Walks you can reach from Headcorn by train
MapA day hike is just a simple train journey away — plan your next day of green.
Alternatively, view walks directly from Headcorn.
Sevenoaks Circular via Ightham Mote (Kent)
30 minutes direct from Headcorn.
Highly recommended: Pleasantly rolling hills and dales, fields and vales, oast houses and hay bails. Beautiful expansive views to the South, which make you appreciate well preserved the wooded hills of the Kent Downs are. Wandering through Knole Park is idyllic, especially toward the evening when the humans are gone and the deer are in force. Mostly secluded.
Woodland: a quarter under tree cover.
Knole House: enormous aristocratic estate, associated with the Bloomsbury Group; well worth a visit but consumes a day in itself (National Trust; 45 mins in; 3h to visit).
Knole Park (National Trust; 45 mins in; 3h to visit)
One Tree Hill: A beautiful slice of Kent countryside (National Trust; 1h30 in).
Ightham Mote: Immaculately preserved medieval manor house with idyllic gardens. Touring the house thoroughly takes an hour, and the gardens another 30 minutes (National Trust; 2h15 in; 2h30 to visit).
Deer in Kent Downs National Landscape (National Trust; 3h45 in; 3h to visit)
3 lunch spots: Knole House café (45 mins in), Ightham Mote café (2h15 in), or the Bucks Head (3h30 in)
Warnings: Some mud inevitable.
Source: Trains2Green.
Similar walk: the Saturday Walkers Club.
Sandling to Folkestone (Kent)
30 minutes direct from Headcorn.
Highly recommended: Chalky escarpment ridge, steep climbs, open downland with Channel views, cliff top promenade, shingle beach and historic harbour.
Hilly: two fifths on high ground, rising above the surrounding land.
1 lunch spot: the Gatekeeper Inn (1h30 in)
3 end-of-walk rewards: Valiant Sailor, the Lord Morris, or the Park Inn
Warnings: Steep climbs near start.
Source: Trains2Green.
Similar walk: the Saturday Walkers Club.
Borough Green & Wrotham to Sevenoaks (Kent)
30 minutes direct from Headcorn.
Highly recommended: Greensand hills, apple orchards, woodland paths, streams, deer park, open parkland and historic manor grounds. Mostly secluded.
Woodland: a quarter under tree cover.
Ightham Mote: Immaculately preserved medieval manor house with idyllic gardens. Touring the house thoroughly takes an hour, and the gardens another 30 minutes (National Trust; 2h in; 2h30 to visit).
One Tree Hill: A beautiful slice of Kent countryside (National Trust; 2h45 in).
Knole House: enormous aristocratic estate, associated with the Bloomsbury Group; well worth a visit but consumes a day in itself (National Trust; 3h30 in; 3h to visit).
Knole Park (National Trust; 3h to visit)
3 lunch spots: the Plough (45 mins in), Ightham Mote café (2h in), or Knole House café (3h30 in)
3 end-of-walk rewards: the Chequers, the Restoration, or the Sennockian
Warnings: Can be muddy.
Adapted from: The Rough Guide to Walks in London & the South East (3rd edition).
Similar walk: the Saturday Walkers Club.
Yalding to Sevenoaks (Kent)
30 minutes direct from Headcorn.
Highly recommended: Undulating Kent farmland, orchards, bluebell woods, greensand escarpment and deer park.
Ightham Mote: Immaculately preserved medieval manor house with idyllic gardens. Touring the house thoroughly takes an hour, and the gardens another 30 minutes (National Trust; 3h30 in; 2h30 to visit).
One Tree Hill: A beautiful slice of Kent countryside (National Trust; 4h15 in).
Knole House: enormous aristocratic estate, associated with the Bloomsbury Group; well worth a visit but consumes a day in itself (National Trust; 5h in; 3h to visit).
4 lunch spots: the Swan on the Green (1h30 in), the Kentish Rifleman (2h30 in), Ightham Mote café (3h30 in), or Knole House café (5h in)
Source: Trains2Green.
Similar walk: the Saturday Walkers Club.
Paddock Wood to Yalding (Kent)
15 minutes direct from Headcorn.
Flat flood plain, riverside meadows, tree-lined field edges, mixed woods, open countryside, village streets and gentle Greensand Ridge slopes.
Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).
Tonbridge to Penshurst (Kent)
30 minutes direct from Headcorn.
Fairly flat walk along shaded paths through fields and riverside woodland alongside the River Medway.
Woodland: a fifth under tree cover.
The Tonbridge Castle: A Norman motte-and-bailey castle with a 13th-century gatehouse beside the Medway.
The Haysden Country Park: A lakeside country park on the River Medway floodplain near Tonbridge.
River Medway at Ensfield Bridge: Meadow-set river spot suitable for wild swimming and picnics.
St John the Baptist Church, Penshurst: Historic village church next to Penshurst Place.
2 lunch spots: Penshurst — Porcupine Pantry Café (café attached to Penshurst Place serving drinks, cakes, snacks and ice cream with outdoor seating), or Penshurst Place café
Warnings: Can be muddy in places when wet.
Walk details: Walking Post (tips, photos and local insights).
Similar walk: the Saturday Walkers Club.
Sandling to Wye (Kent)
30 minutes direct from Headcorn.
North Downs escarpment ridge, open downland, woods, sloping fields and fine views over Kent coast.
Warnings: Can be muddy.
Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).
Sevenoaks to Kemsing (Kent)
30 minutes direct from Headcorn.
A National Trust extravaganza; Knole House and deer park, the Greensand Way, moated Ightham Mote, bluebell woods.
Woodland: two fifths under tree cover.
One Tree Hill: A beautiful slice of Kent countryside (National Trust).
Oldbury Hill: Discover the remains of an Iron Age hill fort (National Trust).
Knole House: enormous aristocratic estate, associated with the Bloomsbury Group; well worth a visit but consumes a day in itself (National Trust; 3h to visit).
Ightham Mote: Immaculately preserved medieval manor house with idyllic gardens. Touring the house thoroughly takes an hour, and the gardens another 30 minutes (National Trust; 2h30 to visit).
2 lunch spots: Ightham Mote café, or Knole House café
Warnings: Steep drops and climbs through the woodland sections.
Walk details: Walking Post (tips, photos and local insights).
Leigh to Sevenoaks (Kent)
30 minutes direct from Headcorn.
Rolling Kentish farmland, fields, oasthouses, bluebell woods, steep greensand hillside and deer park.
Warnings: Can be muddy.
Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).
Swanley to Sevenoaks (Kent)
30 minutes direct from Headcorn.
Linear Darent valley sides on the North Downs Way and Darent Valley Path: three nature reserves including Lullingstone Country Park and Polhill Bank, panoramic Kent Downs views.
Walk details: Kent Downs National Landscape (tips, photos and local insights).
Hurst Green to Sevenoaks (Surrey)
30 minutes direct from Headcorn.
Greensand ridge, chart hills, undulating woodland, commons, deer park, historic estates and suburban old town.
Toy's Hill (National Trust)
Warnings: Steep climbs.
Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).
Pluckley Circular via Dering windows (Kent)
6 minutes direct from Headcorn.
Flat Low Weald farmland, orchards, quiet lanes, ancient pubs, quaint Kent villages and a fine viewpoint near Pluckley.
Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).