Section 6 Return
Tenterden to Smallhythe
Walk Details
| Map | OS Explorer 125 Romney Marsh |
|---|---|
| Distance/Time | 4 miles/ 2hours |
| Start | The William Caxton pub by the traffic lights at the Rolvenden end of Tenterden; difficult long term parking in Tenterden |
| Comment | A meandering return through varied countryside. Be careful with choices at several junctions of tracks and paths. There are many stiles and a little road walking. |
Walk Instructions
From the William Caxton pub, cross the main Tenterden road to the other side by a restaurant. Turn left and walk along the pavement towards Rolvenden and Hastings. In 200 metres cross the road using a centre refuge and turn left down the roadway to West View Care Centre.
Keep on this private road for some way. Bear left uphill (ignore a footpath turning off right) passing the care home on the right. At the top of the hill there is a road junction. Go onto a footpath into woods in the angle between the two roads.
Turn right through the trees and soon emerge into a field on the right. Turn right along the field edge for a short distance to reach a junction of paths. Turn sharp left on the lefthand of two paths which cross the field, and head towards a power line pole with an oasthouse just left.
At the far side reach a driveway. Cross straight over and go forward along a field edge with a fence on the right. Soon reach a stile on the right and cross into an area of trees and grass. Keep on in the same direction but bear across to another fence on the right, keep on along this.
The fence soon becomes a tall hedge. Follow this to a stile in the corner. Cross and keep on downhill with a fence on the right to a further stile. Cross into an open field.
Continue over, to enter trees at the far side and cross a footbridge into a rising field. Bear left up the steepest part of the field to the highest point. As the treeline over on the left turns sharply away go on over the open field heading just right of a house in the distance towards the end of a treeline coming up from the right.
Reach the end of the treeline and keep on over the open field beyond. Soon reach and pass a dense clump of bushes on the left and reach a T-junction with a farm track.
Turn left on this and go along past the house on the right and on for some way along the top edge of a field. This track passes the end of the field and drops down left around trees to meet a junction of tracks. Ignore the first one on the left which enters a field, and take the next left going off between hedges (ignore the third wide track also between hedges but with a ditch alongside).
Follow this track for some way. It eventually becomes a vehicle drive at a hamlet. Keep straight on through the houses ignoring side turnings. Soon reach and pass through Morghew Farm to reach a cattle grid. Cross this and pass a concrete block road on the right. Immediately leave the drive through a gate and follow the fence on the left along the edge of a wood.
Soon reach a stile on the left. Cross into a field and bear right downhill towards a building. Reach and pass through a gateway and head to the left side of the building. Just beyond an oak tree is a narrow stile. Cross and keep forward passing the back of the building (a pavilion) and follow the fence on the left. Ignore a stile in the corner ahead and follow the hedge to the right and then left to emerge onto a road through the entrance to a cricket pitch.
Turn right, with care, along the road using verges where possible. Pass houses on the left then Ratsbury Oast. Ignore a footpath turning off left and keep on a little further past a white clapperboard house to reach a stile in the hedge on the left.
Cross and go along by a fence on the right to a kissing gate. Through this bear left (ignore a grassy track going ahead between hedges) to a fence and turn right along a rough farm track.
Just before the entrance to a farm cross a stile on the left by a wooden fieldgate and go on along a fence on the right. Opposite the farm buildings on the right, turn sharp left to go down a grassy track between hedges. At the bottom cross a stile into a field and bear diagonally right across the centre to a stile by a tall tree at the far side. Cross and keep on diagonally right across a large pasture to a stile in the far opposite corner. Cross and drop down steps to a driveway.
Turn right on this. Just past a pond on the left, turn left over a stile into a field. Follow the hedge on the left downhill and, where the hedge ends, keep forward slightly left downhill towards a telegraph pole at the far hedge.
Cross two stiles to a drive. Go over to a gate and enter a field. Keep on downhill to another stile and then a kissing gate which leads to a steep set of steps, down a bank to a road.
Turn left along the road looking for a footpath going off right through a metal fieldgate into a field. Walk away from the road with a hedgerow on the left. Where the hedge ends go on bearing slightly left across the open field to a stile at the far side.
Cross into bushes and meet a T-junction with a cross path. Turn left along this enclosed path for some way. Cross a farm track and keep on down through trees. The track becomes a vehicle drive. Pass farm buildings on the left and keep on to circle around an isolated cottage.
At the far side look for a short plank bridge going left into a field. Cross the field bearing diagonally right away from the cottage. At the far side of the field cross a footbridge and stile into a pasture and keep on slightly left uphill towards a barn on the hill ahead.
At the far side cross a stile by a rusty field gate (with alpacas in adjoining field) onto a rough farm track. Follow this and soon pass vines on the right. Where the track meets and enters trees leave it and climb up the bank towards the vines. Bear left to follow around the field edge towards a wooden building at the top of the rise.
Pass the building and keep on through the outbuildings of Tenterden Vineyard to pass a shop and car park and emerge onto the road at Small Hythe and the start of the section.
