Lower Halstow, Newington

A lovely walk through Kent orchards, past bird-rich lagoons and onto a hill with views across the Medway estuary. It takes you past historic settlements and the site of WWI inland defences before finishing with a birds-eye view of the fine tower of St Mary's church. This is walk 3, Newington.

Technical sheet

n°3781026
Creation:
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  • Walking
    Activity: Walking
  • ↔
    Distance: 7.86 km
  • ◔
    Calculated time: 2h 25 
  • ▲
    Difficulty: Moderate
  • ⚐
    Return to departure point: Yes
  • ↗
    Vertical gain: + 59 m
  • ↘
    Vertical drop: - 64 m
  • ▲
    Highest point: 59 m
  • ▼
    Lowest point: 6 m
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Description der Wandertour

Start : The Bull Inn Newington, the junction between Station Road and Hight Street (A2), Newington (ME9 7JP)

(S) Starting from Station Road in Newington, walk towards the railway station and turn right along the footpath towards Church Lane.

(1) Cross Church Lane carefully to the pavement on the other side. Walk to the bottom of Church Lane and turn left onto School Lane. Walk past the school and keep to the right onto Boxted Lane, go past the cemetery on your left and stay on Boxted Lane until the footpath on the right just before Libbetswell Cottages.

(2) Proceed along the footpath past the traveller site and continue till you reach a stile. Go over the stile, walk about 25m then through the gap in the fence on the left. The footpath follows the hedge and then the Libbet stream on your right until you reach the small bridge at Lower Halstow. Note that a willow has come down across the footpath beside the stream. It is passable with care on the right or through the small gap underneath.

(3) In Lower Halstow at the small bridge, cross the stile, turn right and walk towards Vicarage Lane.

(4) Turn left into Vicarage Lane when it meets Wardwell Lane and then right at the track, marked ‘No Through Road’. Keep straight, ignore other footpaths off this one. Walk up and over the hill. Pause at the top to admire the panoramic views.

(5) Cross the road and continue through two metal gates (locked but with passing space to one side). At the gas pressure beacon, take the footpath to the right. Turn left over the little wooden bridge towards the pond. After the bridge, turn right and take the footpath to the right through the solar farm.

(6) At the railway line, turn right. Follow the railway line, look out for the display board, then look out for the next footpath sign on the left-hand side – it’s not easy to see. Continue straight down the hill, keeping the lake on your right. As the land rises, cross the stile by the gate and follow the track down the hill. At the bottom of the hill, the track curves round to the right and joins with Iwade Road. This part of the walk is on road with no pavement. Please take care. You’ll come to the junction of Wardwell Lane, Church Lane and School Lane and this is where the walk ends.(E)

Waypoints

  1. S/E : km 0 - alt. 38 m - Station Road
  2. 1 : km 0.19 - alt. 36 m - Church Lane
  3. 2 : km 1.19 - alt. 21 m - Footpath
  4. 3 : km 2.61 - alt. 7 m - Lower Halstow
  5. 4 : km 2.9 - alt. 9 m - Vicarage Lane
  6. 5 : km 4.41 - alt. 41 m - Road
  7. 6 : km 5.84 - alt. 38 m - Railway Line
  8. S/E : km 7.86 - alt. 38 m

Practical information

Start : The Bull Inn Newington, the junction between Station Road and Hight Street (A2), Newington (ME9 7JP)

Facilities : With a small detour, there is an well-reviewed pub in Lower Halstow called The Three Tuns that has outdoor seating and welcomes dogs. Other than this, there are no toilet facilities or water points on the route.

Terrain : There is some road walking. Take care, walk on the right and keep dogs and children close. In summer and autumn, you will find stinging nettles and brambles on sections of the paths.

Please remember that all directions are advisory and you are responsible for your own safety at all times.

All historic information is taken from Newington Times Past and Newington Street and Place Names by Thelma Dudley. More information at Newington History group here.

Reviews and comments

4.5 / 5
Based on 2 reviews
Reliability of the description
4.5 / 5
Clarity of route map
5 / 5
Route interest
4 / 5
LHW
LHW

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of walk : 03/11/24
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Clarity of route map : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★☆☆ Average
Busy trail : No

Easy to follow walk. When you get to the hill climb there is no obvious footpath so just head for Oak tree in a straight line and then down and that will take you straight. Would do this again in summer as will look so much different. Lots of farm animals on the route which was nice.

Aurelie-21
Aurelie-21 ★
• Last modified:

Thanks for your feedback ! I'm sure it will be helpful for the next hikers
The walk wasn't recognized as circular because the arrival point was too far from the departure point on the track, due to my mistake. I have corrected that and now everything is ok. "Back to starting point : Yes"

Cordialement,
Aurélie - UX/UI Designer & Chargée de communication

Micko
Micko

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of walk : 08/10/21
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Clarity of route map : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good

This was a very pleasant walk so we must send a big thank you to the walker who posted the directions and also the historical information which made the walk much more interesting than it would otherwise have been. However the 3 of us did get a bit confused at certain parts of the walk so I hope you do not mind if I make a couple of additions to the walk directions .At POINT 1 could I suggest that the last sentence should finish '...until the footpath on the right about 200yards after Church View Cottages'.
We got a bit bemused at the beginning of POINT 2. Could I suggest 'Proceed along the narrow confined footpath, go through a gate and continue in the same direction through a field to reach a stile.'
At POINT 5 all three us said 'What the hell is a 'gas pressure beacon'? Sorry for being stupid but just in case there are people doing this walk who are as daft as us might I suggest for the second sentence 'Keep on going until you reach a gas pressure beacon which is a tall white pole painted red at the top.'
POINT 6. Could I suggest a much clearer instruction. ' At the display board turn right and in 150 yards turn left down a concealed footpath.'. Okay we were a bit stupid here but we felt that the right direction might be to carry on through the wood to the field.
And later on could I suggest that after 'joins Iwade Road' you could add 'TURN LEFT to return to Newington'. The three of us were pretty sure it was left but sometimes it makes life a bit easier if fairly obvious things are pointed out to make them completely obvious. I must say though that when we were a bit lost the map was invaluable.

I was surprised that it said 'Return to Departure Point..NO' Basically this is a circular walk, especially for us three who came by train. So for us it was a return to departure point. Also, it might be worth adding that there are no benches anywhere on this walk if you need to rest for a while and have a sandwich.

Sorry about all this. It was a lovely morning in an area of countryside that we were not aware of and we thoroughly enjoyed it so our thanks once again to the person who contributed it.

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The GPS track and description are the property of the author.