Randonnée circulaire dans le Kent : Oxted via Chartwell

Êtes-vous à la recherche d'une randonnée stimulante ? Si c'est le cas, cette randonnée circulaire vallonnée dans le Kent est faite pour vous ! Lorsque je me suis inscrite à un marathon de randonnée de 26 miles (42 km), j'ai su que je devais me mettre à niveau en termes d'entraînement. C'est ainsi que je suis tombée sur cette randonnée organisée par Les accros du plein air. Quand je l'ai vu, je me suis tout de suite inscrit et c'est l'une des randonnées les plus difficiles que j'ai faites près de Londres. Êtes-vous prêt à relever le défi ?

Clause de non-responsabilité : Certains groupes de randonneurs basés à Londres peuvent proposer les mêmes randonnées ou des randonnées similaires via Chartwell. Vous pouvez trouver plus d'informations ici.

Logistique pour la marche circulaire dans le Kent

Points forts de la promenade circulaire dans le Kent

Oxted via Chartwell Walk

Maintenant que nous avons couvert les bases, passons à la marche !

Oxted

Nous commençons notre promenade dans la ville de campagne de OxtedOxted est une ville de banlieue située à 35,4 km de Londres. Oxted est une ville de banlieue avec des trains directs pour les gares de Londres Victoria et London Bridge. En sortant de la gare, nous descendons Station Road East, tournons à gauche dans Gresham Road et remontons la rue pour arriver à Limpsfield. Nous traversons la zone résidentielle et l'A25 pour entrer dans les bois de Limpsfield Common.

Nous montons progressivement à travers les bois en direction du club de golf. À la sortie du Gold Course, nous rencontrons quelques vaches. Nous traversons ensuite le quartier résidentiel de Limpsfield Chart jusqu'à nous arrivons à la Graphique en hauteurbois. Nous entrons dans la forêt et marchons sur le sentier jusqu'au point le plus haut à Pile Goodley.

Westerham

Nous sortons des bois et admirons la vue sur la ville de Westerham. La ville a été colonisée il y a des milliers d'années, comme en témoignent les vestiges de fortifications celtiques. Mais pas le temps de visiter Westerham ! Dès que nous atteignons la ville, nous faisons demi-tour et commençons à monter Hosey Hill. Nous nous arrêtons au sommet de la colline pour une collation bien méritée.

Nous reprenons le sentier et passons devant le quartier résidentiel de Hosey Hill et ses beaux cottages. En continuant notre ascension, nous entrons dans Hosey CommonNous sortons du bois et traversons le bois. Nous sortons de la forêt et arrivons au hameau de Rue française(J'adore ce nom).

Scords Wood: A garden and a house

We walk down the hill and immediately go back up another hill as we enter Scords woods. At this point, we reach 808 feet (246m) elevation, which is the highest elevation of this hike. We walk towards Emmetts Gardens, where we stop for lunch.

Emmetts Garden, formerly farmland until 1860, received its name from the local word “emmett” which means “ants”. It is said that giant anthills were covering the site until 1950. But I can tell you that the ants are still there and they are a bit of a lunch spoiler. I strongly recommend that you carry a sitting mat with you to avoid ant bites.

The house and the land were bought by Frederic Lubbock in 1890. The Edwardian-style garden was built between 1893 and 1895 by William Robinson, a friend of the owner. The garden is opened to the public and I highly recommend you take the time to visit it during the lunch break. You will find a variety of plants, flowers such as roses and spring flowers, and trees. We were lucky to come here during spring as the trees were in bloom.

We leave the garden hoping to have a nice and fairly flat post-lunch walk. But no! We come immediately face to face with Toy Hill. We walk up the hill and arrive at the site of the remains of what used to be one of Octavia Hill‘s first properties. Octavia, born in 1838, was an English Social Reformer. She is famous for her work to alleviate poverty and to help save sites such as Hampstead Heath and Parliament Hill Fields from urban development. She was one of the 3 founders of the National Trust. We admire the view over the fields from what used to be a terrace and go back onto Toy Hill.

Maison Chartwell

We start our descent following a lovely path border by bushes. When we arrive at the bottom, we come face to face with horses. But no time to rest, we need to walk uphill back to the hamlet of French Street (OK, I admit it. I love that place). We keep going up and enter Horsey Common woods. Following the trail across the woods, we then come out of the wood onto a busy road. We cross the road and enter Mariner’s Hill woods. As the name suggests, we continue to go uphill. At the top, we are rewarded with a perfect view over Chartwell House. The house has been the home of Winston Churchill for over 40 years. This Grade I listed building was acquired by the National Trust in 1946 and was opened to the public in 1966.

Cottages and a manor

We continue along the trail in Mariner’s Hill woods and go up one more hill before we can finally enjoy a bit of descent. We admire the beautiful houses and cottages as we walk down through the village of Crockham Hill.

We leave the village and set foot onto green meadows where sheep and cows are grazing. Following the trail, we arrive at Tenchleys Manor, a sixteenth-century Grade II listed building. We find a spot in front of the manor to stop for a snack.

Back on the road, we climb the steepest hill of this hike to get to Tenchley’s Park woods. As we walk across the woods we see some bluebells. It is really early in the season so they are not in full bloom yet. On the other side of the wood, we are back at Limpsfields. However, we take a different route to get back to Oxted.

The last hill and back to Oxted

It’s the last stretch of this hike and we have one more hill to go. We start the last part by going down from Limpsfield to Hurst Green. Once we reach the village we have one last push up a hill leading to Limpsfield Common. From there we can enjoy the rest of the walk on flat ground, following the trail along the train tracks back to Oxted.

When I did this walk, Covid restrictions were still in place, so we could not end the walk in a pub. Instead, some members of the group bought a takeaway fish & chips and the rest of us went to a supermarket on the High Street to buy some snacks to eat on the way to the station. Bon appetit!

Map of the circular walk in Kent: Oxted via Chartwell

Cette promenade vous plaît ? Épinglez-la !

Vous cherchez d'autres promenades dans le Kent ? Vous aimeriez peut-être

D'Otford à Eynsford : Une promenade dominicale parfaite

D'Otford à Oxted : Une autre promenade dans les North Downs

Marche de Cuxton à Otford : Les North Downs

Sole Street Circular : Une promenade dans le Kent