Hever to Ashurst walk

A surprisingly remote part of the High Weald on the Kent/East Sussex border.

CIMG5014 Ockhams pond
CIMG5014

Ockhams pond

Dec-12 • Sean O'Neill

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CIMG6381 Heathersome's Wood
CIMG6381

Heathersome's Wood

May-13 • Sean O'Neill

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CIMG5684 Looking back towards Ashdown Forest
CIMG5684

Looking back towards Ashdown Forest

Jul-16 • Sean O'Neill

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CIMG5783 Crippenden Manor
CIMG5783

Crippenden Manor

Aug-16 • Sean O'Neill

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CIMG6180 St Mary Magdalene church, Cowden
CIMG6180

St Mary Magdalene church, Cowden

Aug-16 • Sean O'Neill

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CIMG5006 Mistletoe at Christmas Place
CIMG5006

Mistletoe at Christmas Place

Dec-12 • Sean O'Neill

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CIMG5008 Christmas Mill pond
CIMG5008

Christmas Mill pond

Dec-12 • Sean O'Neill

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Hever to Ashurst
Length

Main Walk: 16½ km (10.2 miles). Three hours 55 minutes walking time. For the whole excursion including trains, sights and meals, allow at least 8 hours.

Short Walk 1, starting from Cowden: 12½ km (7.8 miles). Three hours walking time.

Short Walk 2, finishing at Cowden: 11½ km (7.1 miles). Two hours 40 minutes walking time.

OS Maps

Explorers 147 & 135. Hever station, map reference TQ465445, is in Kent, 3 km SE of Edenbridge.

Toughness

4 out of 10 (3 for Short Walk 1, 2 for Short Walk 2).

Features

This walk takes in a quiet part of the High Weald on the border of Kent and East Sussex. At its centre is the sleepy village of Cowden, whose surprisingly industrial past is preserved in some evocative local names: The Old Forge, Furnace Pond, etc. The village did indeed have a blast furnace from 1573 and the region's plentiful supplies of iron ore supported a thriving industry until the 18thC, when coke from the northern coalfields replaced charcoal from local trees as the preferred fuel.

The walk route passes several attractive old manor houses but the area's well-known historic houses which are open to the public (Hever Castle, Penshurst Place, etc) are all on the other side of the railway. Away from the tourist coaches, this is a surprisingly remote area of low hills and wooded valleys with some fine bluebell woods, notably Heathersome's Wood and Coomb Wood.

As with any walk in the High Weald, you will need to be prepared for muddy or waterlogged paths at almost any time of the year. Some of the little-used footpaths on the walk route are not easy to follow, especially when overgrown in summer.

Walk Options

Two link routes are described between Cowden village and its station (2 km away by road) which in effect split the walk into two Short Walks. The first would be worth considering if you missed the train out: you could start from Cowden station an hour later and get to the village at about the same time as the main group.

For a longer walk you could combine the Cowden finish with one of the variations of the Cowden to Hever walk (#78), creating a long Hever or Cowden Circular walk.

You will need to print those directions from the other walk document.

Additional Notes

An alternative afternoon route was dropped when the White Horse at Holtye closed in 2014. Without the option of a second lunch pub there was little point in retaining this slightly longer route.

A rather artificial extension (out and back along the valley between Cowden and Moat Farm) has also been dropped. However, these sections are part of the Short Walk routes to and from Cowden station and could be inserted into the Main Walk.

Transport

Hever, Cowden and Ashurst are adjacent stations on the Oxted–Uckfield line, which has an hourly service from London Bridge, taking 40 minutes to Hever. On Sundays you have to travel from Victoria and change at Oxted, with a longer journey time of around one hour. Buy a return to Ashurst (Kent) (or Cowden if you will be finishing there).

If driving, the station car park at Hever costs £3.50 at all times; the one at Ashurst costs £2.50 Mon–Fri, free at weekends (2023). Cowden has a small free car park “for Railway users only”.

