In the summer of 2023, my younger son passed his driving test, the first of my children to do so, and for my birthday that year, he made me a voucher for two trips to anywhere in Kent that I wanted to go. I was absolutely delighted, but such was my desire to pick the perfect place – somewhere that I really wanted to visit but couldn’t easily access by public transport – that I struggled to narrow it down to just two. What if I picked a destination and then thought of something even better the following week? What if I booked a date and it rained and was ruined? The whole of 2024 passed by in a state of indecision.

With the voucher only valid for 2 years and due to expire in October 2025, the pressure was on. From the end of January until April this year I was on sick leave and couldn’t go anywhere. In May, I decided that I really would love to go and see the bluebells at Hole Park (they are my favourite flower and I am obsessed by bluebell woods) – except by the time that I actually communicated the idea, the bluebell-ometer on the Hole Park website was showing that they were past their best, and I felt that to go would only be a disappointment.

Then when July came around and I still hadn’t settled on anything, it was suggested that I put all the ideas on my list, as well as my requirements for a good day out, into ChatGPT and let it make the decision for me – on the understanding that I had to go with whatever choice it made! It was my first experience of using ChatGPT, so it was actually quite fun, and the trip that it chose for me was a circular walk followed by a pub lunch in Linton, near Maidstone.

This one has been on the to do list for a few years, after my daughter happened to have been driven past The Bull in Linton, and had told me all about the large outside terrace with amazing views over the surrounding countryside, and shortly after, we also discovered that there was a walk that started there in our Ordnance Survey ‘Outstanding Circular Walks’ book. However, it has stayed on the to do list because it’s quite a trek to get there by public transport from where we live.

The full circular walk is 7 1/2 miles which is still a little too much for me to manage yet, and I was also mindful of the fact that my son hates walking, claiming that I scarred him by dragging him on too many long walks when he was younger. However, as it was conveniently a figure of eight with Linton in the middle, we were able to do just one loop, opting for the eastern section as this took us through the parkland of Linton and Boughton Monchelsea, the latter having a deer park which was the clincher, reducing the walk to around 4 miles and thereby making everyone happy!

I would absolutely recommend this book, as every walk that we have done so far has indeed been outstanding. This one was no exception, following the Greensand Ridge for much of the route, with wonderful sweeping views over the Weald. – or at least there would have been wonderful sweeping views if we hadn’t planned the trip for the one day in a week that turned out to be overcast and misty, despite a forecast for wall to wall sunshine!

So although excited at the prospect of a viewpoint promised by the church at Boughton Monchelsea, they were not very far reaching.

However, at least it was still dry at that point. It subsequently came on to rain (not forecast), which rather threatened to ruin the day as it had all revolved around having an al fresco lunch on this terrace that I had heard about. I tried to tell myself that it didn’t really matter, but the truth is that it did – especially as I had spent the previous summer prevaricating about committing to a date in case it rained!

It was also just as it started raining that we realised that we had taken a wrong turn somewhere along the way – very unusual because as well as being outstanding, the instructions for each walk are always very clear. After retracing our steps we realised that the mistake had happened in a field of cows, where my anxiety had taken over and we followed the first footpath sign that we could see to get out of it instead of persevering further into the field for the correct way out. We weren’t expecting two different footpaths in the one field.

It was still a bit drizzly when we reached the pub, and although the interior was olde worlde and very nice, I was still feeling a bit disgruntled. My daughter in law kindly suggested that perhaps there would be some parasols, and that as it was actually quite warm, we could still sit outside and get some shelter from them – but even better than that, it turned out that there was actually a small section that was properly under cover, so we settled ourselves down and had the whole terrace to ourselves because all the sensible customers were inside. Despite the weather, and even though the view wasn’t quite as great as it might have been on a sunny day, it was still pretty special.

I had the most delicious goats cheese burger, and we shared some lovely beer battered onion rings, as well as a bottle of local wine. It might have been ten months since my last birthday, but it still felt like a proper birthday celebration. Knowing how lovely it is, we will definitely be back for both the walk – hopefully the full one – and some lunch, but next time we will make sure that it is a clear day!

My second birthday outing was a Weald of Kent road trip, and to accompany it, my son had bought the travel game Are We There Yet, an I Spy family favourite that kept him and his siblings amused on many car journeys when they were younger. It still kept us all amused until we reached our first stop – the small town of Cranbrook, known as the capital of the Weald.

Cranbrook’s main attraction is probably the windmill which, according to a plaque on the side, is the tallest smock windmill in the country. I had no idea what a smock windmill was, although I remembered that the Chillenden windmill was a post windmill (not that I knew what that was either!) so I had to find out. It seems that a smock windmill has a fixed body and a rotating cap at the top (where the sails are attached) that turns towards the wind, whereas the post mill (the earliest type of windmill) is mounted on a central post and the whole body has to be physically turned to catch the wind. Quite an undertaking, and pretty cool. I shall now look at all the windmills that I come across with fresh interest!

