Section 2
Painters Forstal to Eastling
Walk Details
Walk Instructions
Robust Ramble – Kent Triangle - Faversham – Wadhurst – New Romney – Faversham
Section 2 Out
Painters Forstal to Eastling
Total Circular Distance: 6 miles (3 hours)
OS Map: Explorer 149 Sittingbourne & Faversham
Start: The Alma pub at Painters Forstal, limited on-street parking.
Comment: A slightly demanding walk in isolated country. Footpaths need careful following in places as some orchards have gone and with it the line of the path. Some terrain is hard going. Sadly the very last stretch into Eastling is along a path enclosed with industrial sheeting. Not very enjoyable. An alternative down the edge of the wood is suggested.
With The Alma pub on your right and a playground on the left, go forward a few paces to a Y-fork. Bear left downhill.
Pass Painters Farm and caravan site at the end of the road and continue through wooden gates into a field. Go straight ahead to a second gate, then on, to a third with a house in the distance.
Cross an arable field to a telegraph pole and trees at the far side. Bear left along the edge of the field to a junction of ways at a corner.
Turn left on a footpath, still along the edge of the field. Soon reach and cross a road to a metal kissing gate opposite.
Enter an orchard and go up the edge with a hedge on your left. Leave the orchard through a gate and continue by the hedge for half a mile. Finally exit through a gate onto a road.
Turn left and immediately right by a metal fieldgate, into a field. Cross over to farm buildings. Turn right to a corner then left up the side of the buildings and on to pass the farm house.
At this point the path should go straight ahead through orchards, to pass through a hedge at the far side and then turn right downhill by the side of the hedge to the bottom corner. The orchards have now gone. A waymark post suggests going diagonally down the field to the bottom left corner.
Either way, from the bottom corner the path continues through an impressive barrier of six vertical railway sleepers. The next section has no waymarks. Through the barrier go down by a hedge on your left a short way. Turn left through a wide gap into the adjoining field. Go forward, downhill, along the edge of the field with trees on your right.
Bear around to the right and down to the bottom of the valley. Here there is a waymark post by a metal fieldgate. Go straight up the field, on a rutted track, with a hedge on your left to the top corner of the field.
Here turn right along the top edge of the field with a hedge on your left. At the end of the field reach a junction of tracks. Turn left along the top edge of a field. Continue through a metal kissing gate and on, on a rough track to pass a house and exit onto a road. Bear left up the road.
At a sharp left bend go straight ahead, over a field, towards a wind generator. Enter a wood at the far side. Either turn left on a path up the side of the wood to reach a road and turn right, or cross to a path beyond which bears slightly left into and across the wood (the wood is pleasant to walk through but reaches a long enclosed path at the far side leading out to the road. This path, enclosed between 6ft industrial roofing panels, IS THE MOST HORRIBLE enclosed path ever experienced, although it is easy walking.).
Either way on reaching the road, turn right and follow along to eventually reach The Carpenters Arms in Eastling and the end of the section.
Robust Ramble – Kent Triangle - Faversham – Wadhurst – New Romney – Faversham
Section 2 Return
Eastling to Painters Forstal
Total Circular Distance: 6 miles (3 hours)
OS Map: Explorer 149 Sittingbourne & Faversham
Start: The Carpenters Arms in Eastling, there is a car park for patrons and limited on-street parking.
Comment: A reasonable walk in undulating countryside to start with. However the second half is all along a country road. The grounds of Belmont House have extinguished all footpaths so there is no alternative. Use an informal path along the edge of the woods if available.
With the front of The Carpenters Arms on your left, walk back up the road past houses on your left. Ignore a footpath off right going across to the church and keep up the road.
Pass a road going off left and soon turn right on a footpath up a bank into a field.
Cross the field, diagonally left, to a lone tree in the hedge. Pass through the hedge and continue across the next field to a line of trees – a farm is over on the left.
Turn right along the field edge with the line of trees on your left. At the end, bear diagonally left, towards a lone cottage. Keep on in the same direction and pass the cottage on your left.
Ignore a track down right and walk across a grassy area with a sloping field on your right. Keep along the top of the field a short way looking for a path going diagonally left down, and across, the field towards the far bottom left corner of a wood.
At this recessed corner. Enter the woods and drop down to the valley bottom. Cross a stile into a long pasture. Turn left to go all the way along the valley at this level, mostly following the treeline on your left, out to a road junction. Cross the immediate road and go up to the higher road and turn left.
There now follows a mile of road walking on a country road with occasional light traffic, so take care.
After ½ mile reach some houses on your left. Here a feint path goes off right into the trees and turns left to parallel the road for ¼ mile. This is not a public right of way but there are no prohibition notices and it is presumably used by local walkers. It emerges back on the road at a side road called Box Lane.
Either way, from the houses follow the road which reaches and passes Box Lane off left and continues to a junction at Kennaways. Bear left, still on the road.
Pass a camping site on your right. The road continues uphill, then begins to drop down.
Look for a footpath off left behind a metal safely barrier. Go steeply uphill on steps. Pass by houses at the top.
Emerge at a road junction by a church in Painters Forstal. Go straight across and up the road ahead to soon reach The Alma pub and the start of the section.
