WALK REPORT Photos from a walk we did on a crisp winter’s day in late January. Destination: Leeds Castle. There were six of us on the train out from London Victoria that morning: Sara, Ross, Liz, Miranda, Joe, and myself. The low sun and crystal clear skies made for some nice photography. 24 pics in this set.

1. Coffee and sunshine on the 9:18 from London Victoria. From left to right, that’s Miranda, Sara, and Liz.

2. Watching the South London scenery slip past from the train window. These are the gasometers at Battersea Park.

3. Off the train now. Our walk starts in the little village of Harrietsham, home to Lenham Sports Cars. This company restores and rebuilds classic British cars.

4. Vintage petrol pumps outside the garage at Lenham Sports Cars.

5. Our morning walk takes us uphill to the Pepperbox Inn at Ulcombe. Here we are crossing a meadow that’s puzzlingly strewn with antique enamel basins.

6. Cantering sheep, in a field near Bell Farm.

7. Miranda and Liz on the path through Runham Wood. Ross discovers an old abandoned toy tractor …

8. … and gives it a test drive!

9. A lone catkin on the edge of Runham Wood. I think the tree it’s growing on is either a common alder (Alnus glutinosa) or common hazel (Corylus avellana).

10. We had a great lunch at the Pepperbox Inn – this was dessert.

11. Afterwards, it’s an easy walk downhill to the castle. Here Sara is leading the way across the fields to Chegworth Court farm.

12. Joey the Arab, at Chegworth Court farm.

13. One of the many stiles on today’s walk.

14. Liz looking intrepid.

15. Close-up of some thistles on the path.

16. Liz, Ross, and Miranda on the way down to the little chapel of St Margaret in Broomfield.

17. Spotted this bumblebee on some flowers in the churchyard. Very unusual to see this in January!

18. Miranda and Liz on the lane out of Broomfield. Leeds Castle a short distance ahead.

19. Leeds Castle seen from the hill above the Great Water. We didn’t go inside today but we did stop to visit the swans.

20. Black swans (Cygnus atratus) on the Great Water at Leeds Castle.

21. We stopped outside the castle for tea and jaffa cakes. Here’s Miranda serving out cups from my thermos.

22. Joe taking in the scene.

23. Conclusion: the swans at Leeds Castle like to eat jaffa cakes. And cameras!

24. Tired and happy on the train ride home.

A big THANK YOU to Sara, Ross, Liz, Miranda and Joe for demonstrating how much fun a winter walk can be!

If you would like to try this walk yourself, see this page for details.

And if you liked the photos, please leave a comment. Many thanks —

David

1. A half-timbered house in Harrietsham village.

2. Steve following Mike across some dangerous farmland on the outskirts of Harrietsham.

3. I think this might be something in the Vibernum family. Mike, can you help? Photo taken near Bell Farm.

4. Hawthorn berries on the path near Fairbourne Mill.

5. Inula ensifolia, Fairbourne Mill.

6. A massive shire horse on the farm at Fairbourne Mill.

7. Steve and horse pose for a photo.

8. We were passed by this vintage motorcar on the lane heading up to the pub at Ulcombe.

9. Mike the dendrologist. Those are alder leaves in his shirt pocket.

10. Mike and Steve telling a joke. Did I miss something?

11. Steve at the Pepperbox Inn. This is our lunch stop. The roast pork stuffed with apricots was good. So were all the pints of bitter!

12. Mike studying Collin’s Bird Guide in the beer garden at the Pepperbox.

13. After so much beer at lunch, we decided to shorten our afternoon walk and took a taxi to Broomfield. This is our driver, Mahmud – who’s better known locally as “Charlie”.

14. Now that’s a set of keys! These unlock the front door of the 12th-century church of St Margarets Broomfield. Derek the verger let us in for a look.

15. Inside the church. Beneath where I stood to take this picture lie 30 lead-lined coffins, permanently entombed in the church’s sealed-off cellar vault. We caught a glimpse of the mouldering remains through an air shaft. Spooky …

16. Ornate detailing on the pipes of the church’s old hand-pumped organ.

17. Close-up of ivory stops above the organ keyboard.

18. The Wykeham-Martin family once owned nearby Leeds Castle and had a close association with this church.

19. The view through the chestnut grove down to Leeds Castle.

20. It’s hard to see from this photo, but the bark of these two trees is subtly different. The one in the foreground is an oak, and the one behind it, a sweet chestnut.

21. At Leeds Castle. A black swan (Cygnus atratus), too lazy to swim, tries its luck fishing from shore.

22. Barnacle geese (Branta leucopsis) grazing at Leeds Castle.

23. Walk complete. Time for more beer. Here’s Mike ordering at the bar in the Windmill pub.

24. Pints of Sussex bitter – an easy end to an easy walk!

If you’d like to try this walk too, this page has all the info you’ll need. For a list of all my walks, please visit the home page.