Suggested Train

Take the train nearest to 10:00 from London Bridge to Hever. If you are doing Short Walk 1 from Cowden and will be stopping for a pub lunch in the village, leave an hour later.

Train Times
  • ?
  • ?
  • ?
Lunch

The only pub on the walk route is The Fountain (01342-850528) in Cowden village, 8 km from Hever (4 km from Cowden station). This is an attractive village pub with a new conservatory and a secluded beer garden. It serves good home-made food up to 2pm (3pm on Sundays), but is closed Monday lunchtimes (except Bank Holidays). At weekends it is popular with walking and cycling groups, so call ahead to book a table.

Tea

There are few refreshment places in this remote countryside, but the routes to Ashurst pass the Perryhill Orchards Farm Shop & Tea Room (01892-770595) in mid-afternoon. The Farm Shop is open daily to 5pm and sells a tempting range of local ciders (which you can taste beforehand); the tearoom closes at 4.30pm. Allow at least an hour to reach Ashurst station, 4 km away.

There are no other refreshment places before Ashurst station, and none at all on the link route to Cowden station. However, you could break your return journey at Oxted, which has several cafés and coffee shops plus a JD Wetherspoon's pub right next to the station, the Oxted Inn (01883-723440).

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National Rail: 03457 48 49 50 • Traveline (bus times): 0871 200 22 33 (12p/min) • TFL (London) : 0343 222 1234

Version

Aug-23 Sean

Copyright © Saturday Walkers Club. All Rights Reserved. No commercial use. No copying. No derivatives. Free with attribution for one time non-commercial use only. www.walkingclub.org.uk/site/license.shtml

Walk Directions

The directions for this walk are also in a PDF (link above) which you can download on to a Kindle, tablet, or smartphone.
Hever to Ashurst

Click the heading below to show/hide the walk route for the selected option(s).

Walk Map: Hever to Ashurst Walk Map

©

Walk Options

Click on any option to show only the sections making up that route, or the heading above to show all sections.

  1. Main Walk (16½ km)
  1. Short Walk 1, starting from Cowden (12½ km)
  2. Short Walk 2, finishing at Cowden (11½ km)

Walk Directions

Click on any section heading to switch between detailed directions and an outline, or the heading above to switch all sections.

If you are doing a Short Walk from Cowden station, start at §E.

  1. Hever Station to Christmas Mill (2¾ km)
    • Leave the station from the London-bound platform and take a new footpath across several large fields to Lydens Lane, skirting the buildings at Lydens Farm. Turn left and go along the lane to the B2026. Cross the road and continue on a footpath heading south-west to the large pond at Christmas Mill.
    1. Arriving from London, do not exit through the station car park but cross the footbridge to the other platform and take a fenced path sloping up the bank. At the top turn sharp right (almost doubling back) onto a narrow path through some undergrowth. Go through a metal kissing gate into a large irregularly-shaped field and continue near its right-hand edge, aiming for a waymarker post in the copse 250m ahead.

      In 2023 the right of way from the station to Lydens Lane was diverted away from the cluster of houses at Lydens Farm, where it used to take an intrusive route through the grounds of an oast house and barn conversion.

