A very easy 8 mile walk through undulating Kent countryside, exploring the orchards and woodlands and finishing by the Great Stour river.
Date walked: 22nd October 2014
Distance: Around 8 miles, give or take
Maps used: OS Explorer No’s 150 (Canterbury and the Isle of Thanet) and 149 (Sittingbourne and Faversham)
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Anne and I were staying in The Cedar House near the centre of Canterbury (you’ll find my review of the place here on Tripadvisor). This, and three more walks I did on our two-week stay start from there.
My friends Christine and Christopher who live in nearby Faversham, recommended that I explore the North Downs Way. (henceforward to be referred to as the Way). It passes through the centre of the city, a long stone’s throw from our rather impressive red gate (the Cedar House sits behind the Old Fire Station).
After less than half-a mile of walking along a busy road I spied the first finger post for the North Downs Way, directing me off the A2050 down a quiet suburban, street. This soon became a sunken, leafy, lane (Mill Lane).
I was walking down the side of Golden Hill; over to my right the first view of the apple orchards that would provide snacks for much of the day.
This is fruit growing on an industrial scale.
The rumble of traffic ahead was coming from the A2, which had to be crossed before I could return to the orchards, though its sound pursued me for the next mile.
In fact it was not orchards that followed, but something that I have not seen much of before- Chestnut Coppice.
According to Wikipedia, Chestnut coppice in Kent and Sussex is the last remaining large-scale commercial use of this ancient method of woodland management. These trees may have been planted in the 19th Century to provide poles for Hop Fields.
You can see how tall and straight they grow in the right conditions.
This area of ancient woodland is called The Blean.
Within it, the Way passes by Bigbury – a former Iron Age settlement and Roman camp where they have very helpfully offered an artists impression; otherwise you wouldn’t have a clue that there was anything of such interest on this mostly cleared hillside.
The desire of trees to grow despite being felled impressed me as I passed an unearthed trunk lying flat on the ground with a perfectly vertical young tree growing from its side.
This walk was becoming a rich woodland education, the path now passing though an old(ish) orchard that is also the subject of some community restoration and has been named No Man’s Orchard.
The Orchard was mostly Bramleys and other pollinators.
At the far end of this little woodland walk was the small village of Chartham Hatch where a splendid oast house called Hoppers Oast lies divorced from its former life on its outskirts, the orchards having displaced the hopfields.
The Way passes through this most impressive of properties, allowing the nosey more scope for their curiosity…..
…. and affording the artistically inclined a subject for their creativity.
With Fright Wood (great name) to the north of me, I was returned to the orchards of Nickle Farm, the deliciously crisp, red-streaked apples making lunch unnecessary.
What was disturbing was the amount of these super fruits that lay on the ground, food only for passing walkers and the rabbit and bird populations.
Mansfields, who have 20 local fruit farms under their wing, have their headquarters and main storage facility here, and provide temporary accommodation for their itinerant and migrant workforce in rather un-bijou sheds modelled on static caravans but without the porch.
Very little seemed to be going on.
It all seemed very strange when clearly the fruit was ready to be brought in. Had the bottom dropped out of the apple market? Was there a strike? Had everyone gone to the fair?
Was Bulgaria playing England somewhere?
My head full of questions, I marched on through the orchards, the Way dropping down a little hill, following a neat line of Beech that bore the marks of foreign labour.
I had to make my own way across a ploughed field at the bottom which showed the first signs of its Autumn-sown crop and revealed the Clay-with Flints soil.
As I looked back to the beeches …..
…..I spotted a small triangular piece of a grey-glazed pot which had clearly been made on the wheel. My souvenir of the day, and still intriguing me as to its origins.
My path now continued to give more arboreal interest, taking me up through a tunnel of hazel…
…. and then a closely planted avenue of conifers that brought to mind cathedral architecture.
At Lower Ensden Road, just outside the village of Old Wives Lees, I parted company with the North Downs Way, taking a sharp left down Shalmsford Road to meet on the busy A28, the Pilgrims Way.
