{"id":2187,"date":"2021-01-16T02:01:04","date_gmt":"2021-01-16T01:01:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/?p=2187"},"modified":"2021-01-10T21:36:26","modified_gmt":"2021-01-10T20:36:26","slug":"dunks-green-hurst-wood-kent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/?p=2187","title":{"rendered":"Dunk\u2019s Green &#038; Hurst Wood, Kent"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">function popwalk(walk) {var url = \"\/Walks\/amap.php?f=\"+walk; varwalkwindow=window.open(url,\"walkwin\",\"height=740,width=1230,resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes\"); if (window.focus) {walkwindow.focus()}}<\/script><br \/> First published in: The Times <a href=\"javascript:popwalk('HurstWood.jpg');\" rel=\"nozoom\" title=\"Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window\">Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50667269518_7507f6fdf5_z.jpg\" title= \"50667269518 field path to Old Soar 2\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50667269518_7507f6fdf5_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50668089352_2839beeb7d_z.jpg\" title= \"50668089352 catkins screen the valley near Old Soar\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50668089352_2839beeb7d_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50667269213_bf2276aa46_z.jpg\" title= \"50667269213 oasts near Hurst Wood\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50667269213_bf2276aa46_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50668014591_1218bf94d8_z.jpg\" title= \"50668014591 field path to Old Soar 1\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50668014591_1218bf94d8_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50667269663_8a0ccb52a7_z.jpg\" title= \"50667269663 reedmace and oasts near Old Soar\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50667269663_8a0ccb52a7_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50668089977_076d02b2e4_z.jpg\" title= \"50668089977 sign in Plaxtol Spout, commemorating ancient ironworking craft of the area\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50668089977_076d02b2e4_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50668090167_5a6256e249_z.jpg\" title= \"50668090167 carefully managed windbreak spinney near Plaxtol Spout 2\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50668090167_5a6256e249_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50668015251_d60a8c0a35_z.jpg\" title= \"50668015251 carefully managed windbreak spinney near Plaxtol Spout 1\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50668015251_d60a8c0a35_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50667270388_40305d2c95_z.jpg\" title= \"50667270388 lane from Gover Hill to the Greensand Way\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50667270388_40305d2c95_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50668015616_f2a1d8a2d8_z.jpg\" title= \"50668015616 coppicing near Yotes Court\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50668015616_f2a1d8a2d8_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nFacebook Link: <script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/wordpress\/?p=2187\" layout=\"button_count\" show_faces=\"true\" width=\"200\" colorscheme=\"dark\"><\/fb:like><br \/>\n<a href=\"javascript:pwindow=window.open('\/Walks\/prn.php?f=2187','pwin','height=700,width=1000,resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes');\" title=\"Click for printable version\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/Walks\/print.gif\" align=\"right\"><\/a><br \/>\nAcross the Low Weald of Kent the sun was flooding paddocks and pastures with a rich wash of gold. It was one of those cold bright winter days when you can dream of spring, even though there isn\u2019t a flower to be seen. <\/p>\n<p>We set off from Dunk\u2019s Green along footpaths dry and crunchy over the underlying greensand. Out in the fields it was a different matter. Brooks and ditches brimmed with winter rain, and every step brought a squelch and squirt underfoot.<\/p>\n<p>On the outskirts of Plaxtol Spout a flock of siskins flirted among the alder cones they were feeding on. Beyond lay Old Soar Manor, a jumbled old structure with a very ancient building attached \u2013 a knight\u2019s dwelling, built some seven hundred years ago by one of the local Culpeper family, of solid red ragstone with tiny arrow-slits in the walls.<\/p>\n<p>Walking on, we wondered what this bowl of country might have looked like seven centuries ago. When did today\u2019s immaculate apple and fruit orchards make their appearance, and when did money begin to lay out these manicured lawns and plant such immaculate hedges?<\/p>\n<p>Up in Hurst Wood the ways were rutted and muddy, the views sublime. Winter had stripped away the leafy screens of the trees to reveal long wooded ridges in the distance, all painted in muted greys and blues by the low afternoon light.<\/p>\n<p>We passed the smoke and small flames of a clearing where a forester was coppicing sweet chestnut, and descended green lanes to handsome red-and-white Yotes Court.<\/p>\n<p>This lovely house was built in the last days of the Commonwealth by James Master, a gentleman whose expenses book still survives. What he spent his wealth on gives a good idea of who he was \u2013 a man of leisure, a hawker and rider, a gambler and cock fighter. A wide reader, too, and quite a dandy \u2013 his boot tops of sea-green silk were each embellished with a yard of costly lace.<\/p>\n<p>The countryside where his house stands is embellished, too. Our homeward path lay past apple orchards and raspberry cages, shaven pastures and perfectly shaped hedges, among which the mellow brick farms and white-capped oasts sat ensconced like so many plump and satisfied judges after dinner.<\/p>\n<p>How hard is it? 7\u00bc miles; easy; muddy in woods<\/p>\n<p>Start: Kentish Rifleman, Dunk\u2019s Green, Tonbridge, Kent TN11 9RU (OS ref TQ 613527)<\/p>\n<p>Getting there: Bus 222 (Wrotham \u2013 Tunbridge Wells)<br \/>\nRoad &#8211; M26, Jct 2a; A25 Borough Green; follow \u2018Plaxtol\u2019, then \u2018Dunk\u2019s Green\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Walk (OS Explorer 148): From pub, right along road. In 250m, left (615527, fingerpost\/FP) to cross road (613433, FP). Bear left to stile\/road (611534); right into Plaxtol Spout. Right (611537, \u2018The Street\u2019, \u2018Crouch\u2019). In 200m right (612538, FP). In 650m path approaches Old Soar; fork left (618541, arrow) to road (619540). Left; in 400m, right (\u2018West Peckham\u2019); in 200m, left (624543, FP) into woods. In 200m, right (626543,); in 400m, right (628541); in 50m, left (white arrow). In 150m fork right (630540) to T-junction (631538). Left; in 150m, opposite gate, right (631540) down path, eastward for 1 mile to road (646539) in Swanton Valley. Dogleg left\/right and on; just before Yotes Court, right at junction (650535) for \u2154 mile to road (641533). Right; in 15m fork left. In 400m fork left (636533). In 600m cross Gover Hill crossroads (631530); bridleway downhill to junction (630524); right, following Greensand Way for 1\u00bc miles to Dunk\u2019s Green.<\/p>\n<p>Lunch: Kentish Rifleman, Dunk\u2019s Green (01732-810727, <a href=\"http:\/\/thekentishrifleman.co.uk\">thekentishrifleman.co.uk<\/a>) \u2013 takeaways available (ring to check).<\/p>\n<p>Accommodation: Bull Hotel, Wrotham TN15 7RF (01732-789800, <a href=\"http:\/\/thebullhotel.com\">thebullhotel.com<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>Info:  <a href=\"http:\/\/visitsoutheastengland.com\">visitsoutheastengland.com<\/a>; <a href=\"http:\/\/satmap.com\">satmap.com<\/a>; <a href=\"http:\/\/ramblers.org.uk\">ramblers.org.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Across the Low Weald of Kent the sun was flooding paddocks and pastures with a rich wash of gold. It was one of those cold bright winter days when you can dream of spring, even though there isn\u2019t a flower to be seen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-walks","category-3-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2187\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}