    2. At the post bear slightly left, now aiming for a pair of small metal gates 350m away on the far side of the field (to the left of a metal fieldgate). Go through these gates (crossing a farm track in between) and keep ahead down a sloping field, passing the buildings of Lydens Farm off to the left. At the bottom go through a small metal gate in the hedge and turn left onto a minor road (Lydens Lane).
    3. Go along this quiet lane for 800m to a T-junction with the B2026. Cross the main road carefully and go over a stile to continue on a grassy track between hedges. At the end go over another stile and turn half-right to go along the bottom of a large field, maintaining direction where the hedge bends right after 200m. Continue on a fenced track along the bottom of the next field.
    4. At the end go over an unobtrusive stile to the right of a metal fieldgate and cross a lane. Go through a small metal gate and continue along the right-hand edge of three more fields. In the third field follow a grassy path round to the left to the top corner (ignoring an exit in the bottom corner and a gate into a private garden). Go past an oak tree and over a stile to come out onto a lane at a bend.
  2. Christmas Mill to Crippenden Manor (2 km)
    • Head south alongside the large pond, up a slope and down the driveway to Ockhams. Turn left by a pair of smaller ponds onto a footpath heading south-east, up through fields and then just inside the edge of a wood. Continue southwards between Shernden Wood and Cobhambury Wood, then down through a field to reach the driveway to Crippenden Manor.
    1. Turn left onto the lane to go uphill, with glimpses of a large old mill pond behind the trees on your right. Where the lane turns left keep ahead on the driveway to “Ockhams”, signposted as a footpath and going gently downhill. At the bottom of the slope, where the drive goes between two ponds, turn left over a stile beside a large oak tree to go alongside the smaller pond, heading SE.
    2. At the end of the pond continue in the same direction, going gently uphill across a field. On the far side go across a concrete driveway flanked by two stiles into the next field. Keep ahead on a faint grassy path, gradually approaching a wire fence on the right.

      The footpath has been officially diverted so that it no longer cuts through the grounds of a private property off to the right.

    3. Go through a gap in the hedge ahead and continue around two sides of the wire fence, rejoining the original footpath route in the far corner. Go through a gap into a wood and follow a path along its left-hand edge. At the end go over a stile and a plank bridge into a field and turn sharp right to go along its edge.
    4. Go through a gap in the fence ahead and stay near the right-hand side of a long narrow field between two woods, still climbing gently and gradually curving round to the left. At the brow of the hill go through a new metal gate in a deer fence and continue along the right-hand field edge.
    5. In the next corner go through a similar gate and keep ahead down a broad grassy strip, with a new wire fence on the left and later a copse. Ignore a gate on the left into those trees but go through a metal fieldgate ahead onto a short track, then out through another fieldgate onto the driveway to Crippenden Manor.
  3. Crippenden Manor to Leighton Manor (1¼ km)
    • Turn right and follow the drive uphill to the Equestrian Centre. Turn left in front of the house onto a footpath going downhill and turn right onto a bridleway in a wooded valley.
      • Alternatively, turn left onto the drive and bear right onto this bridleway, bypassing the Equestrian Centre.
      Follow the bridleway through the valley, then take a footpath heading east over a hill and down to the driveway to Leighton Manor.
    1. Unless you want to take a short cut which bypasses the manor house, turn right onto the driveway. This curves round to the left and goes up a slope to the Equestrian Centre.
      • For a short cut (which avoids a potentially muddy exit from the Equestrian Centre) you can turn left onto the driveway instead, then in 50m bear right onto a bridleway alongside a wooden fence into a wooded valley; the main route rejoins from the right after 200m. If you take this short cut (saving 250m), resume the directions at [?].
    2. On the suggested route you pass some riding stables at the top of the slope and come to an electrically-operated wooden gate across the driveway. Press the ‘Gate Release’ button on a post to enter a small landscaped area. At a path junction in front of a pond veer left to head E, passing a footpath signpost and some more stables to reach a metal fieldgate at the top of a large sloping field.
    3. Go through the gate and follow a faint grassy path down the slope towards the right-hand field edge (with a good view of Crippenden Manor? over your right shoulder). Continue down the field edge to the bottom corner. Ignore a fieldgate off to the right and go over a concealed stile onto a short path which crosses a stream on a wooden footbridge. At a T-junction turn right onto a bridleway, the short cut mentioned above.
    4. Take the bridleway through the wooded valley for 200m, eventually veering left to cross a stream on a wide brick bridge. On the other side do not follow the bridleway round to the left but keep ahead through a small metal gate on a footpath which climbs steeply uphill, heading E. At the top of the hill pass to the right of an oak tree and go through another gate into a second field.
    5. Go straight across this field and through a gate in the middle of the far side. Turn half-right as indicated to find a gate near the bottom right-hand corner. Follow a path down and across a stream on a wooden footbridge. On the other side veer right up a short slope and go across the driveway to Leighton Manor.
  4. Leighton Manor to Cowden (village) (2 km)
    • Turn right onto a footpath going over another low hill and through a wooded valley. At the end turn left onto the Sussex Border Path, passing Waystrode Manor. Continue along Spode Lane and North Street into Cowden village. Turn right onto the High Street for the Fountain pub.
    1. Go through a metal gate and continue up the right-hand side of a large field, with a fence and trees on your right almost completely screening the landscaped grounds of Leighton Manor? in the valley below. At the top of the slope, where the fence turns half-right, bear left and follow a faint grassy path across the field, passing an isolated tree in the middle.
    2. On the far side go through a small metal gate, 10m to the left of a more obvious high metal gate. Follow a clear path down to the right, through a wood. At the bottom of the slope the path crosses a stream on a plank footbridge and continues along the valley floor.

