Hamstreet, Kent - Saxon Shore Walking Routes

[Transcript from original web page. Last updated Nov 2024]

The information on this page may be freely copied for use on walks.

The village of Hamstreet is surrounded by public woodland including Hamstreet woods, an area of special scientific interest renowned for the presence of wild service trees and nightingales. 

The routes in this guide explore the contrasting elements of the local area, including Romney Marsh and the banks of the Royal Military Canal. 

Hamstreet is a great base for walkers because of its railway station, coffee shops in both the High Street and garden centre,  fish and chip shop, Indian restaurant, shops and Duke's Head pub. Note: wordings highlighted in bold are reference points that appear in different walks.

Hamstreet Village Circumnavigation (2½ miles)

From the crossroads head west along Warehorne Road. After 200 yards, you will notice a public footpath on your left running between two houses. The path is channelled around a couple of bends and across a bridge, eventually coming out onto a drive. Turn right to follow the drive around the left-hand bend and out to the High Street.

Cross the main road using the traffic island and turn right. When you are nearing the village sign (pause to read the plaque), look for a passageway on your left. Take this footpath around the back of the houses and cross Cock Lane, continuing straight ahead along the edge of the playing field and across the loop of Fairfield Terrace housing estate. The path continues directly onward up the driveway and into the field, right over the top of Cotton Hill and down the other side. Don’t forget to enjoy the views both ways at the summit.

The path goes through the gate to the right of the farmhouse at the bottom of the hill and after the stile, turns diagonally left to emerge onto the B2067 via a stile beneath a tree. Turn left to head back towards the village along the road, climbing the hill, taking great care. Just beyond the brow of the hill, you will notice a track-way on your right, signed ‘Orlestone Rise’. Wander up this track and at the end on your left you will find the entrance to Hamstreet Woods.

Follow the path (known as School Ride) into the woods, descending steeply. The path crosses Main Ride and descends some more, gradually curving right to end at a T-junction with ‘Stickles Path’; turn left to descend and cross the bridge, exiting the woods onto Bourne Lane. Pass through the swing-gate to your right and then another swing-gate immediately left. The path now heads along the left-hand field-edge. You will pass through a housing development and then climb a slope to the station. Use the steps or lift to cross the footbridge and walk down the car park on the opposite side of the station.

Turn right onto the opposite pavement along Ashford Road and then left up a steep gravel track. Where the track bends sharply to the right follow the surfaced path ahead, eventually descending across the field. Take the left-hand fork where the path splits and upon reaching Warehorne Road, turn left to follow the B2067 back to the village centre. Use the crossing beneath the railway bridge to change sides.

Ruckinge Loop (5 miles) 

A variation on this route was featured in the 'Top 50 best summer walks in Britain' in the Independent newspaper.

Head towards Hythe along the one-way street from the village crossroads and take the second turning left onto Bourne Lane. At the end of the lane, bear right, through the gate into Hamstreet Woods. 

As you enter the woods the Saxon Shore Way bridges a stream and bears sharp left. Then after around a hundred yards it forks right. Stay on the wide surfaced trail which runs right through the middle of the woods, gradually climbing for around a mile until it reaches a gate at the top of the woods. Go through the gate and continue up to the T-junction with Gill Lane byway. 

Bear left and climb out of the woods along the byway. The Saxon Shore Way then exits right along a farm track, while we continue ahead on Gill Lane (Greensand Way). 300 yards later you will reach a junction; turn right taking great care as this lane is narrow and bounded by hedges.

Several hundred yards later, you will reach another junction with a gravel surfaced byway leading straight ahead. Follow this all the way into the woods, around the sharp bend and on for around a mile descending to meet the B2067 near Herne Farm.

Turn right, walking westward along the road for a quarter of a mile to Ruckinge village. This is a historic settlement because of its smuggling connections; it is believed that the notorious Ransley brothers were hanged at Penenden Heath, Maidstone and buried in Ruckinge churchyard (St Mary Magdalene). 

Our route turns left at the T-junction after the former Blue Anchor pub to pass the former chapel. Feel free to take an optional detour along the B2067 for 300 yards to visit the parish church (if you enter the churchyard, look for the footpath on the left-hand-side of the church and follow this roughly due southeast down to the lane). 

