{"id":529,"date":"2012-08-04T02:53:26","date_gmt":"2012-08-04T02:53:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/?p=529"},"modified":"2012-08-04T07:33:46","modified_gmt":"2012-08-04T07:33:46","slug":"octavia-hill-centenary-trail-toy%e2%80%99s-hill-kent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/?p=529","title":{"rendered":"Octavia Hill Centenary Trail, Toy\u2019s Hill, Kent"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you are going to be a champion of this country\u2019s heritage and the survival of all that\u2019s best about it, Kent seems the ideal place to have as your bedrock.<br \/>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\">window.onload = setupZoom; function popwalk(walk) {var url = \"\/Walks\/amap.php?f=\"+walk; var walkwindow=window.open(url,\"walkwin\",\"height=600,width=1100,resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes\"); if (window.focus) {walkwindow.focus()}}<\/script>First published in: The Times <a href=\"javascript:popwalk('Octavia.gpx');\" 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><\/script><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7103\/7345540538_e13da3e4b4.jpg\" title='milkmaids'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7103\/7345540538_e13da3e4b4_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7234\/7160333243_3e11ee4ede.jpg\" title='oasts at Frenchstreet Farm'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7234\/7160333243_3e11ee4ede_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7088\/7345545208_44268b2bee.jpg\" title='farm in Puddledock Lane'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7088\/7345545208_44268b2bee_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8008\/7160337937_23ce1cdf0b.jpg\" title='oasts at Chartwell'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8008\/7160337937_23ce1cdf0b_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7217\/7160342035_86038db36c.jpg\" title='lamb'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7217\/7160342035_86038db36c_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7074\/7160343557_68b1cd0b67.jpg\" title='Froghole Farm'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7074\/7160343557_68b1cd0b67_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7088\/7345554546_b422135135.jpg\" title='bluebell path on Mariners Hill'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7088\/7345554546_b422135135_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7079\/7160347927_34a6c6c5cd.jpg\" title='Chartwell'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7079\/7160347927_34a6c6c5cd_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=529\" layout=\"button_count\" show_faces=\"true\" width=\"200\" colorscheme=\"dark\"><\/fb:like><br \/>\nTwo contrasting but quintessentially English fighters for freedoms are celebrated on this walk through the Garden of England: Octavia Hill, one of the founders and pioneering visionaries of the National Trust, and Sir Winston Churchill \u2013 now, what did he ever do for us?<\/p>\n<p>Octavia Hill\u2019s large, calm eyes, generous mouth and determined chin show to advantage in the portrait that features in the National Trust\u2019s leaflet guide to the Centenary Trail they have set up in her honour. We picked up the leaflet from the Toy\u2019s Hill car park dispenser and set off through the bluebell woods on a misty day, with the Weald of Kent lying veiled in thick dove-grey air. Octavia Hill lived locally in Crockham Hill, and her gift of property at Toy\u2019s Hill in 1898 was one of the first made to the infant NT. Since then a big swathe of these lovely wooded hills has been acquired by the Trust, a slice of England to be safeguarded for ever by the organisation that most of us take for granted and for whose existence all of us should thank our lucky stars.<\/p>\n<p>Twisty old beech pollards, warty and knobbled, stood in the mossy banks of the bridleway, their multiple smooth-skinned arms shooting skywards. Tiny hornbeam and ash suckers grew among them, rooted in rotting tree debris still evincing the terrible destruction of 1987\u2019s Great Storm over southern England.