Wadhurst Park – 6 miles

  Mid-spring is upon us once more, and we arrived at the start of another adventure. For today’s walk, we would be undertaking a new route around Wadhurst Park, and the start of this one was unusual. Normally we park up in a car park or along the street in some little village. However, the start of this one was literally by the side of some random country lane.  Whilst it felt a little like abandoning the car, the advantage was (once we had found the start line) that we were literally immediately immersed in the countryside.

  We set off into a bright, sunny day down a wide farm track just gone noon, lined with spring flowers, and a tractor trundled past, blowing a cloud of dusty dirt through the air. We made our way through the farmyard and followed the track, which bared round to the left and began to climb slowly uphill. At this moment, we saw ahead a field of mother cows and their calves, one of which immediately spotted us and mooed a warning. Thankfully, we found that the path took us up and around the edge, crucially on the other side of the fence. We walked along and watched as the herd of cows trotted up the field beside us, evidently disturbed by our presence in a way that only mother cows can be.

  At the top of the hill, we turned into the day’s first patch of trees, ‘Batt Wood’. We became a little distracted by the bluebells here and so managed to miss our turning, but we quickly realised our mistake and doubled back. We made our way back down hill amongst the trees, tipped with young leaves above, and turned left at the bottom of the hill. The path through the trees was soaked in sun and decorated with flowers and butterflies as we got our first glimpses of the Wadhurst Park lake through the trees and spotted a very large buzzard flying about above. Bat Wood eventually came to an end as we walked through a gate into the park. The terrain was undulating open countryside, and as we made our way over a bridge across a slow stream, we decided to stop for a game of pooh-sticks. Beth won, and we carried on our way. We went briefly uphill before taking a footpath off to the left. This took us past a patch of next year’s Christmas trees and a few sheep before crossing back over the stream. We walked past a colony of flowery wild garlic and then into the day’s second woodland. This felt a little elven and was very bright and again littered with all the flowers of spring – we also spotted a deer leaping away through the trees.

  The trees opened up again and we saw more butterflies before walking past another farm and picking up a bridleway. This was notable for both its bluebell lining and the fact that Beth spotted something that looked like a giant Lego brick in the dirt. As a result, we decided to walk like Lego people for the next twenty yards – this was fun and something we did several times more before we got home. The track arrived back beside the stream and went left along its bank. There was, however, a tempting-looking bridge that went right, and so we crossed back and forth a couple of times whilst pretending to be riding horses before carrying on. At this point, the day was getting late, so we found a spot where the bank looked particularly sittable by one of its little meanders, and we stopped for lunch whilst watching the sun light glittering off the running water between its green banks.

  The rest of the walk was largely along side the stream, and the path was lined with continual scatterings of wild garlic, bluebells and assorted other flowers amongst trees. We also came across a swing suspended from a branch, which dropped rather a lot when I had a go. The stream continued as the trees gave way to open farmland, and the bright sun shone warmly down as we made our way back toward the car. Just as we thought all was said and done, we crossed the road to our last couple of fields and managed to get lost in the first one – this was probably caused by the distraction of a pair of sheep looking at us. After walking around the edge of the field to find the way out, we successfully crossed the second, which brought us out just down the road from the car, and we made it back a little before three o’clock.

  This walk was a lovely short (ish) walk through the High Weald. I can’t think of another walk that does such a successful job of submerging you in the local countryside. There is next to no road walking and only two quiet crossings; other than that, it is completely uninterrupted. I think next time, it might be good to try in summer, thanks to the nice open stretches combined with the long wooded sections to provide the relief of shade.

  Afterward, we jumped in the car and whizzed down the road back to good old Lamberhurst. We parked up by Beth’s old flat and walked down the road to The Chequers. This had closed down a few months ago, much to our distress, but we are delighted to say it has re-opened! We sat in the garden, relieved to be back. They now have Hawkstone Cider on tap, and their house lager is definitely one I could see myself having a session on. We then went for a bonus walk around Scotney Castle to see if we could spot some lambs, but alas, no luck – although we did see three young bullocks chilling together. On this note, it is my semi-seasoned opinion that spring is a little late this year. Yes, the mud dried up weirdly early, but besides from that, everything seems to be a little delayed. I would expect the bluebells and the garlic to be a couple weeks further on than they are currently, possibly due to the cold mornings we are still experiencing. Not that this matters; it’s just an observation really, and everything will arrive when it is good and ready!

After all, nature is never late.

Nor is she early.

She arrives precisely when she means to.

Full walk available here.