Cross the bridge on the lane over the Royal Military Canal. It is now just a simple matter of turning right to follow the canal path back to Hamstreet. When you reach Hamstreet Bridge around a mile and a half later, turn right, and follow the road past the garden centre (including coffee shop) back into the village. Just after passing Mountain Farm on your right, there is a footpath on your left, which runs parallel to the road behind the hedge as you enter the village – a quiet alternative across a field and Pound Leas recreation ground to the car park in The Street, beyond which you will pass the Victorian 'Church of the Good Shepherd' (former chapel).

Bilsington Loop (7 miles) 

Follow the route of the ‘Ruckinge Loop’ as far as Herne Farm, Ruckinge. (If you wish to try an alternative route into the woods, head south from Hamstreet Crossroads and turn left down the alleyway opposite the church. Follow this over the little bridge, past the bowling green and straight over the road to pass the duck-pond and climb through a housing estate. Turn left when you reach a T-junction of estate roads, and when the road reaches a dead end, turn left into the woods. This narrow path curves right and soon becomes wider and dead-straight (Main Ride). Follow this all the way to the end where it meets Gill Farm Track. Turn right to continue the Ruckinge Loop up to the gate at the top of the woods and on as instructed above).

When you reach Herne Farm, turn left along the B2067 and walk very carefully until the sharp left-hand bend. Take the public footpath ahead and slightly left across the field (use the left-hand edge if blocked), passing the house at the top of the hill on your left. Head for the corner next to the road as you descend. Cross the stile into the next field and continue along the left-hand-side. At the bottom of this field, cross the bridge over the ditch and continue along the left-hand-side of the next field, emerging onto the B2067 via the gate.

Turn right, following the road up the hill into Bilsington village, taking great care. Here, the pub is the White Horse and the church is dedicated to St Peter and St Paul. The obelisk is a monument, built in 1835, to honour a local landowner, Sir William Richard Cosway, who was famed for his generosity towards his workers but tragically died in a coaching accident. Bilsington was voted the fifth best postcode area in the UK to live in in 2006.

Turning right at the crossroads, follow the lane down the hill past the cricket field on your right, with an optional detour up the track on the left to visit the church of St Peter and St Paul (if you go through the gate opposite the church door and over the stile, you can rejoin the road at the bottom of the hill via the footpath roughly due southwest across the field). 

Take the footpath on the right just before the canal bridge to follow the north bank to Ruckinge Bridge and then swap to the south bank to continue to Hamstreet Bridge, turning right to follow the road past the garden centre back into the village.

Orlestone Loop (2 miles)

Head towards Hythe along the one-way street from the village crossroads and take the second turning left onto Bourne Lane. At the end of the lane, pass through the swing-gate and continue straight ahead. Heading north along the left-hand edge of the field, you will soon reach the railway embankment, climb this and cross the line carefully. This Ashford to Hastings line is one of only two remaining diesel lines in the provincial South-East.

Descend the embankment to a modern housing development. Follow the footpath roughly northward (it may be chanelled around the edge during construction works). You will climb to pass underneath the bypass, opened in 1994.  Bear right after the underpass and continue along the left-hand side of the next field. Continue as you pass a house and tennis courts on your left. Next you will pass a pond behind St Mary's Church where the path bears slightly left to continue across the field.

You will soon reach a crossroads of footpaths. Turn sharp left at the post to take the path which is slightly diagonal across the field to reach the lane. Our walk continues straight across, but those wishing to explore the church can detour left at this point. This hamlet, centred around St Mary’s church was once the centre of population. When the flat-lands of Romney Marsh were drained, the population decamped to the more southerly location of Hamstreet, then known merely as ‘Ham’. It was the coming of the railway in 1851 that ultimately led to the growth of this village.

Our footpath crosses a lawn and passes to the left of a pond to descend across the next field to the old Ashford Road. Turn left and return to the village centre down the hill on the pavement, passing the school and railway station. If ever the final fields are blocked, the lane from St Mary's Church also meets the old Ashford Road where a left turn can be taken back to Hamstreet. 

