A short walk around Hever

The Henry VII at Hever

We took a stroll around the area rather than the castle and the village. The day was cloudy and cool but Zoid the dog needed a walk and when I arrived he was eager to get going. The aim was to have  lunch, a pleasant, enjoyable lunch to mark my birthday so the priority was a dog friendly pub with good food.  We also wanted to to go for a walk without lots of crowds or to encroach on a beach where Zoid would be unwelcome (by the local authoroites). This England of health and safety, no dogs allowed, rules and regulations with an ever increasing burden of political correctness and box ticking paperwork.





  
This last is triggered by the demise of a local, popular event - the Queenborough Pirates event with new restrictions on walking the plank and the unfortunate fact that the Police are no longer allowed to thump Oiks who spoil fun events and the postponement of the Music on the Green at Bearsted near Maidstone due to excessive demands of health and safety rules and tight event compliance.  Boring!

Gripe over.  We arrived at Hever after a pleasant drive from Borough Green through to Tonbridge and Liegh and parked in the Henry VII car park.  After piddling the dog and walking him around a for a while we went inside for lunch.  Dog welcome and staff pleasant.  My pint of Early Bird was excellent and we ordered lunch.  Sister had a baguette with her favorite smoked salmon filling and I settled for the steak and kidney pud. Loverly!  Nice price too.

Carriage at Hever Station

The Henry VII is worth the stop and if the weather had been nicer a meal in the garden with a magnificent view would have been even better.

The walk we did was from the Primary School, there is a path leading to a road where you turn left and follow another footpath into and along a paddock, the entrance is gated.  We made the mistake of not going far enough and crossed the field to another path which brought us back onto the road again further down.  However, we went past some houses and a small row of cottages to turn left, and a about a hundred metres further on we turned into the road leading to Hever railway station.  Worth a visit this for the views over the valley.  The station is the offices of  a company with the initials DPL who are keeping the building in excellent condition; it is a pity there are no flowers or gardens added (Mr Beeching of the 1960's would be pleased at the cuts).  Most peculiar was the old First Class carriage set up in the car park with steps and a platform leading up to it - what is this used for?

Pretty lake 

We crossed the rail bridge and walked the path on the other side having noted on the way up a path leading to Hever which we wanted to take.  This path up from the station joined the Edenway path that wanders around the river Eden and on to Penshurst.  The treat on the way to the road we could see from the station was the cottage with the beautiful fenced garden and formal rose garden and the walkway in the trees  leading to a meadowland wild flower patch buffered by a rough, natural area just right for wildlife close to the road.

We took the path and at the first stile we stopped - two reasons - getting the dog over or under it, solved by a neat bit of biscuit bribery, and because facing us was a lake and a gardens that appeared to be part of an estate.  Rabbits and  a flash of water lilies and the meandering building that topped the hill above stopped us in our tracks to admire it and enjoy the view.

Hever Church with dog and Sister

We discovered later that the lake belonged to the property alongside the pathway, put there for trout fishing , the lake now filled with carp.  Zoid was barked at by the property owner's Labrador.

We followed the path to the lane and turned right walking past the house we had seen from the lake which turned out to be Hever Grange and headed for the Greyhound Pub approximately 600metres from the junction below the grange.  We saw a nice neat row of houses on our left and failed to recognise that we had passed them earlier; realised it and carried on past the end of the station road to the Greyhound.  there is a path there which led back to our starting point - the school alongside the pub. You reach a junction of pathways and take the lefthand one.

A view across to the Castle entrance from the churchyard

Just to say we had seen it we took a stroll around the church and explored the footpath beyond turning back when we saw it would take us a fair way past the castle grounds on a long loop back to the village. Besides, after a lunch and it being a casual walk we decided that we had done enough.  There is always more to see but later we will return and have a wander around the castle.