      Wood chippings have been laid along much of this woodland path, but you might still have to pick your way around some waterlogged sections.

    3. Eventually the path climbs gently and comes to a three-way junction with a marker post where you turn left, joining the Sussex Border Path? (SBP). The path soon veers right up a short flight of steps and leaves the wood through a wooden gate.
    4. Keep ahead along a tarmac driveway, passing ponds on your left and the entrance to the picturesque Waystrode Manor? on your right. At the end go through a gate and continue in the same direction along a road (Spode Lane), taking care as there is no pavement.
    5. In 300m the road turns right and becomes North Street as it enters the village of Cowden. In a further 200m you come to a T-junction with its attractive High Street, with the parish church just off to the left. For the village pub turn right, away from the church and leaving the SBP. Follow the road round a left-hand bend and downhill to find The Fountain on the right.
      • If you are not visiting the lunchtime pub you could head straight for the churchyard, which is the route out of the village.
    6. Continue the directions at §G.

  5. Cowden Station to The Moat (2 km)
    • From the station, take the minor road up Blowers Hill and turn right into Wickens Lane. At the end continue on the footpath along the hillside and down to Sandfields Farm. Turn right onto Moat Lane.

      The first 500m are the same as Walk #78.

    1. From the single platform? exit through (or around) the ticket hall, turn right and take the left-hand of two ways out to a minor road. Go uphill on this road for 100m, then turn right into Wickens Lane, signposted as a public footpath. Go all the way along this lane, ignoring several driveways off to the left including (after 400m) the one signposted as a footpath taken by Walk #78.
    2. At the end of the lane keep ahead past a few buildings and a yard on a farm track, climbing gently. Just before this goes into a wood veer right onto a short grassy track leading to a double metal fieldgate. Go over a stile to its left and continue along the top edge of a large field, curving round to the left and with fine Wealden views off to the right.
    3. On the far side go over an awkward stile in the hedge and bear slightly left across the next field, climbing gently towards the far left-hand corner. Go through a gap and follow the field edge round to the left, passing a sandstone rock outcrop and with more fine views. You will be leaving the field past farm buildings down to the right, so stay in the main part of the field and turn right in the corner to go downhill towards them.
    4. At the bottom go through a gate and down past the buildings of Sandfields Farm to a minor road (Moat Lane). Turn right onto this road, crossing the railway line on a high bridge. In 300m ignore a bridleway on the left and a footpath on the right to continue past “The Moat” and a few other large properties.
  6. The Moat to Cowden (village) (2 km)
    • Continue along the lane past Moat Farm, then bear left onto a footpath heading west across fields to the B2026. Cross the road and continue on the footpath to Cowden village. Go through the churchyard and along the High Street for the Fountain pub.
    1. Continue along Moat Lane for a further 300m. After passing a converted oast house the road swings right and left, passes Moat Cottages and curves right. At this bend bear left onto a signposted footpath, going over a stile in the hedge to the right of a metal fieldgate. Go across a patch of grassland and over another stile into the first of three large fields.
    2. If there is no clear path head W towards the left-hand edge of a copse in the middle of the field and continue alongside it. At the far end of the trees turn half-left to go across the rest of this first field. As you go over a slight rise you should be able to see a couple of houses ahead, 500m away.