Capel Road Loop (4 miles)

Follow the route of the ‘Orlestone Loop’ on the first leaflet as far as the crossroads of footpaths just after passing behind Orlestone Church. For this route, continue straight ahead, briefly passing through woodland and emerging into a large field. The path soon bears diagonally right across the field out to Capel Road where you turn right. If you are unable to cross the field, continue ahead and slightly left past the two trees in the middle of the field and look for the hole in the hedge to emerge onto the road and turn right to walk along it.

Walk along the road until you see a small public footpath on your right (note this is around 300 yards beyond the wide entrance to the woods). This path leads into Packing Wood, which was estranged from the rest of Hamstreet Woods when the bypass sliced through the middle in 1994.

Upon reaching a wide grassy ‘ride’, turn right to follow this through the coniferous forest for half a mile. At a staggered junction of paths turn right onto a grassy public footpath and then right again a hundred yards later to head back into the trees. Continue on this public footpath for the next half a mile, out of the woods and on across the field, back to a familiar crossroads of paths, where you will be able to continue onward and slightly left to the lane at Orlestone to complete the ‘Orlestone loop’ back to Hamstreet.

Warehorne Loop (3 miles)

Head towards Tenterden along the B2067 from the village crossroads. Use the crossing beneath the arched railway bridge and continue to the road bridge (there is a path parallel to the road along Waylett Crescent and back down to the B2067). After the bridge, climb the steps on your left. A short distance along this stony path, there is a stile to your right. Climb over and follow the Saxon Shore Way in a straight line towards the church tower across the fields. Passing through a number of swing-gates, the route descends into a dip and climbs again to reach a stile surrounded by bushes at the top right corner of the final field. Cross the stile and turn right when you reach the lane.

The sixteenth century Woolpack Inn is connected to the church of St Matthew by an underground tunnel. This was built and used for smuggling, a common activity in this area in centuries past.

Take the path, left, via the churchyard and walk around the west side of the building. If you imagine a straight line right through the church bearing slightly left, this is roughly the route of the footpath down to the lane via the bushes to the left of the house at the bottom. When you emerge, cross the level crossing and continue down to Warehorne Canal Bridge. The Royal Military Canal was built as a line of defence against a feared invasion from Napoleon. A footpath follows its banks for the full 28 miles from Cliff End (near Hastings) to Seabrook (near Folkestone). 

To return to Hamstreet, cross the first stile on your left just before the bridge and head diagonally left to take the footpath due northeast across the fields. [If the path is blocked, an alternative route is to follow the canal path eastward, crossing the A2070 and turning left when reaching the bridge near Hamstreet Garden Centre.] After a while the path passes through a swing-gate on your right to continue northeast. Look carefully for the bridges across the dykes. The telegraph pole in the middle of the distant sloping field is a good reference point to check you are on course although you will have to deviate around the marshy vegetation at times. You will eventually reach the Hamstreet bypass; cross this and continue. Please be warned that the sections running beside the bypass can often be very brambly. The path then crosses another field and descends to the village, passing a farmhouse to the left and bridging a dyke and narrowly passing a Southern Water compound to reach a short lane back out to the High Street.

Kenardington Loop (5 miles) 

Use the previous route to get to Warehorne, but continue along the lane past the church and Woolpack Inn. Take the drive to a farm on the left, and almost immediately take the Saxon Shore Way through the swing-gate on the right, across the field. As you descend across the middle of the sloping second field, head for the right-hand-side of the row of trees at the bottom. Pass through the swing-gate and head southwest, diagonally across the field towards Kenardington church, lining yourself up with the bridges that cross the dykes. At this low point, it is easy to realise why the Saxon Shore Way is so called, for these fields would have been covered by water many centuries ago.

It is a gentle climb to St Mary’s, which occupies the site of a Saxon camp that was stormed by the Danes in the ninth century. Follow the pathway that bears right from the church door, and as you leave the churchyard, you will notice a footpath on your right. Follow this along the fence and eventually you will descend via a series of steps to a lane. Turn right, continuing around the corner and on for several hundred yards until reaching a T-junction.

