Exploring the UK countryside - Brightling in Kent

2020 has turned out to be the year where normal life as well as normal holidays have gone for a six. So after cancelling a lot of the travels during the year, when the restrictions finally lifted for a few months in summer, I did a few vacations all within the UK. To be honest, I have done a lot of UK vacations before but this time, they were different. 

One we didn’t go far, only where we could get to in a couple of hours. And second, we rented some amazing airbnb properties, which were standalone properties with huge uninhabited areas around them, so we could be away from people. And we spent 4-5 days mostly in and around our airbnbs. It felt different to start with for sure, as we didn’t do any touristy stuff and just stayed within the nearby areas most of the time. But soon enough we got used to it and enjoyed them totally. All these airbnb vacations turned out to be leisurely days spent out of London, exploring fields and small villages around, all in non-descript parts of the UK.

This break was in August this year when we spent 5 days in the village of Brightling in and around the High Weald AONB in Kent. To be honest, Kent is not a place I would typically have gone to for a holiday in the UK but these are not typical times. And the place provided a much needed and convenient change of scenery, after almost 4 months in lockdown. 

Brightling was about a two hour drive from London. We left on a Thursday evening and it was a convenient short drive to get to the property. Get on to the M25 and drive all the way till Sevenoaks when we turned south within the AONB. It was raining heavily that day and was foggy all around. As we were driving through the AONB, with all the greenery and small hills around, it almost felt like being in the Western Ghats during the rainy season. Our house was located near the historical village of Robertsbridge which we thought we would explore but never got to. As once we entered our village, we didn’t really venture out far from there.

Our airbnb

We reached our house much before sunset and were blown away by how amazing it was. Its photographs didn’t do it enough justice and it turned out to be much better than we had expected. The place was built in the 16th century and was used as a rectory earlier. We spent an hour or so just admiring the house, it was huge and very well done up. It had a huge stately dining room looking onto the fields and the woods outside. The main living room also looked out onto the far off lights of London, across the hills and was the perfect place to spend a nice relaxed evening.

View from the living room

The house had a huge kitchen, 4 different large and small living areas, 7 bedrooms and at least 3 studies. All the rooms were full of hundreds of books and art pieces surrounded us all around. You could however see the difference in the size and height of the rooms which were in the owner’s half and the servant’s half.  

Outside, there was a pool, with a linked pool room. And lot of garden furniture to just sit outside, relax and watch the world go by. The grounds of the house spread till far too. The owners apparently raise and train horses and the stables were right next to our house where they kept 8 horses. During the day, we saw a few of them grazing around the grounds, as well as some kids who came and rode them for a few hours. It all felt like being in a fairytale. Or being in an Agatha Christie or PG Wodehouse novel. It definitely got us excited for the time ahead and we made the most of exploring all parts of the house and its grounds around.

Over the next 3 days we went on a few walks, exploring the villages and grounds in the area, with me making one trip out of the AONB, to the coastal town of Hastings. But overall, it was a relaxed vacation where we ended up not doing a lot other than eat, walk and talk.

Church in local
village

The first day when the weather was sunny and it was a weekday, I decided it was time to go to the beach. To avoid the crowds. So I decided to drive till the nearest beach town, Hastings, which was about an hour away. The drive till Hastings was mostly through the AONB, through narrow country streets, surrounded by greenery, dotted with small bright coloured villages, with their own picturesque churches all along the way. And all the streets were lined with trees on both sides. It was a very refreshing drive and felt amazing to be out of London after so long..

 

Crowded beaches of Hastings

Hastings turned out to be a typical English beach town. It had lot of holiday homes on the hills, all in white. And a pier with lot of activity, roller coasters, hotels and so on. When I reached the main city, it was super crowded even though it was a weekday. The sea road was chock-a-blocked with traffic and all parking areas were full. I kept driving till the end of the road and even found a parking spot. But I was shocked to see the crowds on the beach there, given the ongoing pandemic, that it scared me enough and I decided to leave immediately.

Holiday homes in Hastings

So then I drove to the other end of the town, planning to drive to the next coastal town to find some peace and quiet. But surprisingly, as I drove through Hastings and crossed the tourist areas, I turned up at a place where the beaches were emptier and there were less crowds on the road. I also found parking next to the beach and decided to just stop there.

