For our walk today, I worked out a route in the far south-west corner of Kent in an area that we'd never walked before. In fact the route was so far away that most of it was in East Sussex!
We parked by a church near the village of Sandhurst and set off across farmland to join up with the Sussex Border Path. The excellent border path took us through the grounds of Bodiam Castle, past Bodiam Station on the Kent & East Sussex Railway, and on to a lovely, quiet village called Ewhurst Green. We looped back to Bodiam Castle then followed the River Rother east, before heading back to Sandhurst.
Setting off across the fields to join the Sussex Border Path. The weather began overcast and windy, but gradually improved as the day progressed:
We were still in Kent when we went through a large hop field with lush, green, mature hops...:
...and just a few yards further on, we were in a vast vineyard:
This is where we joined the Sussex Border Path:
We'd just crested the top of a hill by a path that runs alongside a vineyard when we were greeted by a fantastic sight - Bodiam Castle in all its glory. Wow!
Bodiam Castle is possibly, no almost certainly, the most castley castle in Britain. It's simply the perfect castle!
We were hoping to see a steam train of the Kent & East Sussex Railway go puffing past today, but it was always a faint hope given the current circumstances. We gather that only one train ran today and that had gone by the time we arrived. Never mind though, at least we saw Bodiam Station...
From the station, we had a very pleasant walk up the hill to Ewhurst Green and back to the castle across fields.
We followed the River Rother for a while (L) and crossed the Kent Ditch (R), which I believe marks some of the border between Kent and Sussex:
This is the Sandhurst Clock Tower, which was built in 1889 to honour a resident of the village. It stands close to a cottage we've considered renting and we took the opportunity today to take a closer look. The setting is excellent, but we were less keen on the cottage.
And finally, the church next to where were were parked:
This is a brilliant area for walking and we'll be back soon - of course I need to link up today's walk with my others, so I have to return anyway. It's a long drive from Whitstable though!