As befits the capital of the region, the church is known as the Cathedral of the Weald, so we popped in, borrowed an information leaflet, and had a look around.

A fun fact is that the church clock mechanism was built as a prototype for the Big Ben clock tower in London. There is an impressive figure of Father Time above the clock face, but my favourite thing about the church was the carved wooden decorative panel in one of the chapels, featuring apples, cherries and hops. I am a true Maid of Kent!

We had a quick browse in some of the independent shops, but my son told that me that there was no time for a coffee stop in any of the tempting looking cafes as we were on a tight schedule, so it was off to Goudhurst – which also had lots of wonderful references to the Garden of England on its village sign.

There was a duck pond at the bottom of the steep high street (we didn’t loiter as there was quite an intimidating man sitting on a bench and shouting at nobody in particular) and a church at the top. We would have looked inside but there was a coffee morning going on and it looked very busy, so instead we sat on a bench at the back of the church and admired the view. Apparently this is one of the highest points in the area so the view was good – and at the weekend the church tower is open for an even better vantage point.

It was very peaceful, although the Battle of Goudhurst, between the notorious Hawkhurst smuggling gang, who terrorised South East England between 1735 and 1749, and the local militia took place here in 1747. Apparently there used to be a smugglers tunnel that led from the church to the adjoining pub, and although said pub looked really interesting and worth a visit,

I had carefully planned our lunch stop, which was to be a picnic at Bayham Old Abbey on the Kent/Sussex border. We’d even packed it up in our seldom used picnic hamper, and so had plates, cutlery and wine glasses, which made it feel very special. The site is owned by English Heritage and the ruins are free to visit, although there is a £2 car parking charge if you are not a member. It was really impressive and there was much more to it than I had expected. There were plenty of information panels explaining what part of the Abbey they once were, so it was easy to imagine how it would have looked and I really enjoyed wandering about. I love an information panel and it was probably the highlight of my day.

There was a dramatic tree stump growing where the high altar used to be, which seemed like something straight from Narnia,

and there were some amazing hairy mushrooms growing out of it. I’ve never seen mushrooms quite like it, and despite a lot of research, I still haven’t been able to find out what they are called.

From there we headed to the village of Hawkhurst, base of the aforementioned smuggling gang. My daughter pointed out a space where the guttering met the side of the neighbouring houses in The Colonade parade of shops, and told me that the tiny gap was actually a smugglers window, where they would position a look out to spot the approach of the militia. I loved the story, but when I looked it up afterwards, I discovered that the Colonade wasn’t actually built until 1831, after the Hawkhurst Gang had disbanded, so now I’m not so sure whether she was just making it up or whether they really were smugglers windows but for later gangs. I’d like to believe the latter!

We ended our day at beautiful Bodiam Castle. It’s owned by the National Trust, but I’d discovered during my research beforehand, that there was a public footpath that ran through the grounds, and that if you parked outside and kept to the footpath, you could actually enter for free – which more than suited us, particularly as the footpath took us past the Castle View Cafe. (There are actually two cafes at the castle, but the other is by the entrance gate and doesn’t have such an impressive view.)

I was keen to finally be able to get the scone that I’d missed out on at Goodnestone Park, and there was only one left! Obviously I claimed it because it was my birthday trip, and the others had to make do with a slice of cake instead. We settled ourselves in deckchairs which had luckily just been vacated, but although I really enjoyed eating the first half of my scone, no sooner had I made a start on the second, when I was plagued by wasps, all set on trying to sample it as well. Definitely not much fun, although it did confirm that we had made the right choice when following Goodnestone’s wasp warning!

My son and daughter risked a walk along the bridge towards the castle itself, but when they realised that the lady on duty had clocked that they weren’t wearing the necessary wristband denoting paid admission, they did an about turn before they were challenged, and we ended our visit with a walk around the perimeter of the grounds, sticking to the footpath (we think!) and admiring the castle from all angles.

A competitive game of Are We There Yet was had on the drive home and I’m not quite sure how the driver managed such a lead when he should have had his eyes on the road, whereas I trailed way behind in last place when I was free to be looking in all directions, but I did seem to have a hand of cards featuring all the things that were never going to be found in the heart of the Kent countryside (and although there is an option to swap cards, we decided in advance that we would stick to the hand that we were dealt.)

Overall I was very pleased with the two days out that I had chosen, and it was wonderful to discover such beautiful parts of the county that I hadn’t had the opportunity to explore before. My only regret was that I hadn’t got my act together and done one of them last summer so they could have been a little more spread out, but I am indecisive by nature and nothing is going to change that. Still, it was a brilliant birthday present, and one that I will remember for a very long time.