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Kent & East Railway Walks 3 Go right and continue, with the field Keep ahead to cross a field and reach edge to your right, ascending to reach a a footbridge in trees. Cross the footbridge kissing-gate. Pass through the gate to join and keep ahead, uphill, across the centre of Railtrail 6 – Station to Station a metalled road and go left, to enter the the field to reach a stile in the top corner, hamlet of . to the left of woodland. Immediately after passing through the Cross the stile and keep ahead, uphill hamlet, go right, at a footpath finger-post. to cross a stile in a fence, to the right of a Keep ahead on this path for approx. gate. (The roofline of Great Dixter House 300 yds (274m), to reach a footbridge in now comes into view ahead.) the hedge on your left. Continue uphill, with a hedge to your Go left, to cross the bridge and keep right, which bears round to the right ahead, now with a hedge to your right, to reach a stile. Cross the stile to join a waymarked `Sussex Border Path’. metalled road. At the far end of the orchard, approx. 700 yds (640m), go right, to cross a 5 Keep ahead on the road towards a 5 footbridge. Descend into a field and after small barn on the left (the barn carries a 2 approx. 100yds (91m), cross a stile on the sign for car park/gents toilet). left, next to gates, to join a metalled road. Just here, and before reaching the main 1 Go right and continue on the lane for entrance to Great Dixter, bear left to join a Great Dixter approx. 100yds (91m). Just before reaching footpath, which goes behind a hedge and 3 A 15th-century timber-framed manor a brick bridge, go left to cross a stile in to a runs parallel to the road, to emerge at a house set in one of the most beautiful 4 gardens in , created in 1910 by field. junction with Dixter Road and High Park. English architect Edwin Lutyens, and Go left, along High Park and keep giving interest whatever the season. 4 Bear right and continue to the far end ahead on Dixter Lane to reach the A28 Divided into a number of ‘outdoor rooms’ by yew hedges and red- of the field, with the field edge and a – Station Road. (Busy road, take care.) tiled, timber-framed outbuildings, stream to your right. Cross to the opposite side of the A28 and renowned for the use of bold planting and strong colours by the On reaching the corner of the field go and go left, in a northerly direction. late Christopher Lloyd, the gardens right, to cross a footbridge over the stream, Keep ahead to pass the small village include mixed borders, carpets of wild then after approx. 100 yds (91m), go left green and descend Ballards Hill (Station meadow flowers, topiary, ponds and an exotic garden. to leave the Sussex Border Path and join Road) to reach Northiam Station. another path.

1 From Bodiam Station go left, downhill 2 Cross the stile and the railway. On the on the road, towards Bodiam Castle. (Busy far side of the track cross two more stiles road, take care.) then turn right onto a footpath, to the right On approaching a stone bridge over the of a barn, to cross a footbridge over a ditch. River Rother, look for waymarked stile on Keep ahead, with a hedge to your right, the right, just after a lay by. Cross the stile to reach a footbridge with a stile in the and go left to ascend the river bank, then corner of the field. right, to follow the river for approx. 300 yds Ignore a waymark on a stile and go (274m) to reach a gate. diagonally left, up an incline, to reach Do not pass through the gate, but go a stile beside a gate in the left field right to descend the bank and, keeping boundary. to the left-hand field edge, cross the field Cross the stile and continue uphill to towards a stand of poplar trees lining the reach a fence. Go right, along the field railway. On reaching the corner of the field, edge, to reach a stile by a gate, waymarked go right, and continue with the field edge `Sussex Border Path’. to your left for approx. 175 yds (160m, to Cross the stile and keep ahead with a reach a stile. fence to your left. After approx. 150 yds Take care here, particularly with (137m), cross a stile by a gate in the fence children – Stop, Look and Listen before and cross a thicket to pass through a crossing the track. kissing-gate ahead.

Trail Information Distance: 4¾ miles (7.6km). Start of Walk: Bodiam Station. Time for walk: 2½ hours. Terrain: Field paths and bridleways. Time for train journeys: Refreshment: to Bodiam – 47 minutes (approx). Tenterden Station Refreshment Rooms. Northiam to Tenterden – 30 minutes (approx). N.T. tearoom and public house in Bodiam. Maps: OS Explorer 125 & 136. Public houses in Ewhurst Green and Northiam. Parking: Tenterden Station. Public Transport: Grid reference: TQ882335. Buses: Traveline - 0870 6082608.