Greensand Way 9 : Harrietsham or Sutton Valence to Pluckley Walk

Greensand Way Stage 9 - fine views from a gentle ridge, orchards and nice pubs

Greensand Hills Greensand Way Kent

History

Club walks since April 2015, and a summary which goes back to Jan 2010.

Club Walks Summary

Date	Post	#	Weather
Sun, 24-Aug-25	Sutton Valence to Pluckley	3	often sunny
Sat, 03-Aug-19	Sutton Valence to Pluckley - A quiet section of the Greensand Way	8	hot and humid with sunny intervals
Sat, 03-Jun-17	Sutton Valence to Pluckley - a gentle section of the Greensand Way	22	lovely sunny day
Sun, 29-May-16	2 – the Garden of England
Sun, 29-Nov-15	Sunday Second Walk - the Greensand Way in Kent
Sat, 16-May-15	A new section of the Greensand Way

Sun, 24-Aug-25

Sutton Valence to Pluckley 3

Sean

Extra Walk 151 – Sutton Valence to Pluckley

Length: 17.7 km (11 miles). Toughness: 3~4/10

Buy a day return to Pluckley and take the 10:04 Dover train from Charing Cross (Waterloo East 10:07, London Bridge 10:13, Sevenoaks 10:37, etc), arriving Headcorn at 11:09. Nip down the station approach road to the bus stop on this side of the main road for the Arriva 12 bus towards Maidstone at 11:19 (or perhaps share a taxi if it doesn't show up). After an 11-minute journey alight at the King's Head pub in Sutton Valence for the start of the walk.
If you'd prefer to avoid the bus connection you could instead take the 09:55 / 10:55 Ashford Int'l train from Victoria and do the walk's alternative start from Harrietsham (arr 11:13 / 12:13). The earlier train would get you to the lunch pub about 40 minutes before the main group; the later one about 20 minutes after. See the walk notes for ticket advice on this route.

Trains back from Pluckley to Charing Cross are hourly at xx:37. You could take a train in the other direction at xx:46 and change at Ashford for a High-Speed train to St Pancras, but you'd need to buy a fairly expensive ‘Plus High Speed’ supplement for this route.

This is a pleasant section of the Greensand Way through the ‘Garden of England’, with plenty of orchards and some fine old churches along the way (though not many pubs). The only convenient lunch place is the attractive Pepper Box Inn, which the Sutton Valence starters should reach at around 12:45–1pm. It has plenty of outdoor seating but as usual book a table if you want to be sure of Sunday lunch.

A mid-afternoon tea stop looks unlikely as the George in Egerton is reportedly closed. The choice for refreshment is between diverting to the Rose & Crown in Mundy Bois (open all day) or carrying on to Pluckley village for the Black Horse (open to 6pm). In both cases allow plenty of time to reach Pluckley station as the Dering Arms closes early on Sundays and there's nothing else nearby.

Please bring the directions from the L=swc.151 page.

Walker
Aug-25
Just 3 on this walk, including the walk poster and the person who wrote the directions (me), who was giving them a check. The bus connection worked fine and we did the alternative start through the very attractive village. The weather was often sunny : ie some cloud at times but plenty of sun at others.
As the walk author I am the wrong person to say this, but this is a pleasant little walk, with varied scenery and occasional fine views. Unlike its sister walk (Yalding to Sutton Valence) it has not seen a reduction in its apple orchards: in fact one or two new ones seem to have been planted. It looks to be a bumper crop this year. In places cobnuts (large hazelnuts) were also to be found in former plantations now turning into woods.
The Pepper Box is one of my favourite pubs. They were doing roasts today and two of us enjoyed them at a shady outside table. The third walker had sandwiches and went off to eat them somewhere. We expected him to return for a drink, but he did not. We hope we enjoyed the rest of his day.
In the afternoon traces of the Greensand Way get faint in places. Luckily we had excellent directions to guide us (I found them easy to understand anyway….). On a middle section of the walk the path went down the shady edge of several large fields. This was bad news for the innumerable sheep who had decided this was a cool place to browse and had to move out of our way. (Sorry, sheepies… We know it is tough having a pullover you can’t take off on a hot day).
The George in Egerton shows no sign of reopening. Building work seems not to have advanced since May and it is still impossible to tell if it aims to revive the pub or turn it into housing. So it was on across desiccated grasslands, disturbing more sheep, to Pluckley village. Here the Black Horse HAS reopened and its garden made a delightful tea stop.
We then (mostly) descended to Pluckley station for the 5.37 train. A great day out, which should have attracted more walkers.

Sat, 03-Aug-19

Sutton Valence to Pluckley - A quiet section of the Greensand Way 8

Walker

Length: 17.1km (11 miles)
Toughness: 3 out of 10

9.32 train from Victoria (not Charing Cross as per usual, due to engineering works) (10.00 Orpington) to Headcorn, arriving 10.45.

