Walks you can reach from St Leonards Warrior Square by train

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.

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.

Highly recommended: Escarpments.

Woodland: a third under tree cover.

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.

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: Beautiful landscapes and multiple historic sights.

Pevensey Castle (15 mins in)

Herstmonceux Castle (2h30 in)

Battle Abbey and Battlefield (7h30 in)

Pevensey Levels

Battle (7h15 in)

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 café

Adapted from: The Rough Guide to Walks in London & the South East (3rd edition).

Highly recommended

Coastal: three quarters along the coast.

Hastings (3h45 in)

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.

Highly recommended: Farmland, reservoir, chalk downland, ridge grassland, chalk figure, smugglers villages and seaside resort.

Eastbourne (5h30 in)

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.

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.

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: 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: Flower-rich chalk grassland with stunning views of the Cuckmere River (National Trust; 4h45 in).

Seven Sisters Country Park

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.

Rolling Kent hills, pastoral river valleys, parkland, woods, lakes and commons extending into town.

Penshurst (1h in)

1 lunch spot: the Leicester Arms Pub (1h in)

5 end-of-walk rewards: the Mount Edgcumbe, the Grove Tavern, the Compasses, the Bedford, or the Claremont

Warnings: Can be muddy.

Adapted from: Time Out Country Walks Volume 1.

Similar walk: the Saturday Walkers Club.

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: Georgian house in Rye, built in 1723; once a mayoral residence that welcomed King George I and later home to writers Henry James and E. F. Benson (National Trust; 6h in; 1h to visit).

Warnings: Crumbly cliff edges.

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

Similar walk: Slow Ways (inc. GPX).

Reverse direction: Railwalks.

Hilly clifftop path, steep glens, shingle and sandy beach, forested inland valleys, coastal headlands, bracken and eroding cliffs.

Warnings: Crumbly cliff edges.

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