Steve and Mike, thanks a million for coming – I hope you enjoyed the day.

– DW

To set the scene: I have a favorite breakfast hangout near my home in North London. It’s called Café Crescent, and Brenda, who pretty much runs the place along with her colleague Dan, serves a wicked “Full English” breakfast. Brenda called me up on Saturday night to ask if she and her sister Alma, who was over from Chicago on her first trip to Europe, could come along on my Sunday walk. Of course I said yes! Myles, a good friend from Greenwich, also joined us (and helped take lots of photos).

Roses on the platform at Harrietsham railway station, at the start of today’s walk. That’s Alma on the left and Brenda on the right.

Alma, Brenda, and Myles in front of a converted oast house just outside Harrietsham.

Brenda says hello to the friendliest Shetland pony in the world at Spion Kop Farm. Here’s another shot of him from an earlier walk I did.

Me and a wheat field, on the climb up to our pub lunch. Myles and Alma, which of you took this photo? I can’t remember.

Myles and Alma on the path near Ulcombe. Lunch is just around the corner!

And here we are. This is the entrance to the Eden-like beer garden at the Pepper Box Inn. Perfect weather for lunch on the outdoor picnic tables.

Brenda had these tasty salmon and haddock fishcakes for her lunch.

Inside the pub, it’s all very cozy. Check out the dried hops hanging above the bar.

Brenda with a pint of Spitfire, a locally brewed ale.

B and A pose for a last photo at the Pepper Box Inn before we set off on our afternoon walk.

Wheat field, up close. Nice shot Myles! Photo by Myles Pery-Knox-Gore.

On the road again. Getting close to the castle now. L to R: Alma, Brenda, me. Photo by Myles Pery-Knox-Gore.




MHRD ITALY x

Before we reach the castle, however, we’re waylaid by this beautiful pair of chestnut horses at Chegworth Court Farm. L to R: Alma, Brenda, Myles, mare, colt.

Finally, here we are at Leeds Castle! Time for a tea break.

Plenty of treasures inside the castle, such as this sunny little courtyard, for example.

And lots of ups and downs too, as you can see from this sign. No problem for us though – we’ve just done a five-mile walk so we ought to be able to handle a few stairs.

Myles studying the 14th-century limestone statuette of St Barbara, patron saint of artillery.

This is the fireplace in the Henry VIII Banqueting Hall at Leeds Castle.

And this is a rat trap. Leeds Castle must have had some pretty big rats back in the day.

Looking out from inside the castle. The tiny figures you can see on the grass in the distance are golfers – there’s a course here. I like the castle shadow on the moat in this shot.

Leeds Castle contains lots of art too. This is a sketch of a Yorkshire terrier that once lived here.

Detail, part of a larger painting.

Detail from a huge canvas entitled “Embarkation from Dover of Henry VIII”. Henry VIII used Leeds Castle as a stopover with his entourage of 4000 men, before crossing the English Channel to meet King Francis I of France.

Brenda and Alma take five after our castle visit.

Time to move out for the last stage of our walk. Myles, Brenda, and Alma in the foreground, Leeds Castle behind.

They made me pose for a photo! Myles and Alma, who took this?

A peacock in Leeds Castle grounds.

Here’s Myles in the tiny village of Eyhorne Street, Hollingbourne, near where we catch the train home. We’ve just left The Windmill, our last pub of the day.

Nice evening light on the path up to Hollingbourne station.

Sunlight filters through the leaves of a lone oak in the middle of a meadow near Hollingbourne station.

That’s THE END of this walk. Now you can try it yourself! This page has all the details you’ll need. And if you’ve enjoyed these photos, please leave a comment. (If there’s no comment box visible, you’ll need to click the blue comment link below and scroll back to the bottom of the page.)

Alma, Brenda, and Myles – thanks a million for coming out on this glorious day.

– DW

I used the time on my own to research an alternative route out of Harrietsham following unmarked footpaths that tunnel beneath the London-Paris Eurostar line and meet up with the original path near Fairbourne Mill.

Apologies for the lack of people in these pictures. I know it’s more fun when are faces to look at. Maybe next time! [walk profile]

For this photo stream I’ve mapped the location of each shot – numbers correspond to locations on the map at the bottom of this post.

1 of 15. My train out in the morning was packed until we reached Maidstone in Kent, where nearly everyone got off to go watch the cyclists pass through town on the first day of the 2007 Tour de France – it started in England this year.

2 of 15. Sign for Lenham Sports Cars in Harrietsham.

