Walks from Paddock Wood

Flat flood plain, riverside meadows, tree-lined field edges, mixed woods, open countryside, village streets and gentle Greensand Ridge slopes.

Time: 4h

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

Recommended: A varied countryside route with woodland paths (some with boardwalks), tracks past orchards and oast houses, quiet lanes and field-side paths, with some steeper up-and-down slopes through woods around Matfield. Includes a scramble through high bracken and chopped-back brambles and a winding lane cut into a hillside; valleys can carry streams in winter. Can be broken at Pembury, which has buses through the village.

Time: 4h–8h

Lunch: Two pubs and a restaurant at Matfield, roughly mid-route. Pub, hotel and chippy at Pembury green.

Warnings: A short scramble through very high bracken and brambles south of Pembury - long sleeves advised. A farmyard section where cows may be ambling to and from milking.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Recommended: More than two-thirds off-road, along footpaths through fields and a quiet lane, passing orchards, cornfields, hedgerows and a walk beside the River Medway into Tonbridge. Flat and sometimes muddy and but fine in boots; a short orchard section can get churned up by tractors. Passes the Grade I listed church of Thomas a Becket at Capel; the route can be left at Moat Farm for the shop and pub in Five Oak Green; good for orchard blossom in spring.

Time: 3h–6h30

2 lunch spots: the Poacher and Partridge, or the George and Dragon

Warnings: A short orchard section north of Five Oak Green can be deeply churned by tractors; the alternative road through Five Oak Green is fairly busy with a bend on an unpaved stretch.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

The view from Tutsham, back over the Medway Valley. A fairly direct, mostly flat route on gravel or tarmac surfaces, with pleasant sections by the River Medway and higher ground above Yalding. The stretch out of Yalding can be very boggy and there is a hard-to-find field section before Yalding. Suitable for confident walkers.

Time: 5h–10h30

Warnings: The route out of Yalding can be very boggy. Care is needed with navigation near a sharp field turn marked with chicken wire, and the route is easy to lose in places. Can be muddy.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Flat riverside paths, farmland, meadows, woods and quiet lanes.

Source: A longer variant of Yalding Circular – the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Flat flood plain, riverside meadows, tree-lined field edges, mixed woods, open countryside, village streets and extended riverside path to Wateringbury.

Source: A longer variant of Paddock Wood to Yalding – the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Flat flood plain, riverside meadows, tree-lined field edges, mixed woods, open countryside, village streets, Greensand Ridge slopes and extended riverside path to Wateringbury.

Source: A longer variant of Paddock Wood to Yalding – the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).