One Tree Hill and Ightham Mote Circular Walk
Ightham Mote
Start & Finish: One Tree Hill Car Park, Carter's Hill, Sevenoaks, TN15 0SN
Distance: 10.6 km (6.6 miles)
Elevation change: +/- 197m
GPX File: get via Buy Me a Coffee
Other routes touched (walk): Greensand Way
Other routes touched (cycle): None
Pubs / Cafes on route: Ightham Mote National Trust Cafe
Map: Sevenoaks & Tonbridge Map | Royal Tunbridge Wells & Westerham | Ordnance Survey | OS Explorer Map 147
Links: One Tree Hill National Trust, Ightham Mote National Trust, Shipbourne, Underriver
This is a great short circular walk in the Kent Downs. We used the free National Trust parking area near One Tree Hill, although the larger National Trust car park (free to members) at Ightham Mote is an alternative. There’s some steep parts and it can be very muddy in winter or after rain so wear good boots.
From the parking area at One Tree Hill cut through the woods, following paths in a south-easterly direction, to the top of the hill and the view-point to the south. Here you’ll reach the Greensand Way which you’ll follow in a east / south-easterly direction for 5 km.
After 3km on the Greensand Way you’ll reach the Ightham Mote National Trust Estate. If you’ve got time, it’s well worth stopping for an hour to visit the house and gardens. Even if you don’t have time to enter you can visit the café which can be accessed from the path at the south of the estate without having to pay to enter.
When you leave Ightham Mote you’ll continue along the Greensand Way, now heading south. After 2km you’ll reach the Church of St Giles at Shipbourne. Here you’ll leave the Greensand Way and take a footpath heading west across fields and into a wooded area called Cold Blows. Half way into the woods take a left hand path, heading south-west towards Mote Road. Cross over the road and continue along the paths heading west to Underriver.
When you reach Underriver, take a right onto Carter’s Hill road, then a left onto the lane opposite the turning to Underriver House Road. Continue up this lane in a north-westerly direction for ~400m then take a path heading north. This is a steep climb for another 400m back up to the Greensand Way. Take a right onto the Greensand Way and follow it to Carter’s Hill road. You can either follow Carter’s Hill road back to the One Tree Hill parking area or the parallel footpath through the woods to the right of the road.
