WALKS OF THE FARM HOUSE No. 2 WALKS OF THE FARM HOUSE No. 2

The Orchard Walk

Walk overview: Distance: 2 miles (3.5 km) Time: 1 – 1.5 hours

Pic 1: The footpath through the fields Description: Explore the countryside of orchards and fields surrounding Pic 2: One of the orchards the east of .

Pic 3: Steps leading from the road into the fields Pic 4: The pavement leading to A228 crossing

Pic 5: The trail along the fields The Farm House www.thefarmhouse.biz Pic 6: Nice waterfall along the wall of Malling Abbey 97-99 High Street [email protected] West Malling, Kent Tel: 01732 843257 © Martin Zatrepalek, 2011 www.kentwalker.co.uk ME19 6NA WALKS OF THE FARM HOUSE No. 2 WALKS OF THE FARM HOUSE No. 2

Leave The Farm House and turn left. Walk along the High Street until the first crossroad with Water Lane. Turn left onto the street and keep walking until a T-junction. Turn right onto Lavenders Road and follow the road for about 80 yards (80m) until a driveway to ‘Bo-peep Cottages’. Turn left and follow the ‘Public Footpath’ signpost on the right. Walk into the field and carry on diagonally through it (1) . At the end go through the bushes into the orchard. Turn left and keep walking along the edge of the orchard (2) (turn right in the corners) until a wooden gate on the left. Go through it and turn left onto the road. Go over a bridge and keep walking for about 0.2 miles (300m) until the road bears sharply to the right. Continue straight (follow ‘Public Bridleway’ signpost) into the next orchard. Carry on straight along the track (in the direction of the oast houses at the end of the orchard) until a road. Turn left onto the road and keep walking along it for about 0.3 miles (500m) until a ‘Public Footpath’ signpost on the left. Walk up the stairs (3) and continue straight along the fence and later through the field. At the end turn right and follow the fence until a metal gate. Go through it and turn left onto the pavement (4) . Cross the A228 road (be very careful, this road is very busy) and behind the road turn left (follow ‘Public Footpath’ signpost). Walk along the gravel track and through the next metal gate. Turn right and follow the edge of the field (5) (later turn right and left) until a wooden gate leading to the road. . As the Abbey prospered, West Malling became a flourishing market town. In the Turn right onto the road and keep walking until a T-junction. Turn left and four-and-a-half centuries of Benedictine life at the Abbey, major events included a continue along the road for about 0.2 miles (300m) (you can see a very nice fire in 1190 which destroyed much of the Abbey and town, the Black Death in 1349 waterfall on the left (6) ) until a T-junction with a bigger road. Turn left and which reduced the community to four and four novices, and the surrender of keep walking along the High Street until you reach The Farm House. Malling to the Crown on 28 October 1538, during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Immediately before the Dissolution, Malling Abbey had an annual income of £245, and with many buildings it was a rich prize for the Crown. During the 350 years that St. Mary’s Abbey (Malling Abbey) followed the Abbey was owned by many families, most being absentee owners. The Anglican Benedictine community of nuns that has made its home at Malling The manor of West Malling was given by King Edmund to Burhic, Bishop of Rochester Abbey since 1916 was founded in 1891 as an active parish sisterhood. The sisters in 946. About 1090 Gundulf, Bishop of Rochester and monk of in worked among the poor in Edmonton, North London until they became attracted to Normandy, chose Malling as the site of his foundation for a community of the Benedictine contemplative life through the preaching of Abbot Aelred Carlyle. Benedictine nuns, one of the first post-Conquest monasteries for women. Just before In 1916 the Trustees of Malling Abbey invited them to move to the more spacious his death in 1108, Gundulf appointed the French Avicia as the first abbess. and historic Abbey and to continue its tradition of Benedictine prayer, worship, work, Royal grants gave the nuns the rights to weekly markets and annual fairs as well as study, and hospitality. wood-cutting and pasturage rights in nearby royal forests. Source: www.wikipedia.org