My own pilgrimage lasted a full hundred yards; a right turn over the Great Stour taking me off towards Chartham.
I passed what is probably be the most sign-adorned pub I have ever seen.
The George has on its pub sign the knight in full armour, and the place clearly feels under siege.
A short way after the pub I joined the Stour Valley Walk (also known as the Great Stour Way), turning left before a railway bridge and then crossing the line and taking a lane into the pretty village of Chartham.
On the left hand side of The Green, the 16th century Bedford House was duly admired…..
….and I paused at the flint-faced St Mary’s church. I would have gone in but it was locked. Shame.
The Great Stour river is not particularly great in any obvious respect, but it is always nice to walk beside a river that makes a noise.
The path passes by and through a series of ponds at Horton, formed by reclaiming gravel pits; the lush surrounding land, under the occupation of sheep.
Most of the riverside houses at the suburb of Thanington have taken the opportunity to have a decking area by the riverside, and why not? There was an entertaining variation in style (sorry, no pics). The walk passes under the A28 and just afterwards I saw a young man walking towards me and a boy and a girl hauling a kayak onto the riverbank.
“Do you know where we are?”, he enquired.
“Canterbury”, I replied, and thinking this was so obvious as to seem a little inadequate, offered him sight of the map.
“Oh”, he said “we weren’t sure if we had missed it”.
I might have asked if they knew where they were heading but I was off duty.
The underside of the A2 had been adorned by the creative youth of the city…
….as had the railway bridge that followed.
Harmless fun in my view; I don’t know why I hadn’t got into graffiti when I was a kid. (I got into other trouble, mind).
The river walk was deep within the city now and had become a place where office and shop workers might take their lunch and where the local alcoholics met for a rant. Me, I was ready for a cup of tea and a bun chez nous.
Ah, great holiday!
For a comparatively short walk, such a rich array of photographic opportunities! Almost as enjoyable to read as it must have been to walk. (A “walk” around the George’s web site is a day out on its own! All those editorial opportunities and even an animal petting farm where petting of the animals is not advised!) And my suggestion is that you don’t really want to date that bit of pottery; would be a very boring night.
Think I read there was a shortage of itererent workers to pick crops last year. Love Kent, have friends who farm near Faversham. Time to visit I think you blog has reminded me of all the good walks we did.
That’s interesting. Of course there are no unemployed in Kent (or elsewhere) that could pick apples….I wonder if your friends know my friends?
I quite like Anne’s wonky verticals.
(I’ve got a friend! Xxxx)
I’ve no answer to that. Other than “quite” rather introduces some doubt about them. so I’ll settle for that.
What is this fixation with verticals? If the camera never lies and all that ….. Why change what the camera has taken? I do notice that the top half of Charles is leaning a bit to the left though. Good previous night?
It’s true, that I do have a bit of a love affair with this facility in Lightroom. But you are not so naive as to swallow this “camera never lies” rubbish. The optics of a camera are so different from our eyes and what our brains do with visual information. When a subject like the blue barn in this blog has such strong geometry I find it pleasing to use Lightroom to reflect that geometry in the image, and likewise some of the other shots I take of buildings. Professionals may use a Tilt and Shift lens to achieve the same at vast expense. Lightroom does it in a click.
I’ve not been tempted by the NDW, Charles because of the reputed traffic noise – lots of motorways! But your day’s walk might convince me otherwise. I’ve done a bit of coppicing and very satisfying it was too. Less so all the comments from passing dog-walkers complaining that we were cutting down all the pretty trees. Really, really boring after a while explaining why. Dave
I haven’t looked at the whole route but it wasn’t too bad, although I do cross over another busy road in one of the other walks I am posting from there. I guess roads are an occpational hazard in the South-East. Yes all forestry work is problematic for the public. Even clear felling confier planantions also is difficult to feel Ok about as it creates such a massive new scar on the landscape and a sight of devastation.
hey, can i please ask for the location of the railway bridge?
many thanks