A new year and a new Sunday rolled around – huzzah!
With them too has come a bad back for Beth, who bravely took some painkillers before we stepped out the door toward our first venture out into 2026. The early January day came with an expected hard frost, with snow from the previous week still sprinkled around. We wrapped up warm with multiple layers, gloves, and hats, before setting off into a bright and blue-skyed winter’s day.
We headed off down the ginnel from Hawkhurst Moor at about half past eleven, along the frozen footpath around the edge of the town and through the grounds of the school. Beyond this, we walked down a quiet lane out into the countryside, which was coated with sheets of ice in several places, requiring a little more concentration than usual. Our first stop was to see a herd of Alpacas. We detoured a few yards down a footpath to get a better view of the animals enjoying the sun on their coats and the taste of the crispy, cold grass.
At the top of the lane we turned off to the right. The footpath is supposed to cross over a stile into the farmland beyond, but on this occasion, we found that the stile was out of working order. Having previously been falling into disrepair, it has since fallen completely. The farmer seems to be somewhat unbothered – tut-tut. We could see where other walkers had been hopping over the fence to the left of the gate, and so did the same, climbing past a pair of warning signs – Bulls and Suckler calves. Both things to be wary of, it is true, however, we have encountered neither here before. Once again, all that we found on the pasture was a flock of sheep.
Soon after we arrived at an area signed as a “Gamebird Conservation area.” As we followed an ancient footpath lined with trees, we saw and heard countless pheasants running, yelling and flying away, in the path, bushes and sloping field to our right, clearly greatly disturbed by our presence. Beyond these ridiculous animals, the track continued to be rock hard and frozen beneath our feet. This was very fortunate for us, here in particular, because this stretch had proven highly muddy previously, so much so that we would generally advise avoiding it until the warmer and drier months. However, here, I came up with the following rule:
When the day is frozen, look to a route that is never chosen
In short, if the day has a hard frost, take the opportunity to try out a notoriously muddy walk that you would never do in the winter otherwise – it must be good advice, because it rhymes! On this day, the frost was particularly hard. We had passed several frozen puddles along the way, and at one of them, Beth stopped. She pulled at a protruding stick and found that it was stuck fast. Curiously, she placed her left boot on the ice and steadily began to put her weight down. It was indeed strong and looked to be holding her well. However, just as she was about to put the majority of her weight onto the ice, there was a loud crash, and the ice gave way. Fortunately, her quick reactions, combined with a husband standing nearby to grab onto, meant she avoided a freezing wet foot.
We passed the large duckpond, whose residents were wisely hiding away in the sunshine somewhere (we could hear them even if we couldn’t see them, sounding like witches cackling through the trees!). Shortly after, we emerged into the outer edge of the Bedgebury Pinetum. We walked a little way up the wide stone track before coming across a bench we had stopped at previously. Not foreseeing anywhere more likely, we decided to stop here for lunch today too. The bench was frosty, so we both put our coats down before we sat. The light shone through the trees as we refuelled, and after finishing a usual walking cuisine, we pulled out something *new and exciting*. For Christmas, we had been gifted a little blue thermos, which we had brought with us on this most frozen of days. We unscrewed the stop, and the steam rose invitingly through the icy air. Inside awaited a treat of Hot Chocolate – the perfect potion for the chill! We passed the thermos between us, sharing its warming and welcome contents.
Even though we were barely leaving Bedgbury’s very edge, last time we had still managed to get lost on its network of tracks. We were conscious of this, yet despite my close monitoring of the map, we very nearly did the same again. Fortunately, we noticed quickly enough and retraced our steps. The inadvertent detour led us over some particularly cool frozen puddles with interestingly shaped air bubbles trapped beneath – so all worked out well.
After emerging from the trees, we carried on through more open countryside. We heard a noise which I identified as a cow, but Beth suggested was actually some kind of machine. We then heard it again, and she interestingly changed her mind to “Elephant”. However after a very quick and clear follow-up “moo”, she also concluded that the noise was actually being omitted from a cow, as opposed to a large, grey-trunked animal. The track brought us up into a farmyard, and we walked up the frozen driveway, past some cottages and then over the main road at the top. We then carried on a long a quiet lane opposite through the middle of large, open farmland, before heading down another long, bumpy driveway off to the right.
This soon led us back out into a series of arable fields, where in places the mud had finally begun to defrost – but only slightly. We then arrived at the start of a long Orchard, with many apples still hanging from branches, for some reason not harvested from last year. In fact, these fruits looked so ripe and red and enticing that eventually I just had to pluck one off. It was cold, sweet and crunchy, and was the best apple I have ever eaten. I believe what I did was scrumping – a traditional country pastime, if technically not allowed…
Not long after this, the farmland finally gave way to the outskirts of Hawkhurst’s Moorside. We made our way through the old lanes and soon enough reappeared on the green where the car waited for us. Just outside of Hawkhurst was a pub we had yet to stop at – The Great House – which Beth had suggested we try out as we were walking through the trees of Bedgebury. And so on the way home we did, stopping for a pint and a glass of mulled wine – a great end to another fantastic day in the High Weald, and an excellent start to the year!
Matthew G. Huggins 