Bodiam Castle and the Rother valley, Sussex

This is a variation on a walk which I did last year but the routes are different, as is the start/finish point. We start from an attractive village and make our way out into the countryside via fields and woods until we cross into a large hop garden. Hops are seen mainly in Kent and bits of East Sussex and the many oast houses in this area were and in some cases still are used to dry the hops. The growing of hops is very labour intensive as will be seen as we walk around this field.

After this is our only ascent up through more fields and through orchards until we reach the village of Staplecross. A short section of road and then we start our descent to the river valley. We shall see Bodiam Castle from a slightly different angle to the normal pictures as we cross the steam railway line from Tenterden on the other side of the valley.

We shall hopefully enter the castle grounds via the Sussex Border Path, passing right by the castle and its moat. If anybody wants to go inside the castle itself, they would have to pay the full entry fee or use their own NT card.

There is a pub right next to the river and we may choose to have a drink there, but we shall then follow the River Rother and the proposed route of what was the Rother Valley Railway most of the way back to the start.

When the Kent and East Sussex Railway from Tenterden goes all the way through from Bodiam, near where it currently terminates, to Robertsbridge as is planned, the new Robertsbridge Junction Station and all its workings are on view and we may have time to visit this.