A Walk around Ightham Mote Estate

It's been a nice day so far, coffee when we arrived before touring the house and gardens and then a picnic. The National Trust do very reasonably priced home cooked type meals with locally sourced food but today we brought a picnic for a change. We thought it was going to be a warm and sunny day but half way through our picnic it began to rain lightly, the sort of thing that we call 'Scotch mist'. Having finished eating we went into the restaurant for some hot tea.

It was then time to take a walk around the estate. The landscape comprises plateau hilltops with steep valley sides dropping to Dinas Dene to the north and the scarp edge of the Greensand Hills to the south. Southwards the land is gently undulating. Woodland clothes the hilltops and the valley sides, giving the estate a secluded and intimate atmosphere. So let's go and enjoy it and take in the scenery.

Our walk begins by transcending a long and steady slope and it will take us about 35 minutes to reach the top. I thought the seed heads on this loose strife were even prettier than the summer flower.

We are half way to the top and are taking a little time to look across the corn fields, get our breath back and drink some water.

We have come down the steepest part of the hill and are now on the other side of the estate. We will cross over the style and continuing walking down a pretty steep path enjoying the scenery on the way.

Don't fall over the edge - it is steep

We are getting nice views over the Kent Weald now as we begin to leave the woods behind and are nearing the bottom of the hill.

The Estate Farm, incorporating Oust Houses. There are Oust Houses all over Kent which used to be a Hop growing area and these were used for drying the Hops.

It's been a good and exhilarating walk and in about 20 minutes time we will be back at Ightham Mote where we will have tea and lemon cake before making the journey home.