![]() | This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
The Stour Valley Walk is a recreational walking route that follows the River Stour, through the Low Weald and Kent Downs, from its source at Lenham to its estuary at Pegwell Bay.
The walk passes through some of Kent's finest landscapes, most important nature sites and most historic, unspoilt villages. [1] The walk is signed with the logo of a heron, a bird occasionally seen in the area.
The 58 miles (93 km) [2] route is of interest for its landscape and history, and for its archaeological, historical and architectural features. Part of the Pilgrims' Way followed the river valley from Wye to Canterbury after the North Downs.
The walk passes through a varied landscape of downland, woodland, orchards, hop gardens and farmland; lakes, dykes and marshland; unspoilt villages and hamlets, and historic towns. [3]
It is possible to reach the walk from Maidstone via the 12 kilometre long Len Valley Walk.
6+1⁄4 miles (10.1 km) – grid reference TQ897522 to grid reference TQ950460
8+1⁄4 miles (13.3 km) – grid reference TQ950460 to grid reference TR005425
5+1⁄2 miles (8.9 km) – grid reference TR005425 to grid reference TR053467
8+1⁄4 miles (13.3 km) – grid reference TR053467 to grid reference TR069537
7+1⁄2 miles (12.1 km) – grid reference TR069537 to grid reference TR147577
8+1⁄2 miles (13.7 km) – grid reference TR147577 to grid reference TR224629
10+1⁄2 miles (16.9 km) – grid reference TR224629 to grid reference TR328583 At Upstreet the path joins the Saxon Shore Way heading towards Sandwich.
3+1⁄2 miles (5.6 km) – grid reference TR328583 to grid reference TR345623
The River Stour(, rhymes with "flour") is a river in Kent, England that flows into the North Sea at Pegwell Bay. Above Plucks Gutter, where the Little Stour joins it, the river is normally known as the Great Stour. The upper section of the river, above its confluence with the East Stour at Ashford is sometimes known as the Upper Great Stour or West Stour. In the tidal lower reaches, the artificial Stonar Cut short cuts a large loop in the natural river.
Wye is the smallest town in Britain, located in Kent, England, 5 miles (8.0 km) from Ashford and 12 miles (19 km) from Canterbury. It is the main settlement in the civil parish of Wye with Hinxhill. Hop varieties including Wye Challenger were bred at Wye College and named for the village.
The North Downs Way National Trail is a long-distance path in southern England, opened in 1978. It runs from Farnham to Dover, past Guildford, Dorking, Merstham, Otford and Rochester, along the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and Kent Downs AONB.
The A28 is a trunk road in the counties of Kent and East Sussex in south east England, connecting Margate, Canterbury, Ashford and Hastings.
The Pilgrims' Way is the historical route supposedly taken by pilgrims from Winchester in Hampshire, England, to the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury in Kent. This name, of comparatively recent coinage, is applied to a pre-existing ancient trackway dated by archaeological finds to 600–450 BC, but probably in existence since the Stone Age. The prehistoric route followed the "natural causeway" east to west on the southern slopes of the North Downs.
Four major rivers drain the county of Kent, England.
The Kent Downs is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) in Kent, England. They are the eastern half of the North Downs and stretch from the London/Surrey borders to the White Cliffs of Dover, including a small section of the London Borough of Bromley. The AONB also includes the Greensand Ridge, a prominent sandstone escarpment which lies south of the chalk escarpment of the North Downs.
Lenham is a market village and civil parish in Kent situated on the southern edge of the North Downs, 9 miles (14 km) east of Maidstone. The picturesque square in the village has two public houses, a couple of restaurants, and a tea-room. Lenham has a population of 3,370 according to the 2011 Census.
Hastingleigh is a small civil parish centred on an escarpment of the Kent Downs.
The Greensand Way is a long-distance path of 108 miles (174 km) in southeast England, from Haslemere in Surrey to Hamstreet in Kent. It follows the Greensand Ridge along the Surrey Hills and Chart Hills. The route is mostly rural, passing through woods, and alongside fruit orchards and hop farms in Kent and links with the Stour Valley Walk near Pluckley in Kent. The trail was opened on 15 June 1980 and is jointly managed by Surrey and Kent Councils who fully updated it in 2012.
Chilham is a mostly agricultural village and parish in the English county of Kent with a clustered settlement, Chilham village centre, in the northeast, and a smaller linear settlement, Shottenden. Well-preserved roads and mostly residential listed buildings in its centre have led to its use as a location in television and film.
The Vanguard Way is a long-distance walk of 66.2 mi (106.5 km) from East Croydon station in outer London, travelling from the north, to Newhaven, on the south coast of England. It passes through the counties of Surrey, Kent and East Sussex, between Croydon and Newhaven, East Sussex. It connects the London suburbs to the south coast, via the North Downs, Ashdown Forest, South Downs National Park and the Cuckmere valley.
The Ashford–Ramsgate line is a railway that runs through Kent from Ashford to Ramsgate via Canterbury West. Its route mostly follows the course of the River Great Stour.
The Saxon Shore Way is a long-distance footpath in England. It starts at Gravesend, Kent, and traces the coast of South-East England as it was in Roman times as far as Hastings, East Sussex, 163 miles (262 km) in total. This means that around Romney Marsh the route runs significantly inland from the modern coastline.
Lenham Heath is a hamlet in Kent situated on the southern edge of the North Downs, halfway between Maidstone and Ashford. grid reference TQ910500.
Godmersham is a village and civil parish in the Ashford District of Kent, England. The village straddles the Great Stour river where it cuts through the North Downs and its land is approximately one third woodland, all in the far east and west on the escarpment of the North Downs. It is six miles north-east of Ashford on the A28 road midway between Ashford and Canterbury in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty with the North Downs Way and Pilgrims' Way traversing the parish.
The following is a list of recreational walks in Kent, England.
Holmesdale, also known as the Vale of Holmesdale, is a valley in South-East England that falls between the hill ranges of the North Downs and the Greensand Ridge of the Weald, in the counties of Kent and Surrey. It stretches from Folkestone on the Kent coast, through Ashford, Harrietsham, Maidstone, Riverhead/Sevenoaks, Westerham, Oxted, Godstone, Redhill, Reigate, Dorking, Gomshall, and Guildford – west of which it is also called by the local name of "Puttenham Vale" – as it continues through the village of Puttenham, to the market town of Farnham.
The River Stour has been used for centuries as a source of power. Many different processes were performed by the use of water power:- Corn milling, fulling, paper making and electricity generation. Many of the mills survive today as house conversions, with two of them still working commercially.
The geology of Kent in southeast England largely consists of a succession of northward dipping late Mesozoic and Cenozoic sedimentary rocks overlain by a suite of unconsolidated deposits of more recent origin.