1- To orientate yourself for the start of the walk, stand with your back to the Spar grocery, facing the village green at The Moor. Turn right along the road then, at a road junction next to a telephone box, turn right again along Talbot Road.

After about 100 yards, fork left along a footpath, signed to High Street which starts through an iron swing gate. Descend to cross a stream and climb within a wooded strip, with a view of the spire of Hawkhurst Church to your right.

Disregard a waymarked path to the right and, after another 200 yards or so, fork left through a wooden swing gate and head out across grass, joining a drive which passes between school playing fields and takes you out to the A268.

2- Follow Slip Mill Road opposite and shortly, at a road junction, turn right. After about 250 yards fork right along a narrow slip road and, at another road junction, cross the road and go straight ahead along an access drive, signed as a bridleway.

After about half a mile, when opposite a white weather- boarded house on your left, turn right over a stile beside a gate and walk forward along a right field edge, soon diverging slightly from it to aim for and pass through a gate in a crossing hedge.

Follow a gated route ahead across two fields and, in the third field, veer half-right across the field corner to a stile beside a gate. Once over this stile, go right over a second stile and then turn left along a left field edge with a high hedge on your left.

3- In the corner, go through a gateway, turn right along a track and, after ten yards, fork left, still along a wide tree-lined track and heading generally westwards.

At a path junction next to a large pond, turn left and immediately ignore a left turn to follow a signed bridleway. After 250 yards, at a T-junction with a wide, hard-surfaced forest track, turn left.

After about a quarter of a mile, fork left along a narrower woodland path, still with a signed bridleway which you can follow round to the right at another signed junction.

4- At a three-armed fingerpost, where you have a choice of signed bridleways, go ahead, ignoring the right fork and, after about 300 yards at another finger-post, turn left along a path laid with gravel in pleasant contrast to some of the eroded tracks encountered elsewhere on the walk.

Leave the afforested area through a bridle gate and continue along a headland path, fenced at first. Join and go ahead along a farm track which you can follow round to the right and on to a T-junction with a concrete track where you should turn left.

At another T-junction next to a group of houses at Little Pix Hall Farm, turn right and follow an access drive for 400 yards out to the A268.

5- Cross the road and follow Delmonden Lane, opposite. After about 400 yards, fork right along the unmade drive to Delmonden Manor. After passing the manor on your right, fork right through a wooden gate to follow a fenced path.

After 60 yards, turn left over a footbridge and along a fenced headland path. From here back to the start you will be following part of the patchily waymarked Sussex Border Path. In the corner, go forward through a gap and on along a left field edge. In the next field corner, go through a swing gate, across a track and on in the same direction across the corner of the next field.

Pass through a bridle gate and go ahead with a hedge on your right for a few yards, then on, without change of direction, across a field to join a lane through a gate, in sight.

6- Turn left for ten yards, then go right between posts and along the right edge of an orchard, in the same direction through a second orchard and along the right edge of a third. A path continues through a copse.

Emerging into a field over a stile, go forward with a hedge on your right to cross a second stile, then go left along a left field edge. In the field corner, turn right and, after a few yards, go left over a stile and along a headland path.

After 100 yards, join a drive down a bank and turn left to follow it for 400 yards back to The Moor. At the road, turn left for the short distance back to the starting point.

Bedgebury National Pinetum is within easy reach by car.

As well as the impressive conifer collection it offers a spectacular adventure play area with high ropes, zip wires, a cafe and bike hire facilities, making it an excellent centre for a family outing.

Open from 8am to 8pm in summer, entrance to the Pinetum is free but there is an £8 car park charge which you might like to avoid by approaching on foot through Bedgebury Forest.

Breaking off from the described walk between points 3 and 4, a detour to the Pinetum and back will add about three or four miles to the total length of the walk and you will need a map and compass to find your way within a complicated network of woodland paths.

* Distance/Time: Six miles/three hours

* By Car: Start from The Moor, a detached segment of the village of Hawkhurst. Roadside parking is possible alongside the large village green in the vicinity of the Spar store (GR 757297)

* By Public Transport: Hourly weekday bus service from Hastings

* What’s underfoot: Mostly along clear woodland tracks and well-signed field paths but some mud underfoot. Plenty of shade so suitable for a hot summer’s day

* Thirsty Work: Eight Bells pub at The Moor

* So you don’t get lost: OS Explorer Map 136