<\/p>\n<p>On Toy\u2019s Hill village notice board a poster in a child\u2019s huge wobbly writing advertised \u2018Purfyoom For Sale\u2019. We followed Puddledock Lane, a deep holloway in the soft greensand with sublime misted views out across the woods and fields of the Weald, past fields of fat white lambs and a cow pasture where a fox went slinking across the grass between utterly oblivious cattle. Chartwell was a huddle of red tiled roofs and white-capped oasts sailing in a frothy pink sea of apple blossom. Here in the big red Victorian house Winston Churchill painted his depressions away, walked the gardens, lived surprisingly modestly, and looked out on a view of meadows and wooded ridges as supremely English as any call-to-arms wartime leader could desire in the way of inspiration.<\/p>\n<p>Beyond Chartwell we followed a mesh of beech-shaded country lanes to Crockham Hill, where Octavia Hill lies under a yew tree in the churchyard. On through buttercup meadows to high-perched Froghole Farm, all half-timbering, red tiles and oast caps, and then a final bluebell path over Mariners Hill to descend to Toy\u2019s Hill once more.<\/p>\n<p>START &#038; FINISH: Toy\u2019s Hill NT car park, Chart Lane, Toy\u2019s Hill, near Westerham, Kent TN16 1QG (OS ref TQ 469517).<\/p>\n<p>GETTING THERE:<br \/>\nM25 Jcts 6 or 5; A25 Sevenoaks-Westerham; turn off in Brasted on minor road through Brasted Chart; car park on right, just before Toy\u2019s Hill.<\/p>\n<p>WALK (6 miles, moderate, OS Explorer 147):<\/p>\n<p>Go up steps behind information board; follow Olivia Hill Centenary\/OHC waymarks through woods. In 300 m at junction, turn left (468514\/OHC); at lawn area below (469513) bear left down tunnel of hollies to road (470513). Right past phone box along Puddledock Lane. In \u2154 mile pass foot of lane by \u2018Windswept\u2019 house (462509); in 100 m, right over stile (fingerpost, OHC) on fenced path to Chartwell. Pass oasts and Herdsman\u2019s Cottage; up lane to road (453513). Left; in 50 m, right up Mariners drive (fingerpost). In 200 m at sharp right bend, ahead through gate (453510, OHC); in 275 m, at 3-way fingerpost, bear left down lane and on down green lane. At crossroads near Coachmans bear right (451507, OHC) on lane for \u00bd mile to Crockham Hill.<\/p>\n<p>At B2026 (442506; Royal Oak PH on your left), turn right; in 50 m, right past school and church. Go through gate (444507, OHC); on across fields for \u2153 mile to Froghole; at top of long flight of steps, left (449509) along lane past Froghole Farm to B2026 (448513). Right here up steps (OHC) and follow OHC through woods and over Mariners Hill for \u00bd mile. In trees again near road at Chartwell, watch for left turn uphill (453514, OHC) on path. In \u00bc mile, descend to cross road at Chartwell entrance gates (453519).<\/p>\n<p>Ahead along bridleway (OHC). In \u00bc mile cross road (456522, OHC) and on for \u2154 mile to French Street. At road, right (459527, OHC) along road for \u00bd mile past Frenchstreet Farm. At a fork, left uphill (463521, OHC) into Toy\u2019s Hill Woods. Follow track (ignore side turns) and OHC past site of Weardale House (468518). In 100 m, fork left; in another 20 m, right (OHC) to car park.<\/p>\n<p>LUNCH: Royal Oak, Crockham Hill (01732-866335, <a href=\"http:\/\/westerhambrewery.co.uk\">westerhambrewery.co.uk<\/a>); NT Restaurant at Chartwell (01732-863087).<\/p>\n<p>ACCOMMODATION: King\u2019s Arms, Westerham, Kent TN16 1AN (01959-562990; <a href=\"http:\/\/oldenglishinns.co.uk\/westerham\">oldenglishinns.co.uk\/westerham<\/a>) <\/p>\n<p>Chartwell (NT): 01732-868381; <a href=\"http:\/\/nationaltrust.org.uk\/chartwell\/\">nationaltrust.org.uk\/chartwell\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Octavia Hill Centenary Trail: Leaflets at Chartwell and Toy\u2019s Hill car park.<\/p>\n<p>NT Octavia Hill photo competition to celebrate her love of green places (closes 31 August) \u2013 <a href=\"http:\/\/nationaltrust.org.uk\/yourspace\/\">nationaltrust.org.uk\/yourspace<\/a>.<br \/>\n<A HREF=\"http:\/\/www.ramblers.org.uk\/\">www.ramblers.org.uk<\/A> <A HREF=\"http:\/\/www.satmap.com\/\">www.satmap.com<\/A> <A HREF=\"http:\/\/www.LogMyTrip.co.uk\/\">www.LogMyTrip.co.uk<\/A><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you are going to be a champion of this country\u2019s heritage and the survival of all that\u2019s best about it, Kent seems the ideal place to have as your bedrock.<\/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-529","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":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}