I made a big stride today in my quest to cover Kent when I finally linked up Royal Tunbridge Wells with my network. I'd previously got as far as Tonbridge, so I wanted to start from there, and I was waiting for a really nice day to make the walk worth the tedious hour-long drive each way. I couldn't have asked for better weather - blue skies and temperatures in the low twenties!
I'd noticed that Tunbridge Wells has a waymarked circular route called... The Tunbridge Wells Circular Walk. Actually, it's more like a four-leaf-clover shape with four shorter circular walks making one long one around the perimeter. One of these 'leaves' is called the Pembury Circular (I know, this is getting tedious!) and it served my purpose perfectly.
I parked in the first car park I came across in Tonbridge and made my way across town to get to my planned route. Then I headed out of town to join the Pembury Circular at the nearest point. I'd decided that the clockwise direction looked the most immediately scenic so that's the way I went. Strangely, the circular walks disappear in Tunbridge Wells itself, with a note on the Explore Kent website saying to 'take the train' (from one end of TW to the other!). I don't do trains! Anyway, I like walking through towns, and especially ones as posh as Tunbridge Wells. Arriving back in Tonbridge, I realised I needed to get to the castle (to join this walk with the others) and that I had no idea where I'd left the car. So I used the 'return to start' function on my watch, which is proving quite useful...
I joined the Pembury Circular just outside of Tonbridge and the path immediately took me into the grounds of The Schools at Somerhill - that's three private schools in the beautiful grounds of Somerhill House, the second largest house in Kent (after Knole House in Sevenoaks). This is a gatehouse and the way in...
...and this is a lake!
The sun was behind the big house and I couldn't see all of it, but you'll get the idea. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I do like walking though the grounds of stately homes and golf courses on rights of way that are only for walkers.
I left the Somerhill grounds on a path through some lovely woods that led out onto farmland. This is the view looking back from the middle of a field:
Woods were quite a feature of this walk, which by the way, shared some of the way with the High Weald Landscape Trail. I took a few photos like this one along the way:
I walked through the grounds of another private school (Kent College) where girls were playing hockey (as they do in such places), then out through a really nice churchyard. Saint Peter's Church at Pembury dates back to Norman times:
Orchards were another feature of the walk. I've posted photos of apple trees before, but not of trees with fruit like this. I've no idea what it is...
Still heading for Tunbridge Wells I emerged from some woodland and was treated to this view - wonderful! So I took a photo...
I didn't bother with photos on my way through the town and I took hardly any on the way back to Tonbridge. But I did like the sunlight reflected from a stream that I crossed just before I finished the Pembury Circular...
And finally, a photo (albeit slightly blurred) of Tonbridge Castle - just to prove I got back!
This is an excellent route with a great deal to recommend it. There's a nice balance of woodland, farmland, orchards, meadows, sleepy hamlets and posh towns. The route is surprisingly up and down, with very few level bits, which provides regular scenic views over the rolling countryside. One thing I must mention though is that the final third of the Pembury Circular (between TW and T) is less impressive and a lot more overgrown than I was expecting. I think that's because it's not part of the outer Tunbridge Wells Circular Walk and isn't often walked. Starting from Tonbridge made for an 18.4 mile walk, but the loop part is advertised as 13 miles - if you take a train through Tunbridge Wells that is!