3 of 15. This is The Roebuck pub in Harrietsham, a good place to grab a drink before the walk (probably best to keep it non-alcoholic at this stage of the day though). Lynne, the shot I took of you pulling a pint was out of focus – I’ll have to try another one next time.

4 of 15. A ewe and lamb in a field by the River Len.

5 of 15. The millpond at Fairbourne Mill, one of a string of 27 now-defunct watermills dotted about along the River Len.

6 of 15. Woodland view on Fairbourne Lane.

7 of 15. Caution: ducks crossing! On the hill up to Fairbourne Manor Farm.

8 of 15. The wheat is beginning to golden. Times I’ve done this walk before it was quite green. That’s common mallow (Malva sylvestris) in the foreground, with some distinctly Simpsons-like clouds as a backdrop.

9 of 15. My map and the charred remains of a book I found in Kings Wood. This was at the same spot where we’d discovered a small treasure some weeks before.

10 of 15. Graveyard and church tower at St Margarets, Broomfield.

11 of 15. A flock of Canada geese (Branta canadensis) on the Great Water at Leeds Castle.

12 of 15. Water forget-me-not (Myosotis scorpioides) in a stream bed near Leeds Castle.

13 of 15. Red campion (Silene dioica) in woodland near Leeds Castle. I liked how the light fell on these flowers – but I needed several takes to capture it properly.

14 of 15. When your subject’s moving at 186mph, you don’t have a lot of time to practice your photography. At least I caught some of the train! This Eurostar is on its way from London to Paris.

15 of 15. Last pub of the day. The Windmill in Eyhorne Street near Hollingbourne.

This map shows the route I took. The numbers show where the pictures above were shot.

You can do this walk too! Read the walk description here.

(To visitors arriving from elsewhere on the web, welcome! There’s a lot to see on this site – check “Recent entries” on the right after viewing this post. Cheers, DW) [walk profile]

It rained more than a little, but the anticipation of cream teas and pints in cozy pubs on the path just ahead kept spirits high. Even Paul (“I can’t believe I enjoyed it. I normally hate this kind of thing!”) had a good time on the walk, despite his novel choice of footwear:

18 photos follow:

1. Our group on the path down to Leeds Castle. That’s Lucie on the left (not counting the sheep).

2. The route starts at Harrietsham railway station, which also houses the local police – who had locked up and gone home for the weekend. Must be a low-crime area.

3. A foal at Spion Kop Farm, on the path up to the pub at Ulcombe.

4. Jonny leading the way through a field of wheat, followed by Lucie and Jim.

5. Foxgloves in Runham Wood.

6. We stopped at The Pepper Box Inn near Ulcombe for a traditional Sunday roast lunch.

7. Close-up of a rose. Picture taken in the beer garden at The Pepper Box Inn.

8. Also in the beer garden. I think this one is either Heliopsis or Rudbeckia. Can anyone help ID this for me?

9. Lucie on the path through King’s Wood. The rain made these woods feel very jungle-like.

10. Last time I did this walk, my brother found an old deed next to the remains of a bonfire on this very spot. Chris and Lucie looked for treasure too, but found nothing.

11. Julia fared little better in her hunt. This old glass mug was probably our best discovery. Stephen and Chris look on, perhaps a little bemused?

12. Pear tree on the path to Leeds Castle.

13. Lucie checks out the view from a sunken portion of the path at Water Lane, near Broomfield. You can see the others further along the path in the distance.

14. Leeds Castle and moat, nearly deserted at 5pm this Sunday afternoon.

15. Not all the swans at Leeds Castle are black.

16. A scone, clotted cream, jam, and tea – the essential ingredients of a cream tea. In the restaurant at Leeds Castle.

17. Rosie, Jim, and Lucie enjoying a well-earned drink after the walk. This is the Windmill pub in Eyhorne Street, Hollingbourne.

18. Saying goodbye to a lamb near Leeds Castle. Too tame for its own good.

If you’d like to try this walk yourself, you can see the route description here.

Thanks for reading! Comments welcome.

– DW

June 25th UPDATE
The photo stream for this walk is now online.

–DW

Dorry spotted this old painted wall advertisment on the side of house in Harrietsham village. Kind Hearts and Coronets, a classic Ealing comedy, was filmed in this village and down the road at Leeds Castle. Now I want to watch the movie closely and see if this sign (which dates to the right period) features in any of the Harrietsham scenes.

Just past Harrietsham the path follows a road bridge across the busy M20 motorway and a railway line. That’s a Eurostar train whizzing by on the right, doing about 180mph on its way into London from Paris.

Here we are passing a converted oast house at Polhill. Oast houses, a common sight in the Kent countryside, are often resurrected as family homes. From left to right, that’s Allister, Valerie, and Dorry. Photo by Ben Wenk.