Buy a day return to Pluckley (possibly including the high speed supplement: see last paragraph of this post)

On arrival at Headcorn, go quickly to the front of the station to catch the 10.49 number 12 bus (bound for Maidstone) to Sutton Valence, arriving 10.01. The bus climbs a long steep hill to the village, and your stop, the King's Head, is the first stop. If you miss the bus, a taxi to Sutton Valence should not cost much more than the bus if shared by four or five people.

For walk directions click here. For GPX file click here. For a map of the route click here.

This walk follows a quiet and pleasant section of the Greensand Way (reasonably well waymarked, but there are gaps...) passing apple orchards, a mansion that turns out to be a woman's prison and some ancient old churches. There are plenty of fine escarpment views.

For lunch it is hard to resist the excellent Pepper Box Inn even though it is just 5.3km (3.3 miles) into the walk, which serves hearty and delicious food: it has lots of outside tables if the weather is fine. Otherwise 10km (6.2 miles) into the walk you come to the Barrow House, a gastro pub. As far as I can tell this does food all afternoon, at least in its bar area, but it might be an idea to check this before relying on it.

If you have not stopped at the Barrow House for lunch it makes a nice mid-afternoon tea stop. Otherwise nearer the end of the walk there is the Rose and Crown in Mundy Bois - a lovely rural pub just a short diversion off the route - or the Black Horse Inn in Pluckley. After 6pm the Dering Arms by Pluckley station is also open: it is a posh seafood eatery but also happy to do cold or hot drinks for weary travellers.

Trains back from Pluckley are at 09 and 39 past the hour, taking 1 hour 27 minutes. A quicker journey (1 hour) is available the other way via Ashford and the high speed train to St Pancras, but if you plan to do this is best to buy a return ticket including the high speed supplement rather than trying to pay for it en route.

Anonymous
Aug-19
It appears that one can take 9:25am train from Victoria to Harrietsham directly rather than to Headcorn (which require a bus connection). Total distance will be 9.9 miles.
Anonymous
Aug-19
The 9.9 mile option, however, means you miss one of the best bits of the walk.
Walker
Aug-19
Both the previous two comment are correct
Anonymous
Aug-19
8 got off the train and swiftly caught the bus to the start of the walk. hot and humid with sunny intervals . The morning segment of the walk was OK, but some of us felt it did not really worth the cost of the bus ticket at £4.2 (pretty steep for a 10 mins ride!). We met the West London Ramblers on the bus who were also doing the same walk but We separated from them pretty quickly and only saw them again near Pluckley station. All stopped except one at Pepper Box Inn for lunch. Food was good. One left after a short break at the pub, never to be seen again. Six of us walked together after lunch. The scenery definitely improved in the afternoon with some lovely views. We stopped again for freshment at Barrow House, some had gooseberry cake. We reunited with the walker who did not stop at Peppr Box Inn. Seven of us completed the rest of the walk together and caught 5:39pm train back to London. A nice day out in good company. PS - Our GPS (at least two) registered about 12.5 miles rather than 11 miles as advertised. If this walk comes up again, it would be useful to put Hariettsham as the start of the walk as the 'best' bit of the walk does not live up to its reputation or worth the bus fare.

Sat, 03-Jun-17

Sutton Valence to Pluckley - a gentle section of the Greensand Way 22

Walker

SWC Walk 151 - Sutton Valence to Pluckley
Length 17.1km (11 miles)
Toughness: 3 out of 10: mostly flat but high up, with a few hills

9.40 train from Charing Cross (9.43 Waterloo East, 9.49 London Bridge) to Headcorn, arriving 10.45. Buy a day return to Pluckley.

** At Headcorn, go quickly to the station forecourt for the 10.49 number 12 Maidstone-bound* bus which takes 12 minutes to Sutton Valence (Kings Head stop: the bus climbs a long steep hill up to the village and Kings Head is the first stop)
- Don't get on a Tenterden bus by mistake: this calls at 10.39 from the same stop but is sometimes late.
- If you miss this bus, there are usually some taxis at Headcorn and the fare for four of you to Sutton Valence would probably be competitive with the bus fare, which was £3.50 last time I looked.
For walk directions click here. For GPX file click here.

This is a very nice outing along a pleasant section of the Greensand Way - it follows the GSW throughout, though waymarking is not always wonderful. There are a few apple orchards, a mansion house that turns out to be a women's prison, lots of fine escarpment views, and some ancient old churches. This is generally just nice Kentish countryside.

This walk had only had one Saturday outing in 2015 when one of the two lunch pubs, the George in Egerton, closed. It has now been resurrected as the Barrow House - a gastro pub but not unfriendly. They take bookings for lunch but serve food in the bar all afternoon, they tell me.

