A day in the Garden of England

Ightham, Plaxtol, Old Soar, Seal, Wrotham, Snodland – these places sound so intriguing, well worth exploring this beautiful patch of the Garden of England. The orchards and woodlands, crisscrossed by ancient paths and tracks, are dotted with medieval magnificence and decent pubs – definitely a great day out on a gravel bike. We’ll meet outside Sevenoaks Station (4 trains an hour from London), where the first task is to climb up to Sevenoaks’ medieval town centre. Despite the modern(ish) street-level shopfronts, the half-timbered houses still prevail. A turn left brings us to the different world of the Knowle deer park and the magnificent Jacobean Knowle House, the ancestral home of the Sackville-West family. Riding through the deer park, along some ancient sunken roads, leads to another architectural gem, less grand than Knowle. Ightham Mote is a romantic moated manor house nestled in a wooded valley, quite beautiful and worth a quick coffee stop. Moving on, past a Japanese Garden, through the sleepy village of Plaxtol, which is sure to charm you, and nearby Old Soar Manor, the route climbs into the Mereworth Woods. Lunch at West Malling in one of the many pubs that cluster around this pretty village centre before heading to Snodland on the Medway River. Pilgrim’s Way, another ancient trackway, follows the base of the Downs, through Wrotham, another very old village once busy with pilgrims en route to Canterbury but now basking in peace. It’s only a few more miles along Pilgrim’s Way until we turn sharp left into the woods of the Greensand Ridge and back to Sevenoaks. 60 km | 900m | 60% off-road. Average pace - 10/12 kmph