      You will be coming out onto a road by the house on the right (and there might be a grassy path heading directly towards it across the next two fields), but the right of way takes an indirect route which perhaps reflects older field boundaries.

    3. As indicated by a yellow waymarker by a metal gate at the end of the first field, bear left to aim for the left-hand end of the boundary between the second and third fields. Go through a gap here and turn half-right to head back towards the house. At the left-hand end of its garden fence go out through a metal kissing gate onto the B2026.
    4. Cross the road carefully and take the signposted footpath just off to the right, a narrow enclosed path which goes past the grounds of a house set back from the road. At the end go through a metal gate and continue in the same direction across a field. Go through another gate on the far side and down a flight of steps in a wooded bank. Cross a stream on a new wooden footbridge and go back out through a gate into another field.
    5. Go along the right-hand field edge to a stile in the corner. Go over this and follow a path down through some trees into a narrow valley. Go along its left-hand side for 100m, then veer left through a gap in the trees to cross a stream on a footbridge. Continue up the right-hand side of a field, climbing steadily.
    6. At the top go over a stile and along an enclosed path beside a small cemetery, Cowden's New Burial Ground. At the end there is a junction of paths, with the path ahead leading into the churchyard.
      • The bridleway on the left is the route out of the village, so if you are not visiting the lunchtime pub you could resume the directions at [?] in §G.
    7. For the village pub, follow the churchyard path past the south door of St Mary Magdalene? (which is worth visiting) to an exit on the far side. Bear right onto a side street, then turn left to go along the attractive High Street.
  7. Cowden (village) to Kent Water (¾ km)
    • Cowden Leave the village on the path through the churchyard and take the bridleway heading south-east down to a path junction in front of Kent Water.
    1. Cowden From the pub you need to retrace your steps up the High Street and go past the junction with North Street into the churchyard. Follow the path past the south door of St Mary Magdalene? (which is worth visiting) to an exit in the far corner, where there are paths on either side of a wooden gate into the New Burial Ground.
    2. Take the bridleway to the right of the cemetery, a broad grassy path between a wooden fence and a brick wall. At the end go through a gate and keep ahead down the grassy border of a large field, heading SE.
    3. At the bottom go over a stile beside a wooden fieldgate and cross a ditch on a wide concrete bridge. Keep ahead across a meadow for 60m, where there is a bridge on the right across Kent Water?.
    4. If you are doing a Short Walk to Cowden station, go to §L.

  8. Kent Water to the A264 (1¾ km)
    • Turn right to cross Kent Water, and turn right again to follow the Sussex Border Path across a couple of fields and onto Sweetwoods Park Golf Course. At a path junction turn left onto a footpath heading south and then south-east as it climbs through Heathersome's Wood. At the top of the hill go across a large field to the A264.
    1. Cross the bridge into East Sussex, briefly (re)joining the Sussex Border Path? (SBP). On the other side immediately turn right again onto a grassy path across a meadow, with the picturesque Sussex House Farm? away to your left.
    2. After passing to the right of a large ornamental pond go over a stile next to a wooden fieldgate. Keep ahead on a grassy path across another meadow, passing to the right of an isolated tree. On the far side go over a stile in the hedge onto Sweetwoods Park Golf Course.

      You might come across a notice asking walkers to “keep to public footpath” but there is very little waymarking on the golf course to help you comply with this injunction.

