Walks from Headcorn

Fields, low-lying farmland, bluebell woods and Kentish Weald villages.

Warnings: Can be muddy.

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Lovely scenic places. Almost no gradient and with a nice mix of road and cross-country field paths. Generally easy once past the opening stretches. Frequent public transport from Ashford back to the start at Headcorn.

Time: 6h–12h

Warnings: Leaving Headcorn along Smarden Road involves a very fast stretch of road that some may find intimidating, though Love Lane runs alongside it. A short section of field path about 3.3km in (after the railway bridge) is very poorly maintained; an on-road alternative avoids it.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

A low-lying route through orchard country on field paths and lanes that can be very wet and waterlogged, with the route line systematically offset south of the actual paths. Several broken stiles, arable fields where the path is not reinstated, gates and sheep and traditional apple orchards. Passes Staplehurst Parish Church and a WW2 memorial to USA and Canadian airmen at the old Advanced Landing Ground site near Chickenden Farm.

Time: 3h–6h

Warnings: Some field paths are unrestored across large arable fields - good mapping is needed to hold a line. Several broken stiles; one path may be blocked at its western end (a lane detour works). Very wet underfoot. Can be muddy.

Walk details: Slow Ways.