There was the beach right there, with the pebbles and the water right across. But it had got very hot by then, so I walked away from the beach into a pub, the Bo Peep. It had outside seating and was quite empty, so I had a leisurely lunch there, waiting for the sun to get more comfortable. While chatting with the pub owner, he mentioned that this part of the beach was less crowded, as the tourists didn’t know about it much. And it was more popular with the locals. I felt lucky that I had stumbled here, as it felt so much better to be away from the crowds. He also mentioned that at some point, his pub was right on the beach, overlooking the sea but over the years due to reclamation, now its was some 100 meters away. That was an interesting titbit.

Quieter beach in Hastings

After the temperature cooled down a bit, I walked for a few miles along the beach, away from the town and it was lovely. The clouds in the sky were making characters in the sky, the breeze was cool, the sun was warm and the waves loud. I hadn’t realised till I had come here, how much I had missed having a view of the sea, the freedom and openness it symbolises, which we were all missing during lockdown. I felt amazing just to be there.  

I admired the views all around, sat on the beach for a while, got into the water just a bit but generally walked around just to take the feel back with me to London, to last for some more time. The drive back to our airbnb felt awesome too. It was all through narrow roads through green woods and small villages with huge bungalows, of people who stay there but commute to London to work.

The next day, we did two walks in and around the Brighling village. In the morning, we walked to the village and followed one of the paths we saw around there. We didn’t go very far though as we had kids with us, so we just explored nearby areas. We first went to the local church which surprisingly had a pyramid next to it. Then we walked into the woods nearby and made our way through it without a path, which the kids enjoyed,

The Brightling rotunda

After a bit, we found a walking track and followed it till we came to some open fields. We could see grass covered hills all around, with some corn fields in between. And one of the hills had a rotunda on top of it. We were trying to get there when it suddenly started raining. So we took cover under one of the farm structures in the area.

Views on the trail

And then it was time to walk back to our village. On the way back, we walked through some farms and ran into some horses and lot of wild jungle fowl. Overall it was a 2 hour walk up and down a few hills and turned out to be fun as we were trying to find the route as we walked along. It was a refreshing walk, with some picturesque views of the villages around.

The same evening, I went for another walk nearby, again without a map. It was a good walk for the first half but the second half turned out to be a mixed bag. I left our house and walked into the woods right in front. I ran into a yellow footpath and followed it for a while. I also came across some wild deer on the way, who ran away after seeing me. This path then took me through some farms, horse fields and swamps. It was a nice countryside walk where I had to jump a few fences, when I finally came to the road.

After that I walked a bit to the neighbouring villages looking for more footpaths but didn’t really find any. So I had to walk on the road itself which was ok as there were not many cars there. But still it was not as fun as the cross country walks I prefer. I did pass a few small villages with some pretty houses. I reached the Darwell car park from where there were a few paths going into the woods but it was too late in the evening to take one and risk getting lost. So after not finding any other footpaths, I just walked back to our house. Our house was surrounded by road on three sides, so generally it was easy to get back. The sunset that day was gorgeous and there were some fascinating views of the hills around. All made for a nice and tiring day out.

Trek in the woods

The next day, I drove to the same Darwell carpark I had come across the previous day and went into the woods for a walk, trying to get to the Darwell reservoir. The route wasn’t well marked but there were a few people I met on the way who gave me directions on how to get there. At a couple places, there were multiple turns, and I took the wrong one at one point. I ending up walking along a mining conveyor belt for a bit, but then turned back and tried the other turns. I used Google maps to help me with general directions and after walking through some more woods, finally reached the reservoir.

Darwell reservoir

The reservoir turned out to be pretty nice, and I sat there for a bit, on a log in the sun. It wasn’t large or deep but had some pretty views around. I could have walked all around but didn’t as the wind was coming in. So I headed back and somehow managed to get lost for a bit. I did find a track and turns out they all land back at the car park, which was helpful. Back at the house, I finally got some time in the pool, which was nice. And spent the rest of the evening, just lazing in the living room, looking out at the horses grazing all around and the lights of London far away.

The last day, we left the airbnb early in the morning and went to the Darwell car park again. We went for a walk into the woods, on a different path. It was a well made path and we passed some fields and a lone house in the woods. We also had a picnic lunch in the open fields, just sitting and admiring the greenery around. I think we stayed there for quite some time, as we did not want to leave and come back to London anytime soon.

Anways it started raining then and we soon left, happy that at least all our full days had been with good weather. Coming back to London felt like a downer, but I had another vacation to look forward to, so it wasn’t as bad. But hopefully, will be doing more of these airbnb holidays soon…