    3. Keep ahead on the left-hand side of a grassy strip dotted with trees, between two fairways. At the end go through a narrow gap in the hedge ahead and immediately turn left, leaving the SBP (with the path junction indicated by a low footpath marker post). Go alongside the hedge and then bear slightly right as you go up and across a sloping fairway, watching out for golfers playing from left to right.
    4. The continuation of the right of a way is an unobtrusive path through the undergrowth on the far side. In 100m this footpath emerges into a more open area, with a green and two lakes down to the right. Go past an elevated tee on the left and follow a faint path into the trees ahead.
    5. In 25m you cross a ditch and the path – such as it is – bends slightly right to go past some holly trees. In a further 25m the path swings left and starts to climb gently through Heathersome's Wood, soon merging with another path from the right. You now simply follow this potentially muddy path for about 400m, climbing steadily and heading roughly SE.
    6. Shortly after the path levels out at the top of the wood fork left at a Y-junction (where the right fork leads back onto the golf course). Leave the wood through a wooden gate with a yellow waymarker and continue along the right-hand edge of a large field, heading S.
    7. The exit from this field is over a stile in the hedge about 100m in from the far corner, a little way to the right of a metal fieldgate. Just before the corner you can follow a grassy path curving round to the left. Go over the stile onto the grass verge beside the A264.
  9. The A264 to Perryhill Orchards (2 km)
    • Cross the main road and take the footpath heading south-east to the corner of Broomland Wood, then south across fields. Continue on the footpath through Coomb Wood, later merging with a bridleway from Chantler's Farm. Follow this as it heads south-east along a track to Bolebroke Castle, then out along its driveway to the Orchard Tea Room by the B2026.
    1. Cross this busy main road carefully and take the signposted footpath to the left of the driveway to Chantler's Farm. This grassy woodland path curves left and later veers right in front of a wooden fence surrounding a large pond. Follow the path alongside the fence, then go over a stile into the corner of a field.
    2. Turn half-right as indicated, heading roughly S and aiming for a metal fieldgate in the tree boundary on the far side. Go through a wooden kissing gate to its left and continue alongside a wire fence on the right-hand edge of the next field. Towards the end ignore a gate on the right and go all the way to the field corner, where a new metal kissing gate takes you into Coomb Wood.
    3. Just inside the wood fork left onto a straight path heading roughly SSW, ignoring some other paths apparently used by a scout group. This well-defined path descends and later bends left to head S, merging with another path from the right as it follows the course of a stream in a gully down to the right.
    4. After going through the wood for 400m the footpath merges with a bridleway coming in from a field on the right and continues as a broad track heading SE. Where it swings round to the right after 400m keep ahead through a wooden gate with a blue waymarker, staying on the public bridleway.
    5. Continue along a driveway, passing some large buildings behind the high brick wall on your left. After passing the Gatehouse (with cupolas) you come to a T-junction and turn left. At the next (right-hand) bend there is a clear view of Bolebroke Castle? and the other buildings in the grounds on your left.
    6. Go along the driveway for a further 500m, past the landscaped grounds of the manor house and later with a large orchard behind a screen of poplars on the left. Shortly before reaching the B2026 you come to the modern Orchard Tea Room and Farm Shop on your left, the last refreshment place before Ashurst station.
  10. Perryhill Orchards to Beech Green Lane (1¼ km)
    • Turn left briefly onto the B2026, then turn right into Perryhill Lane. At Perryhill Farm turn left onto a footpath going past Millwood Farm and along the top of a valley. Continue along a field edge to Beech Green Lane.
    1. Go out to the B2026 and turn left onto the road, crossing over carefully at some point. In 75m turn right into a lane with a concrete bridleway marker. After passing some cottages the lane curves right and drops downhill. Fork left at a three-way junction and follow the lane over a stream, round to the left and uphill to the buildings of Perryhill Farm.
    2. At the top go past a wooden fieldgate by Perryhill Oast and fork left in front of the large farmhouse onto a wide driveway leading up to Millwood Farm. Take the grassy track to the right of its entrance and go through an old metal fieldgate into a large field. Keep ahead briefly alongside a wire fence, then go through a new metal gate in this fence onto an enclosed grassy path.
    3. At the end of this short path go through a gate, across a patch of grassland and through another gate. Continue along the top of a steeply-sloping field, with a line of tall poplars on the right.

      At the far end there is a bench from which to take in the view back towards Ashdown Forest.

