Upper Medway Valley
By Ben Perkins
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Here is an easy walk
in the valley of the
Upper Medway in
Sussex. We join the
the river as it heads
for the Kent border, gaining width
and strength. It is a walk without
significant hills, never far from
the water, and is described as
a figure-of-eight. This allows for a
shorter circuit option – though
most regular Argus walkers should
have no difficulty in completing
the full version of the walk.
1. Start out over a stile at the
back of the lay-by, go forward
for 50 yards and then left over
a culvert and along a tree-lined track.
At a path junction, turn right, go
over a stile and skirt to the right of
a large pool with a weir flowing into it
– probably an old millpond.
2. A path continues along the
left edge of a large field with the
River Medway now on your left.
After about a quarter of a mile, go over
a stile beside a gate, and head forward
on a trodden, unfenced path across the
middle of a field.
On the other side of the field, go
over a stile beside a gate and, after
a few yards, turn left through a bridle
gate. Follow a wide, grassy swathe
with a stream on your left and a fence
on your right.
In the field corner, turn left over
a substantial new footbridge and,
ignoring a signed path to the right,
go ahead on a defined path through
a plantation of young trees.
On the other side of this area, go
over a sleeper bridge and stile and
climb gently out of the valley, keeping
to the left edge of two fields. Join
a concrete drive and turn right,
following it out to a road where
you should turn left.
Distance/time: Four-and-three-quarter-miles
or six-and-a-half-miles (two-and-aquarter-
hours or three-and-a-quarter-hours).
By car: Start from Ashurst on the A264,
East Grinstead to Tunbridge Wells road.
You will find room to park in a redundant
loop of road serving as a lay-by. This is on
the south side of the A264, about 200 yards
west of the railway bridge (GR504389).
By public transport: Train to Ashurst on
the Oxted to Uckfield line (hourly service).
Start from the station, join the walk towards
the end of the circuit, where it passes by (see
point eight). Follow the route description as
far as crossing the Medway next to a weir,
and start the walk properly from point two.
What's underfoot: Mostly along level,
well-used and signed riverside and field paths.
The area is liable to flooding after heavy rain.
Thirsty work: No refreshments on route.
So you don't get lost: OS Explorer 135.
3. After about 400 yards, turn
right along the driveway to
Summerford Farm, signed as a
public footpath to Hartfield and also as
the Wealdway. For the shorter walk,
turn left here, over a stile almost
opposite the start of the farm drive.
The full walk continues between
several buildings at Summerford
Farm. In front of the gateway to a
converted twin oast, fork right along
the drive to Summerford Barn and,
where the drive ends, go over a stile
and turn left to follow a wide grassy
strip between a fence and a hedge.
4. Shortly, sidestep to the left
down a bank and resume the
same direction – with a post and
rail fence on your left. Soon you will be
walking at the foot of a wooded bank.
At a waypost, where the Wealdway
forks left down the hill, you should go
ahead to a gate, keeping to the higher
path along the wooded hillside.
Continue on with a hedge on your right.
From the field corner, go ahead along
a fenced track with a wood on your left.
Beyond another stile, bear left and drop
downhill with the wood still on your
left and a fence on your right.
5. Cross a footbridge over the
Medway, go ahead for a few
yards to join the Forest Way on
the track-bed of the old railway. Turn
left to follow it for about half a mile
until it joins a road at Balls Green.
Turn left here. After about 200 yards
you will find yourself back at point
number three, where you should turn
right over a stile opposite the drive to
Summerford Farm. Followers of the
shorter walk will have turned left here.
You are now back on the Wealdway
path, though following it in the
opposite direction. A clear, well-trodden
path takes you along the
valley. You will soon have a wooded
bank on your left and meanders
of the Medway approaching and
receding on your right.
6. After about half a mile, turn
left to follow the Wealdway over
a wooden bridge to a stile and
through a belt of scrub.
After a few yards you have a choice:
either follow the well-signed Wealdway
ahead, or turn right and follow a
permissive path along the Medway
river bank. The two alternative routes
rejoin after half a mile to cross a wide
concrete farm bridge over the river.
Follow an unfenced track across
the next field.
7. Immediately after crossing
a second concrete bridge, turn
left, signed on a waypost as
Wealdway North and Sussex Border
Path West. Follow a trodden path
across a field, aiming for a footbridge
in sight. Once over this bridge, carry
on across a rough pasture and pass
beneath a railway bridge adorned
with colourful graffiti.
Go squarely ahead up across a field
to reach another substantial waypost.
The Wealdway goes off to the right
here, but you should go left with the
Sussex Border Path. You are now on
a clear track which, beyond a ruined
shed, continues with a fence and
bank on your right before feeding
into an enclosed track.
8. After another 250 yards,
turn left along a similar track
which drops gently downhill
between banks. Just short of a cottage,
turn right, along a clear track which
becomes a tarmac access-drive. This
takes you down past Ashurst Station
and out to the A264 road where you
should turn left.
After about 60 yards, a few yards
beyond Millstream Close on your left,
turn left along a narrow enclosed path.
Follow it beneath the railway and
across the Medway (near the weir
passed at the start of the walk).
You are now back at point two. Turn
right and retrace your tracks past
the mill pond, over a stile then left
through woodland. Beyond a culvert,
turn right for the last few yards back
to the starting point.