An earlier option (3.3 miles into the walk versus 7.3 miles for the Barrow House) is the wonderful Pepper Box Inn. Being wonderful means it is often booked inside and I am not sure they would respond well to a great phalanx of walkers arriving at once. But they do have plenty of outside tables which are not reserved, and provided you don't alarm them with numbers this is a nice place to eat.

If you have not had lunch there, the Barrow House has a nice sofa area for tea. Otherwise, tea options are the Black Horse pub in Pluckley or - after 6pm - the Dering Arms by Pluckley station. The latter is a high-falutin seafood restaurant but does actually have a very nice bar area with sofas and is usually happy to serve tea.

Both these are on the walk route, but 1km off it, just before Pluckley, is the lovely Rose and Crown in Mundy Bois, a pub with an isolated rural location - fields lie all around it - and a nice garden: directions are not provided for this, but you turn right at the ditch junction in paragraph 109, then right at the house (Honey Farm) to come to a road/track, and turn left on this to follow it down to a T-junction, with the pub ahead of you. You would need to retrace your steps after leaving the pub.

Trains back from Pluckley go at 08 and 38 past till late.

Walker
Jun-17
22 on this walk on a lovely sunny day , a bit hot at times. Setting off with good intentions of getting to the Barrow House pub in Egerton for lunch (albeit with expected arrival at 2pm), we got diverted early on in the walk by an open day at East Sutton church (the one next to the women's prison), where coffee and cake was being served and the ladies of the parish were keen to share the place's interesting history.
As a result of this, and some nature-watching, half a dozen of us were only passing the early lunch pub, the Pepper Box, at 12.45 and temptation proved too much (with apologies to Mike A who had rung to book the later pub: but we had only said we could eat in their garden, not booked a table....). A lovely lunch there under its pergola with a view of the fields. I hear the bulk of the group did indeed get to the Barrow House around 2pm, however, and I hear good reports about the food.
This is a very pleasant section of the Greensand Way, with fine views for much of the way, lovely churches, some commercial orchards but not too many, and just a bit of upping and downing to keep things interesting.
We stragglers got to the Barrow House at 4pm and spent a long time in its garden drinking tea or other refreshments (just one suggestion for the pub: more shade for the outside seats would be nice...) We then joined the remains of the main group in the garden of the Black Horse in Pluckley for drinks and had dinner in the garden of the Dering Arms at the end of the walk.
So four pubs, each one visited, and at each one we sat outside in fine sunshine. What more felicity does live afford?

Sun, 29-May-16

2 – the Garden of England

Sean

Extra Walk 151 – Sutton Valence to Pluckley
Length: 18 km (11.2 miles). Toughness: 3/10

10:42 Folkestone train from Victoria (Bromley South 10:59, Orpington 11:06, etc), arriving Headcorn at 11:46. On arrival move smartly onto the station forecourt where an Arriva 12 bus should be waiting to depart at 11:50 for the 10-minute journey (£3.50) to Sutton Valence, where you start the walk by the King's Head pub. Buy a day return to Pluckley.

If the train is late and the bus driver has given up waiting, it won't be that much more expensive for a group of you to share a taxi. Alternatively, if you're familiar with the Pluckley Circular you could continue on the train to the next stop and do a version of that Book 2 walk instead.

Trains back from Pluckley to Victoria are hourly, at 40 minutes past.

A group of us recently enjoyed the plentiful apple blossom and fine views on the Yalding–Sutton Valence walk, so here's a chance to pick up from where that one finished. Lunch pubs on this stretch of the Greensand Way are thin on the ground and in theory there are two choices, but the later one in Egerton – the George – has apparently been “Closed by the Police” (whatever that ominous phrase means). That means the only convenient choice is the appealing Pepper Box Inn after 5½ km, where you should arrive at about 1.20pm. The pub's website claims to be in “an ideal spot for walkers…happy to accommodate groups” so they're not likely to turn you away, but if it's not warm enough to eat in their garden then do call them in advance to reserve a table.

At the end of the walk the Dering Arms by the station won't be open, so your tea stop is the Black Horse pub in Pluckley village. It's a further 2½ km to the station so allow at least 35-40 minutes for this last leg: there's nothing to do there if you miscalculate and have a long wait for the hourly train.

NB. The walk document does suggest this late start time if lunching at the Pepper Box Inn. However, feel free to post a comment if you'd prefer to start an hour earlier (trains to Headcorn are half-hourly but the connecting bus is hourly). If there's an overwhelming clamour for the earlier train I'll change the walk post.

For more information about the walk and a link to the Directions, OS Map, etc, go to the Extra Walk 151 page.