    4. In the corner go through a gate onto a short path through a belt of trees. At the end go over a stile (or squeeze past a metal gate) into a large field and bear right to head E along its edge. In the next corner go over a stile to the left of a metal fieldgate to come out onto a minor road (Beech Green Lane).
  11. Beech Green Lane to Ashurst Station (2¾ km)
    • Cross the lane and follow the new right of way across Beech Green Park for 600m, heading north-east.
      • If this diversion is no longer in place, head north on the lane for 400m, then turn right into the parkland and follow the old footpath to the point where the two routes merge.
      Continue eastwards across parkland and fields to Lodgefield Farm. Cross a bridleway and follow the footpath down to the A264, turning right onto the main road. After passing under the railway turn right into the approach road to Ashurst station.

      In 2023 the footpath through Beech Green Park was officially diverted to follow the new route in [?]. The directions for the old route in [?] have been retained in case it turns out that this was only a temporary diversion.

    1. New route

      1. Cross the lane and go through a new metal kissing gate. Turn half-left as indicated to head NE across a large area of (private) parkland, with no clear path.

        At the time of writing there was only one waymarker along this newly-established 600m route, so these directions are based on East Sussex Council's Rights of Way map.

      2. Aim to pass just to the right of a clump of trees about 200m away, then to the left of the next clump. Continue in roughly the same direction towards a small metal gate in the fence ahead, to the left of a metal fieldgate.
      3. Go through this gate (with a footpath waymarker) and keep ahead towards the tree boundary on the far side of the parkland, about 250m away. Aim for a double metal fieldgate across a chalky farm track.
    2. Old route

      1. Turn left onto Beech Green Lane, taking care as there is no pavement. In 400m, shortly before reaching a large house on the left (Beech Green Park), turn right off the lane.
      2. Go over a stile to the right of a double metal fieldgate into a large area of (private) parkland. Bear left across a yard and continue on an enclosed grassy path heading E, parallel to a chalky farm track.

        You could follow this track all the way to Lodgefield Farm, but the route described here is the official right of way.

