As the other commenter said, the very end of the route (by Headcorn station) is incorrect on the gpx track because it'd trying to use a route that doesn't exist....

Ricechrisb

A lovely route with steep wooded valleys spread with wood anemones and wild garlic, a pair of red kites leisurely dancing together across the landscape, blackthorn and cherry plum blossom, squeaky lapwings, a path through an apple orchard just waiting to be walked at blossom time. On the plus side there was no winter flooding as mentioned in the other review (between Dumbourne Farm and Fairview Farm?), and very little mud in general (plenty of dried out wellies-mud though) and the Horse and Cart pub in Peasmarsh has reopened. I didn't enjoy going through Peasmarsh as the A268 traffic felt (was?) fast and noisy after such a peaceful walk and if you aren't going to the Horse and Cart maybe a quieter way to the south could be found...

Daisy C

I tend to take it as a very good sign when you don't really see any barbed wire beside you as you leave a town. Cranbrook was pretty and as the small town fades out you soon join the High Weald Landscape Trail, which is a route I also tend to find well-maintained and generally passable. The way is easy-going if a little muddy in places but the gates, bridges, and signs are very good indeed until Benenden. Actually there are a fair few signs in place by land owners to encourage walkers and walking so you can't really ask for more.? Benenden is a small village but also very pretty. There's a cafe if you need it, and a pub as well a little beyond the large village green. I realised around this point that I was going to hit Tenterden at a point where I'd just miss a bus and have a two hour wait for the next so I decided I would run the rest of the route wherever I could to shave off the minutes. The rest of the route is about as muddy as the start, with a particular mention for wetness for Mount Hall Farm - which also has poor signage and a gate that tried to stab me when I looped the rope closure back over the post. Extremely wet as well at Rawlinson Farm because there's a large pond up the slope that drains down into the field you cross. I ran almost all of the rest to the Rolvenden train station - served by steam trains and heritage services, not the mainline network. Before you reach that station there is a broken stile roughly between Folly Farm and New Barn Farm if you look at the OS Map. After here the mud of Cold Harbour farm is also very bad, very deep, and it is also full of animal juice run-off from the cowshed/byer off to the left. Signage here is also a bit weak.? Would happily re-do this walk and with some improvements to signage it'd get 5 stars from me for a solid rural walk that isn't a national trail. The gpx file is pretty accurate and I only really definitely needed to check the OS mapping when I was at Cold Harbour and Mount Hall Farm, the rest is pretty obvious even when there are other paths branching off.?...

Ricechrisb

The downloadable route for this walk is relatively poor in places and conditions on the ground aren't great. The start of this walk, as far I can tell first-hand and from a range of maps, around the back of Tenterden Church to Eastwell Meadows, does not exist at all. I definitely and highly recommend the stretch from Tenterden to Woodchurch along TenAsh.The Six Bells pub was a nice stopping point and there's the Bonny Cravat pub next door as well. Maintain that direction to the easternmost corner of the field and there's another broken stile. The walk along the edge of Adam's Wood is pretty nice. At Leacon Farm the stile northwards through the hedge is broken and there's a tree down so you have to step down into a ditch. What I would advise here is that you ignore TenHam and instead walk the quiet lane to Warehorne where there's a nice pub, a nice church, and the Saxon Shore Way route to take you into Ham Street with few difficulties - that's a well-used path. You must road walk into Ham Street from here. The traffic is fast and although generally visible and observant it was the icing on a rubbish walk from Woodchurch to Ham Street....

Ricechrisb

Walked 22nd November 2024, eastwards - Tenterden to Ashford. The route is really very good between Tenterden and Woodchurch. However, as soon as you leave the windmill in Woodchurch you hit a ploughed clay field which is a horrendous walk. Once you've crossed that you have another smaller clay field to cross with the same issue. Then 5 minutes later there's a stile topped with barbed wire (!) so the general feel of this part of the walk just isn't at all comfortable. Here there is another very large clay field to cross but you can at least walk the grass verge if you need to this time. The rest of the walk into Ashford is along the River Stour path and is basically an urban park walk. In summary I'd walk Tenterden to Woodchurch again any time but then teleport to Great Chart so that I could walk to Ashford. I have no idea how to overcome the horrible middle section but my gut instinct is that you simply shouldn't try to walk from Tenterden to Ashford at all....

Ricechrisb

I walked this route, Northiam to Tenterden, today. When you come across the Chapel Down vineyard, about 3/5 of the way along the route, you have a place to rest for a bit if you need it. Smallhythe Place is just past the vineyard, off the route, down the hill a couple of hundred metres. On the route after the vineyard you slowly undulate upwards towards Tenterden....

Ricechrisb

It can be a bit treacherous underfoot, and sometimes flooded in winter, between Smallhythe Place and Tilder Gill south of Tenterden but if you're ready for that then it isn't a problem....

Ricechrisb

The correct route is to follow the path along the railway fencing then cross the field just to the north of the path that terminates....

DjWalker