Walks you can reach from St Leonards Warrior Square by train
MapA day hike is just a simple train journey away — plan your next day of green.
Wadhurst Circular via Bewl Water (Sussex)
30 minutes direct from St Leonards Warrior Square.
Highly recommended: Quiet fields and country lanes running through rolling wooded hills. Mostly secluded.
Woodland: a quarter under tree cover.
Wadhurst: Quaint little village (1h45 in).
Bewl Water: An aqua park, and the largest body of water in South East England.
Time: 6h30 (5h walking, 1h30 lunch)
2 lunch spots: the Old Vine (1h30 in; excellent), or La Petite France (3h45 in)
Warnings: Can be muddy.
Adapted from: Time Out Country Walks Volume 2.
Similar walk: the Saturday Walkers Club.
Tunbridge Wells Circular via Groombridge (Kent)
30 minutes direct from St Leonards Warrior Square.
Highly recommended: Escarpments.
Woodland: a third under tree cover.
Time: 8h (6h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)
2 lunch spots: Frant (1h30 in) — the Abergavenny Arms, or the George
3 end-of-walk rewards: the Crown Inn, the High Rocks, or the Pantiles
Adapted from: The Rough Guide to Walks in London & the South East (3rd edition).
Similar walk: the Saturday Walkers Club.
Sevenoaks Circular via Ightham Mote (Kent)
1 hour direct from St Leonards Warrior Square.
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 (45m in).
The Royal Oak Foundation Conservation Studio (National Trust; 45m in)
Knole Park (National Trust; 45m in)
One Tree Hill (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 (2h15 in).
Deer in Kent Downs National Landscape (National Trust; 3h45 in)
Time: 6h30 (5h walking, 1h30 lunch)
2 lunch spots: Ightham Mote café (2h15 in; not bad), or the Bucks Head (3h30 in)
Warnings: Some mud inevitable.
Source: Trains2Green.
Similar walk: the Saturday Walkers Club.
Pevensey to Battle (Sussex)
15 minutes direct from St Leonards Warrior Square.
Highly recommended: Beautiful landscapes and multiple historic sights.
Pevensey Castle (15m in)
Herstmonceux Castle (2h30 in)
Battle Abbey and Battlefield (7h30 in)
Battle (7h15 in)
Time: 10h (8h walking, 1h30 lunch, 30m break)
2 lunch spots: Nuthatch Kitchen and Terrace (2h30 in), or the Ash Tree Inn (4h45 in)
2 end-of-walk rewards: the White Hart Pub, or Battle Abbey and Battlefield
Adapted from: The Rough Guide to Walks in London & the South East (3rd edition).
Winchelsea to Hastings (Sussex)
30 minutes direct from St Leonards Warrior Square.
Highly recommended
Coastal: three quarters along the coast.
Hastings (3h45 in)
Time: 5h30 (4h walking, 1h30 lunch)
2 lunch spots: the New Beach Club (1h30 in), or the Cove (2h in)
8 end-of-walk rewards: the Jolly Fisherman, the Lord Nelson, the Royal Standard, the London Trader, the Hastings Arms, Ye Olde Pumphouse, the Cutter, or the Albion
Adapted from: The Rough Guide to Walks in London & the South East (3rd edition).
Similar walk: the Saturday Walkers Club.
Berwick to Eastbourne (Sussex)
30 minutes direct from St Leonards Warrior Square.
Highly recommended: Farmland, reservoir, chalk downland, ridge grassland, chalk figure, smugglers villages and seaside resort.
Eastbourne (5h30 in)
Time: 7h30 (5h30 walking, 1h30 lunch, 30m break)
2 lunch spots: the Eight Bells (2h45 in), or Jevington Tea Garden (2h45 in)
1 end-of-walk reward: the Duke of Devonshire
Adapted from: Time Out Country Walks Volume 2.
Similar walk: the Saturday Walkers Club.
Borough Green & Wrotham to Sevenoaks (Kent)
1 hour direct from St Leonards Warrior Square.
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 (2h in).
One Tree Hill (National Trust; 2h45 in)
The Royal Oak Foundation Conservation Studio (National Trust; 3h30 in)
Knole House: enormous aristocratic estate, associated with the Bloomsbury Group; well worth a visit but consumes a day in itself.
Knole Park (National Trust)
Time: 6h (4h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)
2 lunch spots: the Plough (45m in), or Ightham Mote café (2h in; not bad)
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)
1 hour direct from St Leonards Warrior Square.
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 (3h30 in).
One Tree Hill (National Trust; 4h15 in)
The Royal Oak Foundation Conservation Studio (National Trust; 5h in)
Knole House: enormous aristocratic estate, associated with the Bloomsbury Group; well worth a visit but consumes a day in itself.
Time: 7h30 (6h walking, 1h30 lunch)
3 lunch spots: the Swan on the Green (1h30 in), the Kentish Rifleman (2h30 in), or Ightham Mote café (3h30 in; not bad)
Source: Trains2Green.
Similar walk: the Saturday Walkers Club.
Eastbourne to Seaford (Sussex)
30 minutes direct from St Leonards Warrior Square.
Highly recommended: Spectacular white cliffs in a well-protected national landscape. Immense white chalk cliffs, sea, marshes, meadows and beachfront.
Hilly: a quarter on high ground, rising above the surrounding land.
Coastal: four fifths along the coast.
Eastbourne (2h30 in)
Birling Gap (National Trust; 3h15 in)
Cuckmere Valley (National Trust; 4h45 in)
Time: 8h30 (6h30 walking, 1h30 lunch, 30m break)
4 lunch spots: the Kiosk (1h15 in), Cadence Cafe Beachy Head (2h in), the Beachy Head Pub (2h in), or Birling Gap café (3h15 in; excellent)
1 end-of-walk reward: the Cuckmere Inn
Best months: Jun-Jul (when the chalk is gleaming).
Warnings: Very popular and busy.
Source: Trains2Green.
Hastings to Rye (Sussex)
3 minutes direct from St Leonards Warrior Square.
Highly recommended: Clifftop coastal path, steep climbs, remote naturist beach, flat marshland, ancient hilltop towns and panoramic viewpoints.
Coastal: three fifths along the coast.
Lamb House (National Trust; 6h in)
Time: 7h30 (5h30 walking, 1h30 lunch, 30m break)
Warnings: Crumbly cliff edges.
Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).
Reverse direction: Railwalks.
Hastings Circular via Fairlight Glen Beach (Sussex)
3 minutes direct from St Leonards Warrior Square.
Hilly clifftop path, steep glens, shingle and sandy beach, forested inland valleys, coastal headlands, bracken and eroding cliffs.
Time: 5h (3h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)
Warnings: Crumbly cliff edges.
Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).
Battle Circular via Battle Abbey and Battlefield (Sussex)
15 minutes direct from St Leonards Warrior Square.
Rolling Wealden countryside, fields, woods and the historic town of Battle.
Time: 7h (5h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)
Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).