I like this shot. This strange little pony behaved just like the donkey out of Shrek, trotting along behind us for a short while. Photo by Ben Wenk.

Looking back at the valley below on the way up the hill to the pub at Ulcombe. L to R: Ben, Dorry, Allister.

A grand old house at Fairbourne Manor Farm.

Lots of horses on this route. This stallion took a liking to Dorry and ran halfway across a field to see her.

I think the purple one is called May Night (Salvia x superba ‘Mainacht’), but I’m not sure about the white ones in front of it. Anyone? This was taken at The Pepper Box Inn, where we stopped for lunch.

And this is the pub sign for The Pepper Box Inn. I’m noticing it’s really difficult to get a good shot of these kinds of signs when the sun is high in the sky – as here, the light fixture often casts an unwanted shadow. Apparently, a pepperbox revolver is a handgun that was popular in the mid-19th century.

A very young colt looking out over the Len Valley at Chegworth Court. I think it is less than two weeks old here, as the last time I did this walk I met its heavily pregnant mother, just out of shot on the right.

Can anyone help me identify these seed pods? We found them on the path near Broomfield. That’s Valerie in the background, studying one.

And another horse! This one takes a bit more imagination, but personally I thought this bit of a twisted yew tree trunk bore a close resemblance to a horse’s head. Taken in the churchyard at St Margaret’s, Broomfield.

Dorry stops to examine a flower on the path near Leeds Castle.

As we entered the grounds of Leeds Castle, we discovered a late-afternoon cricket match under way. You can just make out the batsman taking a swing at the ball, on the right.

Another silly sign, this one prohibiting us from climbing the walls at Leeds Castle. Photo by Ben Wenk.

A black swan in the moat at Leeds Castle.

This was a funny sight. We saw three peacocks, just like this one, all proudly showing off their tailfeathers on the golf course at Leeds Castle. Each one occupied a different bunker or sand trap.

Ben spotted this little topiary bear waving from a hedge as we passed by en route to the railway station and our train home. Photo by Ben Wenk.

Find out how you can do this walk too! Click here to read the walk description.

The elegant figure in the big hat is my friend Dorry, who brought her friends Allister and Valerie (from Guadeloupe!) with her for this walk.

Credit for this photo goes to Ben Wenk.

Halfway along the route of my Leeds Castle walk, the path cuts through an overgrown patch of forest called Kings Wood. As we were strolling down one of the many rough tracks that criss-cross these woods, we came upon the deserted, smoldering remains of a fire. In this fire were a number of pieces of antique furniture, all badly burnt. Here is a picture of the fire:

But here is the mystery! Next to the fire we found this old document. It is several pages long, and appears to be a deed of some description. I don’t know what it signifies, but I intend to research it properly when I have the time. Thank you to my brother Ben for finding it.

Route: Harrietsham – Fairbourne Heath – The Pepperbox – Kings Wood – Broomfield – Leeds Castle – Eyhorne Street – Hollingbourne station [walk profile]

Old petrol pumps in Harrietsham village.

Playful dogs in a back garden near Fairbourne Manor Farm.

Stopped for lunch at The Pepperbox. This is Guy’s special camera.

Guy filming in the beer garden at The Pepperbox.

I think this is a sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa) sapling. There were hundreds of them all along the path through Kings Wood.

Horse hoping for a handout, in a field on the path that leads down to Leeds Castle.

Bean field.

A couple of interior shots of Leeds Castle. This is Lady Baillie’s bedroom.

… and these are some old books in the library at Leeds Castle. Does anyone know what style of binding this is?

A wedding was taking place during our visit to the castle. This is the wedding party posing for photos on the lawn in front of Leeds Castle. The building in the background is known as the Maiden’s Tower.

Guy at Leeds Castle.

A black swan (Cygnus atratus) in the moat at Leeds Castle. These swans are the signature bird of the castle. All are descendants of a small collection passed on by Sir Winston Churchill, who was given them after World War II by the Australian government.

More of the wedding reception. This is the croquet lawn in front of the castle.

Chocolates in the gift shop at Leeds Castle.

A grounds keeper braces himself as he holds onto the crown line of a hot air balloon being inflated on the lawn at Leeds Castle. Probably part of the wedding festivities. See here for more info on what’s happening in this picture.

Stand-off at Hole 15. Guy snaps a curious peacock on the golf course at Leeds Castle. Taken on the path back from the castle to Hollingbourne station.

A pub sign outside The Windmill in Eyhorne Street. We didn’t have time to stop this trip, but I’d like to on the next walk.

Find out how you can do this walk too! Click here for more info.