Turn right and walk along this lane up the hill. Just before you reach the junction with the B2067, there is a path / alleyway on your right; follow this past the houses and eventually parallel to the B2067, until you have to emerge to continue eastward along the road. Just by the village entrance sign for Warehorne, you can use a remnant of the old route on the left-hand-side past the former World's Wonder pub. 

When you reach the B-road again, you will see a concrete drive on the opposite side. Proceed along this for around 200 yards until you notice a stile on the left-hand-side. Cross this and walk across the field; as you continue there should be a house just to your left. Be warned: there can sometimes be tall weeds or crops to negotiate. After passing the house, the path enters another field and climbs, with a row of bushes to the left, until reaching a familiar swing-gate, with just two fields to cross back to Warehorne on the Saxon Shore Way, from which you can continue the previous walk via the churchyard down to the canal.

Marsh Loop (4 miles)

This walk is an introduction to Romney Marsh. Head south from the village crossroads signed ‘New Romney’, passing through the High Street and on past the garage. Just past the garden centre you will bridge the Royal Military Canal. Go through the gate on your left and follow the towpath along the canal for two thirds of a mile. 

Take the byway on your right (just before reaching a pumping station) and after several hundred yards you will cross a bridge where the main route bears sharp left. Turn right at this point to follow a grassy byway along the edge of the ditch. You may have to climb over a few gates during the next two thirds of a mile.

Eventually, you will notice a wide wooden footbridge to your right. Cross this and follow the footpath ahead along the left-hand edge of the field. Be warned: the grass can be quite high and weedy here at times.

When the row of bushes ends, bear slightly left and continue in the same direction so that the next line of bushes is on your right. At the end of this section, bear slightly right to pass through the gap in the bushes and then curve naturally left along the field-edge.

The footpath crosses this field diagonally, due northwest to the opposite corner. If you are unable to cross the field, follow the field-edge to your left until you are able to turn right (due north). Either way you will eventually reach a footbridge, with another bridge immediately after on the left. Cross these and follow the footpath diagonally across this final field, due northwest. 

When you reach Hamstreet Canal Bridge, turn right, and follow the familiar road past the garden centre, back into the village.

Route to Orlestone Forest (1½ miles each way)

To reach Fagg's Wood, which is part of Orlestone Forest, head along the road towards Tenterden from the crossroads. Use the crossing beneath the arched railway bridge and continue to the road bridge (there is a path parallel to the road along Waylett Crescent and back down to the B2067). After the bridge, at the top of the hillock there is a byway on your right. Follow this, and eventually it will emerge into open fields. Follow the right-hand field edge as the path gently climbs. The path follows the line of the fence to your right and eventually reaches a small gate into woodlands. 

Continue up through the woods and then diagonally left across an open field to the northwest corner. Another short wooded section will bring you out to Malthouse Lane. Turn right along the lane and several hundred yards later turn left into the gravel entrance to Faggs Wood. There is a picnic area here, and if you continue to the end of the gravel track you will find a path into the woodlands. Feel free to explore the reserve and return to Hamstreet the way you came.   

The B2067 - Original Web Page

[Transcript of original web page. Last updated August 2023]

The B2067 is a rambling, cross-country route across an unspoiled corner of Southeast Kent, which was used for the Tour of Britain cycle race in September 2006. This is not a road for anybody who wants to get anywhere fast; however the Sunday afternoon driver should find it a great route, should they wish to experience the true rural nature of Kent. In fact, save the climate, leave the car at home and watch the video here. 

1) Tenterden to Woodchurch

0m Tenterden is the quintessential wealden town. Situated on the A28 between Hastings and Ashford, it would be impossible to do it justice in this small paragraph. The wide, tree-lined High Street is over-shadowed by the square tower of St Mildred’s church. Tenterden has all the local shopper could require – historic pubs, a leisure centre, schools and a full range of shops, including two supermarkets. For the tourist there is the steam railway, which trundles slowly up to the town from Bodiam, ten miles to the southwest. The town also has historic links with William Caxton (of printing press fame) and the actress Ellen Terry.

