards filled with apple blossom and old oak trees, it's easy to see why H E Bates, whose house is passed in the idyllic hamlet of Little Chart Forstal, was inspired to create the country-loving Pop Larkin and family in the classic The Darling Buds Of May. The walk is almost entirely flat or with gentle gradients, but later gives you a surprising view out across the plains of the Low Weald. It is at its most 'perfick', as Pop Larkin would say, in the first two weeks in May, when the apple blossom is out. However, in summer there's an abundance of wild flowers and gardens in full bloom, and in early autumn the orchards are heavy with fruit.

From Monday to Friday there are two afternoon buses, at about 1pm and 5pm, from the Swan Inn in Little Chart into Ashford. Tel 0345 696996 for details. There are trains every half hour from Ashford to London.

Pluckley Circular - Longer Options

This is a route which extends the main walk from the village of Pluckley along the Greensand Way, with fine ridge views over the Medway Valley. There are two options – one which adds 3.7km (2.3 miles) to the walk, making a total walk of 14.7km (9.1 miles), and another which adds 6.5km (4.3 miles), making a total walk of 17.5km (11.1 miles). Both routes pass by a pub in Mundy Bois, which is a possible tea stop. The longer route also passes along the crest of the ridge with fine views, and visits the village of Egerton where you can find The George Inn, another possible tea stop (and possibly a more reliable one, as it seems to stay open in the afternoons year round, while the Mundy Bois has very limited winter hours).

All the land on which this walk takes place was owned for almost 900 years by the Dering family: they only sold it in 1928. A particular feature of their estates are the distinctive Dering windows on all the houses. These have the appearance of eyes with brows arched in surprise, and were added during Victorian Times in reference to a legend that during a Dering baronet gave his Roundhead pursuers the slip by leaping to freedom through such a round-headed window. You can also see the Dering family crest of a black horse on the cowls of the oast houses, and in the south chapel of St Nicholas Church in Pluckley.

The writer H E Bates (1905-74) lived in Little Chart Forstal. His service in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War yielded many short stories such as Flying Officer X, but he is perhaps best known for The Darling Buds of May, a tale of rural life, which was made into the popular TV series starring David Jason and Catherine Zeta Jones. During the Second World War, doodlebugs (flying bombs) caused much damage, earning the village the nickname of 'bomb alley'. Little Chart's medieval church was destroyed by a doodlebug and was replaced by the 1950s built St Mary the Virgin.

The TV series of The Darling Buds of May was filmed in the pretty village of Pluckley, but it has another claim to fame - as reputedly the most haunted village in the country, claiming at least 12 ghosts. In the Black Horse pub - once a moated farmhouse dating from 1470 - watch out for the discerning poltergeist who preys only on teetotallers. Take a seat by the door and you might see your orange juice swept aside by an unseen hand. Meanwhile the churchyard of nearby St Nicholas Church is allegedly haunted by a Red Lady who sobs as she searches for the unmarked grave of her stillborn baby.

Pluckley Station opened in 1842 and the timber-framed, Kentish-style clapboard building remains largely unchanged, possibly making it the oldest station in the world. When it was built, the staff would have comprised the stationmaster, two clerks, two signalmen, two porters who doubled as shunters, and a plate layer, or lengths man, who maintained the track. Not much evidence of any of them now!

There is a car park at Pluckley Station, charging £2.00 a day Monday to Friday, but free at weekends.

Take the train nearest to 9.30am from Charing Cross to Pluckley. Journey time: 1 hour 5 min. Trains back from Pluckley are once an hour.

The suggested lunch place, 5.8km (3.5 miles) into the walk, is the welcoming Swan in Little Chart (tel 01233 840 702), which has a riverside garden and serves good, home-made food from 12pm to 2.30pm. Groups of more than five should book. Across the road from the pub, the grassy field beside the church with an orchard ahead makes a good picnic spot.

2.4km (1.9 miles) further on (about an hour's walk), the Black Horse (tel 01233 840256) in Pluckley has a pleasant walled orchard garden. It has a cosy old fashioned charm, and serves fairly basic food all afternoon until 9pm. The nearby churchyard at St Nicholas is also a good picnic spot.

Another suggestion is to take a later train, take a picnic lunch and have an early supper at the Dering Arms (tel 01233 840371), beside Pluckey Station. A former hunting lodge, the pub specialises in seafood (it was awarded AA Best Seafood Pub for South and South East England in 2001/2002) and is described in the Good Beer Guide as the 'ideal village local'. It opens from 6pm for meals (no food on Sundays/Mondays) and booking is required.

The Black Horse in Pluckley(see Lunch)is open all afternoon and serves tea, coffee, and also various desserts. On Sundays from the end of May until the end of August, St Nicholas Church in Pluckley serves cream teas with home-made jam. For a picnic tea, Cass's Convenience Store in the village is open till 7pm Monday to Saturday, till 2pm only on Sundays.

The Swan in Little Chart also serves tea and coffee all afternoon, and the Dering Arms serves tea and coffee from 6pm. See Lunch for details of both places