Ightham Mote's circular walk to Knole
What could be better than a day out in the Kentish countryside incorporating two National Trust properties? Follow our circular walk from Ightham Mote, along the Greensand Way, passing through areas of outstanding natural beauty to Knole Park, before returning to Ightham Mote via the Duchess Walk, Godden Green and Broadhoath Wood.
Includes a 30 minute stop over at Knole.
Map
Start:
Ightham Mote visitor reception, grid ref: TQ584535
1
From the car park at Ightham Mote, walk through the staff car park, turning right onto the Bridleway, down past the house. Turn Right onto Mote Road, and after about 20yds (18m) turn left into the entrance of Mote Farm. (Look for the yellow Greensand Way arrow). Walk past the farmyard and bear to the right. Proceed past Wilmot Cottage and an old brick built filter house, to the steps on the right. At the top of the steps, turn left and continue past another footpath on your right to a National Trust stile. Follow over a further two stiles to a lane at Rooks Hill.
Ightham Mote
Ightham Mote is an outstanding 14th-century moated manor house, surrounded by peaceful gardens and water features. Highlights include the Grade I listed dog kennel, Great Hall, Tudor painted ceiling, and the private apartments of the donor, Charles Henry Robinson.
2
Turn left down the lane for a few metres, then turn right, back onto a footpath (not now the Greensand Way). Follow through the woods, passing stables and kennels at White Rock Farm where you will join a vehicle track, then onto a road (the Seal to Underriver road).
3
Cross the road and enter Shepherds Mead Drive, then turn right onto a footpath (Greensand Way) to continue with a field on your left until reaching a Bridleway junction. Turn right onto the Bridleway for a few metres, then turn left up an incline to a stile leading into a horse training field. Follow straight ahead, round the edge of the field with the fencing on your left, turning right at the far end to follow the tree line. About two thirds along, look for an opening and stile in the fence, by a hump in the field. Cross the stile and follow the path through the wood to emerge at the side of a road, with the gate to Knole Park in front of you on the opposite side of the road. Enter Knole Park by passing through the left hand kissing gate and walk straight ahead, keeping the fencing on your right hand side. Proceed over a crossway and continue straight ahead on a surfaced track until you reach a broad crossway with a stony track. Turn right for a short distance, then turn left just beyond the tree line to follow the grass path ahead, turning half right towards the walled garden and house.
4
Continue walking parallel to the garden wall on the right, at the end of which turn right and walk towards the front of Knole House. Walk past the main entrance to Knole House, onto the Duchess Walk. Turn right down the roadway in front of you and then left after a few metres. Continue down the stony track, following the rise and bend to the right and keeping to the track across the golf course (this will bring you to the north gate and exit from the park). Pass through the kissing gate and follow the track ahead (ignoring a narrow path to the right) until you reach a wider path forking to the right. Follow this path, passing a house and crossing a driveway, through a gate by a stable yard. Walk past the stable, through another gate and down the road at Godden Green.
Knole
Set within a deer park, Knole has links with kings, queens and nobility as well as literary connections with the novelists Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf.
5
Turn right to the Bucks Head, then continue down the road for a short distance taking the track on the left up to the White House. Continue past the Godden Green Clinic, bearing left and ignoring paths to the right. Go past a house at the crest of a rise, down another steep incline then up to another house onto a road. Cross the road and continue ahead on a footpath, initially with a fence on your right, then straight on across a field to a gate at a road with a forked junction. Cross the road, turning slightly right to walk southeast along a metalled track with orchards on both sides (ignore the paths to either side).
6
When the orchards end, continue down the bridleway into Broadhoath Wood and down, turning left to join another track by a pond and gate. Continue with the stream on your right, past the Hopper Huts to Mote Road. Cross the road and walk up the footpath at the north end of the Ightham Mote garden, up a few steps to the entrance driveway to Ightham Mote. Turn right to enter the car park and complete the walk.
Ightham Mote garden
The peaceful gardens at Ightham Mote include an orchard, water features, lakes and wooded walks
End:
Ightham Mote visitor reception, grid ref: TQ584535