The B2067 leaves the town centre at a junction by the recreation ground. This road used to be signed 'Hamstreet' but is now signed 'Woodchurch' only, with Hythe-bound traffic encouraged to use the B2080 instead. The B2067 always used to take a left turn into Golden Square a couple of hundred yards later, but now the motorist is encouraged to continue to the B2080 and turn left and then right to bypass this pinch-point. As we leave the town on Woodchurch Road the transition from town to country is instant, with a comforting line of cat's eyes leading down through a long tunnel of trees, winding past the golf course and descending from the ridge of hills.

2m Brook Street. This is an open and fairly straight section, crossing farmland to Woodchurch. You will notice several converted oast houses at various points to the left, their white 'cowls' and conical roofs serving as a reminder of Kent's hop-picking past.

4m Entering Woodchurch, one encounters two ninety-degree bends, so the 30 limit introduced in 2007 seems appropriate. You will pass the site of the former Stonebridge Inn to the right (now a care home). The village itself is well worth a quick detour left, with two public houses (Six Bells and Bonny Cravat) sited opposite the large parish church - three of the aforementioned bells are still in use today. You will also find a range of shops and services including a coffee shop, a butcher's store, a garage, a school and a surgery. Woodchurch has a large green at its centre, which is regularly used for cricket matches. On the hillside above the village is its most striking feature – the white painted 'smock' windmill. Also worth a visit, a further half a mile out of the village, is the museum of village life. 

2) Woodchurch to Hamstreet

Back on the B2067, our route splits off of itself again with a turn to the left. 

6m Kenardington. Having passed the South of England Rare Breeds Centre and undulated gently for a couple of miles in and out of woodland, one reaches this small village with a brief 40 limit. It has its own church, located upon the site of an old Saxon fort that was stormed by the Danes in the ninth century. From here onward, our route bumps its way up and down the ridge of hills that surrounds the totally flat expanse of Romney Marsh to the right.

7m Warehorne. The next mile of the route was improved in the sixties. You will notice traces of the original route that are now laybys to the left and right. We pass the site of the former World's Wonder pub and then make a sweeping climb to Warehorne, another tiny village noteworthy for its smuggling connections. An underground tunnel used to connect the church (1/3 mile to the south of the B2067) with the Woolpack Inn.

8m Hamstreet. We descend to the 'gateway to the marsh', which makes a great base for ramblers, with three long distance paths: the Greensand Way, the Saxon Shore Way and the Royal Military Canal Path. Hamstreet has a church which was formerly a chapel, as well as a range of shops and services, a railway station, public house (Duke's Head), Indian restaurant, fish and chip shop, cafe, garage, school, surgery and dentist. Public woodland covers the hills that surround the village. 

The village is famous for its appearance in map-form on a set of postage stamps marking the bicentenary of the Ordnance Survey. As you enter Hamstreet (cue 30 limit), you will pass under two bridges, the A2070 bypass and the Ashford to Hastings railway line. A pedestrian crossing with lights was introduced in 2023 and the road narrows into a small street as it winds to the crossroads.

3) Hamstreet to Postling Green

Beyond Hamstreet crossroads you will enter a one-way street. A few hundred yards later is a T-junction beside the village green. The B2067 turns left and proceeds to leave the village, climbing Cotton Hill. The next section is narrow, winding and undulating, with many locations where the road surrenders its white lines due to lack of width.

10m Ruckinge. Half way to Ruckinge, you will pass a small industrial estate. Ruckinge itself is a small village with big signs and a long 30 limit. The headquarters of the lively Ruckinge and Hamstreet Scout and Guide movements can be found here. The Blue Anchor pub is sadly no more, but a different kind of spiritual matter can be appreciated at the church of St Mary Magdalene. It is believed that the Ransley Brothers, notorious smugglers, are buried in the churchyard. 

11m Bilsington. Another small village that, like Ruckinge, joined the 30 limit club in 2005. The public house is the White Horse, and there is a monument near the cricket pitch dedicated to Sir William Richard Cosway, a local landlord, famed for his generosity to his staff. He died tragically in a riding accident. This obelisk was partially rebuilt as a millennium project.