Anonymous
May-16
anyone who knows the route going on this please ?
Anonymous
May-16
Dear Anon,
Unlike led walks organised by such as The Ramblers, these walks do not have any leaders and everyone is responsible for themselves. See the "About us" page for more details on how things work.
Unknown
May-16
I will be going on this walk, having had a look at Monday's weather forecast.
Anonymous
May-16
Am hoping to do this walk. have got the instructions jfk
Anonymous
May-16
According to the Met Office forecast at the moment Monday looks dry but cloudy.

Sun, 29-Nov-15

Sunday Second Walk - the Greensand Way in Kent

Chris L

Extra Walk 151, Sutton Valence to Pluckley
Length: 16.1km (10 miles) Toughness: 3/10

09:45 Dover Priory train from Cannon Street (London Bridge 09:50, Orpington 10:06), arriving Headcorn at 10:46.
Sit near the front of the train (approx. second carriage) and exit the station smartly to catch the 10:50 number 12 bus from the station forecourt for a 10-minute journey to the Kings Head in Sutton Valence. [When I recently caught a bus from Headcorn station, the bus driver waited for the connecting train from London to arrive, so you may make your connection even if the train is slightly late.]

Return trains from Pluckley to Victoria are at xx:11 and xx:41 (journey time 1 hour 26 minutes). The journey time can be cut by 25 minutes by taking a train at xx:20 or xx:50 from Pluckley to Ashford and changing there for a High-Speed train to St Pancras Internatiunal. Buy a return to Ashford if you plan to this, or otherwise a return to Pluckley.

This walk follows a section of the Greensand Way through attractive scenery of orchards and meadows, with a great pub in a pretty village for lunch

The recommended lunchtime pub is the George Inn in Egerton (01233 756304), 7.4 miles into the walk. An earlier option is the Pepper Box Inn in Fairbourne Heath, reached after 3.5 miles. The suggested tea place is the Dering Arms, beside Pluckley station.

You will need to download the Walk Directions.

If you just miss the hourly bus to Sutton Valence and don’t want to hang around or fork out for a taxi, one option would be to do the Staplehurst to Headcorn walk in reverse, stopping for lunch at the Bell & Jorrocks in Frittenden. Take map, compass and directions for SWC Walk 80 if you contemplate doing this.

Anonymous
Nov-15
The Dering Arms is closed on Sunday afternoons/evenings so The Black Horse in Pluckley (small diversion, before end of walk) is your only tea option
Chris L
Nov-15
The Dering Arms is open until 4:30pm on Sundays, so if you finish the walk early enough you might be in time for tea there.
Anonymous
Nov-15
weather looking a bit freaky decided not to do this,, pity
Anonymous
Dec-15
did no-one do this walk?

Sat, 16-May-15

A new section of the Greensand Way

Walker

SWC walk 151 - Sutton Valence to Pluckley
Length: 18km (11.2 miles)
Toughness: 3 out of 10

9.40 train from Charing Cross (9.42 Waterloo East) to Headcorn, arriving 10.43.

Then catch the 10.49 number 12 bus (ultimate destination Maidstone: not the Tenterden bus which arrives at a similar time) from Headcorn station forecourt to Sutton Valence, arriving 10.59. For details of the bus journey and when to get off, see Transport on page two of the walk directions.

Buy a day return to Pluckley, from where trains return at 11 and 41 past the hour till late.

For walk directions click here.

This is a brand new section of the Greensand Way, never before done by the SWC. It almost entirely follows a fine ridge with extensive views, ending in familiar territory around Pluckley. Previously a map walk, this walk now has full directions, which are getting their first outing today.

This is gentle territory, with plenty of pretty features, including several remote and interesting churches, apple orchards (probably no longer in blossom, but you never know), and a country mansion that is in fact an open prison.

Lunch is after 7.4 miles at the George Inn in Egerton. I have never actually lunched here so don't know how busy or otherwise it is, but it has often proved a friendly place for tea on the extension to the Pluckley walk and it is open for food all afternoon apparently. An alternative just 3.5 miles into the walk is the very pleasant Pepper Box Inn: this is a popular pub and somewhat restauranty, and so might not react well to a large group turning up, but if the weather is fine it does have an extensive area of outside tables.

For tea/drinks towards the end of the walk there is the Black Horse in Pluckley and (after 6pm) the Dering Arms by the station. The latter is also a posh gourmet restaurant, but has a cosy old-fashioned bar and is happy enough to do tea etc if not busy.

If anyone wants to try it, there is an alternative start to this walk, 1.7km/1.1 miles shorter, though less attractive than the Sutton Valence start. For this get the 10.22 train from Victoria to Harrietsham arriving 11.32. Train tickets for this option are a bit trickier. Harrietsham and Pluckley are on entirely different lines though both operated by Southeastern, so you might get away with a Harrietsham return, but a safer bet would be as return to Ashford International, which is on both routes.