Britain at its best: Discovering the beautiful High Weald area

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Britain at its best: Discovering High Weald, a glorious area with stunning gardens, beautiful castles – and clattering steam trains

  • Tom Chesshyre explores the eastern Kent/East Sussex section of the High Weald – 560 sq m of wooded terrain
  • He recommends riding one of the steam trains between Tenterden and Bodiam to see the countryside proper 
  • For a long walk, Bedgebury National Pinetum makes the perfect venue: 320 tree-filled acres await

Strolling between the agapanthus pots, lily ponds and herb beds on a sunny day at Sissinghurst, with the 16th-century mansion tower poking into an azure sky, it feels like some kind of garden utopia.

This eastern Kent/East Sussex section of the High Weald — 560 square miles of wooded terrain spanning Surrey, West and East Sussex and Kent — is blessed by its richness of nature.

A dozen miles away from Sissinghurst at the historic house at Great Dixter yet another fine garden awaits. Dahlias, roses and hydrangeas shoot up amid fig trees, thistles, pines and — in one corner — bamboo thickets and banana plants.

Sissinghurst, with the 16th-century mansion tower poking into an azure sky, feels like some kind of garden utopia, says Tom

A dozen miles away from Sissinghurst at the historic house at Great Dixter yet another fine garden awaits

Afterwards, catch a ride on one of the clattering steam trains for ten miles between Tenterden in Kent and Bodiam in East Sussex to see the countryside proper. 

This is the Kent and East Sussex Railway, with trains rattling happily past hills of hops and vineyards, pulling in by dreamy Bodiam Castle, run by the National Trust. Turrets, moats and a tangled (Royalist) history are all waiting to be discovered.

Then, how about a tipple? Wineries are not short on the ground in these parts. Chapel Down, England’s leading winemaker, is just south of picturesque Tenterden. 

Catch a ride on one of the clattering steam trains for ten miles between Tenterden in Kent and Bodiam in East Sussex to see the countryside proper

Turrets, moats and a tangled (Royalist) history are all waiting to be discovered at Bodiam Castle

Meanwhile, Hush Heath Estate is a few miles north-east of Sissinghurst and home to some first-rate sparkling whites.

For a long walk one morning, Bedgebury National Pinetum makes the perfect venue: 320 acres filled with more than 10,000 trees considered the finest collection of pines on the planet.

Nature coming to the fore yet again. This corner of the High Weald offers high pleasures aplenty. 

TRAVEL FACTS  

Rural retreats has rental properties across the High Weald (ruralretreats.co.uk). Information: nationaltrust.org.uk (Sissinghurst and Bodiam); greatdixter.co.uk; kesr.org.uk (for the railway); chapeldown.com; hushheath.com; forestryengland.uk (Bedgebury). 

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