12m Bonnington. The tiniest of all the villages. The former B2069 leaves for Aldington opposite the former school. All the villages from Kenardington to Bonnington are spring-line settlements, situated on the slopes of the ridge of clay hills. As one descends past the scattered houses of Bonnington, the wooded greensand escarpment looms ahead. Before this climb the B2067 gives way to the Aldington to Dymchurch road, with a turn to the right, and another to the left a hundred yards later. Next comes the long, twisty climb up out of the woodlands where the road surrenders it's central white lines temporarily.

Upon reaching the top, one encounters splendid views to the coast on the right-hand-side, before arriving at Postling Green, where the final turning for Aldington branches left. The church tower of St Martin's can be seen from here, as can the ridge of the North Downs. Aldington has shops, a fire station, a school, a surgery and a public house (Walnut Tree). It used to have a prison too. Noel Coward's former abode is also nearby, and a number of more recent celebrities including Julian Clary, Paul O'Grady and Vic Reeves have graced the area too.

4) Postling Green to Sellindge or Pedlinge

This final section is part of the original Roman road, which ran from Lympne to Aldington, Cheesemans Green, Park Farm (Ashford) and beyond. It is therefore much straighter than the preceding section, but it still surrenders its white line on occasion due to lack of width. As the route is now running along the top of the Greensand Ridge, there are no further significant climbs and the scenery consists of flatter open farmland.

14.5m Court-at-Street (pictured above). A mere hamlet, which once boasted its own pub called the Welcome Stranger, but has swapped it for a 40 limit, added in 2020. 'Street' in a place-name often indicates a location along a Roman road.

15.5m Otterpool Lane. After passing Port Lympne Zoo to the right, the official route of the B2067 branches left. Confusingly, Hythe is no longer signed at this junction, and both Hamstreet and Tenterden have been given the heave-ho too, with only Aldington signed westbound. The B2067 runs northward for a mile along a straight section of road, passing Lympne Industrial Estate (the site of a former airport) and the entrance to the zoo. The road then descends gently from the ridge, with pleasant views of the North Downs, to meet the A20 at a rural T-junction with over-the-top traffic lights and a 50 limit near Sellindge.

The original route of the B2067 (now declassified) continues eastward from the Otterpool Lane T-junction, to Lympne and beyond.

16m Lympne (promounced 'Lim') is a large village with a few local shops, the County Members pub, a school and the all-essential 30 limit. Modern suburban housing, (built presumably because Westenhanger station isn't too far away), has been added to this historic village, which was once an important Roman settlement. The ruined Roman castle at the bottom of the hillside is overlooked by the more recent castle, now a popular venue for weddings. Romney Marsh was once covered by water, hence this was an important landing place. Roman roads radiate from Lympne, the most noteworthy being Stone Street (B2068) to Canterbury.

18m Pedlinge. As we leave Lympne, the '30' briefly becomes a '40' until just beyond the turning for the steeply descending lane to West Hythe, beyond which the former B2067 meanders to its conclusion along the top of The Roughs; an open and barren stretch of land. From Romney Marsh below, a 'listening ear' dish can be seen upon this ridge of hills. This was constructed to detect incoming aircraft in the days before RADAR. 

Our road is just a single-track lane with passing places for the remainder of its course. After a mile and a half It bends sharply to the left, leaving the byway of Old London Road to pursue the direct course ahead into Hythe. A few hundred yards later, the now northbound former B2067 meets its demise at the A261 in the hamlet of Pedlinge. 

Hythe

It is worth making the mile-long descent into Hythe. The town has many pubs, a well-endowed traffic-free High Street, a pleasant beach and a quaint steam railway - this time built on one-third scale. The town is sandwiched between the sea and the greensand escarpment, upon which  the tower of St Leonard's church proudly stands. 

The Royal Military Canal passes through the town. This stretch of the canal is famed for the annual Venetian fete and a seven-mile section of it is now adorned with a cycle-way. One can only hope that eventually this surfaced section will be extended westward, as it currently abandons its course in the middle of nowhere - a bit like the B2067 really! 

B2067 Picture Gallery