Walks you can reach from Paddock Wood by train

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.

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.

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.

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.

Darnley Mausoleum: Restored 18th-century mausoleum, set in peaceful wood pasture (National Trust; 1h in; 30 mins to visit).

Owletts: Family home of the renowned architect Sir Herbert Baker (National Trust; 2h in; 1h to visit).

3 lunch spots: Cobham (1h45 in) — the Ship, the Darnley Arms, or the Leather Bottle

1 end-of-walk reward: Moot Brew Co Brewery and Taproom

Source: Trains2Green.

Flat riverside paths, farmland fields, orchards, quiet lanes and a floodplain.

Warnings: Can be muddy.

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

River Medway start, open fields, deer-fenced woodland, Kentish Weald countryside, vast managed woods, bluebell woodland valleys, orchard edges and small villages.

Warnings: Can be muddy.

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

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.

Penshurst Place

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.

Rolling upper Medway Valley — woodland, wetland, orchards and farmland, two historic river bridges and old hoppers' huts on the Greensand Way.

Yalding Bridge (Town Bridge): A medieval ragstone bridge across the River Beult, said to be the longest medieval bridge in Kent.

Warnings: Five stiles.

Walk details: Explore Kent (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

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).

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).

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).