Newnham and Sharsted House

Newnham, tucked away in a fold between Doddington and Lynsted is one of those places you often drive through and think ' I should have a look at this place sometime' but you keep putting it off. This time we wandered out there and parked in The George Inn car park. Again as always I suggest you ask permission first and support the local pubs by planning lunch and sampling the ales. The George was most welcoming and I can recommend the food - sounds like I always do but that is because so far in this year of walking and blogging we have had nothing to complain about. The George comes up to what we are steadily discovering is a high standard of affordable lunch meals and excellent service in Kent pubs. The George is no exception; added to which the landlord was happy to show off the walks in his area; good man!

The George and the Church on this terrific February day

The walking: there is a recognised walk mapped out to lead you back to The George but as usual we ignored and relied on our personal sat-nav (a map of the area and propensity to follow our noses) and headed out to Sharsted Lane and up to the woods and Sharsted manor. The manor is a magnificent place set in woods with a wall surrounding with tennis courts which we were told was the residence of Virginia Wade. Impressed. We walked through Sharsted woods to Doddington church and the old Vicarage and took the footpath that leads across the Doddington House estate preferring to avoid the village itself in favor of walking back to The George for lunch. I suggest here that you book a table when you turn up at the pub - the service is much more friendly when the landlord is assured of a customer or two.

The Gatesof Sharsted Manor and the building

After lunch we headed up the road opposite for the little settlement of Seed enjoying the afterno0n sunshine; a treat for a February day and realising we were over-dressed. I nearly took one of my pullovers off wishing I had left my coat in the car. This time of the year is strange regarding the weather - sometimes it is cold and even at noon we shiver or there is a touch of spring and like this day, the 21st was almost a warm spring day. If the trees were not bare and the ground not so wet we could have been walking in spring. However, the walking. At Seed by the cross roads there is a path that will take you back to Newnham via the back road behind Seed. We took this and deviated a little on another path that led down to the Eastling road and down to the The George again.

The magnificent Doddington House from the estate grounds.

As you come out onto this road from the Seed footpath there is another opposite that will take you to the Ottenden road much further along where you can walk to Eastling. Being casual walkers the time was getting to the point where we would be walking at sunset and did not like the idea of tromping along in the dusk so the shorter route was better. The path has a couple of branches which will take you to a few interesting places which we will explore at a later time.

In the meantime our short offering is hopefully good enough to guide you around the place and catch some of the sweeping countryside views as well as experience excellent brews and good service.