      3. At the end go through a gate and turn half-left, crossing over the track. Aim to pass just to the right of the second tree from the left in a line of trees across the parkland (which you will find has another tree directly behind it). Carry on towards a double metal fieldgate in the tree boundary ahead.
    3. Go through a metal side gate next to the fieldgate and briefly join the farm track. Where it swings right keep ahead through a small metal gate into more parkland. Continue alongside a wood, with a prominent house (Highfields Park) away to the left.
    4. At the corner of the wood turn half-right to climb a slope. At the top go over a stile onto the continuation of the farm track. The right of way goes straight ahead across a field to its far left-hand corner, but you could also follow the track around the field edge to the same place (with increasingly fine views across the Medway valley from both routes).
    5. In the far corner go through a small metal gate to the right of a fieldgate across the farm track. Follow a slightly sunken grassy track gently downhill towards the buildings of Lodgefield Farm. At the bottom go through a new wooden gate and turn left briefly onto a concrete driveway. Almost immediately – and opposite the end of the farm track – veer right down a flight of steps cut into the bank.
    6. Keep ahead on a wide concrete track past some farm buildings. Go through a new wooden kissing gate and follow a grassy path slanting down to the left across a meadow. In the bottom corner go through a metal side gate to the left of a metal fieldgate onto a fenced path down the left-hand side of a another large meadow.
    7. About 50m before the bottom corner turn left as indicated, crossing a plank bridge over a ditch onto a path through a neglected orchard. At the end go past a metal fieldgate into a lay-by on the A264. Turn right to walk carefully along the narrow grass verge beside this busy main road.
    8. Shortly before going under a railway bridge you cross the River Medway, returning to Kent. Ignore a footpath and a cul-de-sac on the right, then turn right into the signposted approach road to Ashurst station. At the back of its car park take the path leading onto the Uckfield-bound platform. Cross the footbridge to Platform 1 for trains to London.
  12. Kent Water to Cowden Station (3 km)
    • Head east on the Sussex Border Path for 1½ km, following the course of Kent Water and crossing the B2026 along the way. Turn left onto a bridleway going past Moat Farm and across Moat Lane. Continue on a footpath going up to and then alongside the railway embankment to Cowden station.
    1. Ignore the bridge and carry on across the meadow, rejoining the Sussex Border Path? (SBP). In the far left-hand corner go over a stile next to a metal fieldgate and continue along the right-hand margin of another meadow. At the far end go through a gate and turn right onto the B2026, briefly crossing Kent Water into East Sussex.
    2. Cross the road carefully and immediately turn left over a stile in the hedge, to the left of a driveway. Go across a yard and through a small metal gate with a footpath waymarker into a horse training area. In the far left-hand corner go through a wooden fieldgate and back across Kent Water on a footbridge. You now simply follow an enclosed path beside large farm fields for nearly 1 km, never far from the tree-lined stream on your right.
    3. The path eventually comes to a metal footbridge where you cross Kent Water again. Turn left at a bridleway T-junction to immediately recross the stream, leaving the SBP. Keep ahead on a wide grassy strip between a hedge and a fence, later passing a cluster of farm buildings off to your left. The bridleway turns half-left and you go through a metal gate onto a minor road (Moat Lane).
    4. Cross Moat Lane and take the signposted footpath opposite, going over a stile next to an old fieldgate. The simplest route is to follow a faint grassy path slightly to the right, skirting around the low hill ahead. This goes up to the tree boundary and continues along the field edge to the far corner.
      • The OS map shows the right of way as going straight over the low hill to this corner, so you would be entitled to take this direct route from the road if you wished.
    5. In the field corner go over a stile in a wooden fence to continue across a smaller field. In the next corner follow the path into the trees and round to the right. Go through a metal gate, across a stream on a footbridge and under a high railway bridge. Go through another gate and turn left as indicated onto a short path, where you go across a potentially muddy area on planks and over a stile into the corner of a large field.
    6. Continue along the bottom edge of this field, parallel to the railway. At the far end go through a new metal kissing gate, taking care as you come out directly onto a road. The station access road is just off to the right. If the ticket hall is locked you can go past it to get onto the single platform?.

      The platform is used by trains in both directions, so be careful not to take an Uckfield-bound train by mistake. These are scheduled to go through seven minutes before the London train, which is going from left to right.

      Walk Notes
    1. Crippenden Manor was built in 1607 by Richard Tichbourne, a local ironmaster. It is now part of a large Equestrian Centre.
    2. Leighton Manor was originally a late medieval farmhouse but the property has been extensively modernised, with some attractive landscaped grounds and lakes.
    3. The Sussex Border Path runs for 240 km along the length of West & East Sussex, from Thorney Island on the Hampshire border to Rye.
    4. Waystrode Manor is a restored 15thC farmhouse, with later additions. The gardens of this private house are occasionally open to the public.
    5. A wall plaque commemorates the victims of the Cowden rail crash, a fatal accident in October 1994. Five people died when a northbound train passed a red signal in thick fog and collided head-on with another train on the single-track section to the south-east of the station.
    6. St Mary Magdalene, Cowden dates from the 13thC. A traditional couplet (reputedly about a dispute with another parish) refers to its slightly skewed spire: Cowden church, crooked steeple / Lying priest, deceitful people. A modern stained glass window celebrates “the remarkable preservation of this village during the years 1939-45”.
    7. At this point Kent Water (a tributary of the River Medway) is the county boundary between Kent (to the north) and East Sussex.
    8. Sussex House Farm was originally a timber-framed house dating from 1580 but was greatly enlarged at the beginning of the 21stC.
    9. The 15thC Bolebroke Castle was one of the earliest brick buildings in Sussex. Conveniently close to Hever Castle, it was used as a hunting lodge by Henry Ⅷ during his pursuit of Anne Boleyn (and featured in the 2008 film The Other Boleyn Girl). It has been extensively restored in the 21stC.

» Last updated: August 25, 2023

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