Around Bethersden and the oast houses

There's no doubt that Kent has long been noted for its fruit orchards and hop gardens, and it is the cultivation of hops that has given the county its most distinctive feature – the oast house. With their warm, red brickwork and distinctive white cowls, they dot the landscape like foaming pints of beer and you'll pass several of them on this walk.

Hops were originally grown only as a herb and weren't farmed commercially in England until the 16th century, and the first hop gardens were established in Kent. The soil here was suitable, there was a ready supply of wood to make the hop poles on which the crop could climb, and the farmers were wealthy enough to afford the high initial outlay required to establish the gardens. Hop gardens are easily spotted, with poles supporting an aerial lattice of strings. The plants produce cones, which are harvested by machine today, although it used to be labour intensive work as they were traditionally picked by hand. Once picked, the cones are dried in oast houses before they are ready for use. You can make a stab at guessing the age of an oast house: the earliest types were rather like large barns, and rectangular in shape, while the Victorians built round oast houses as they thought this helped to dry the hops more efficiently. Modern oast houses are rather severe and rectangular. The local hop industry has declined in recent years due largely to competition from cheaper imports.

Much of the land around Wissenden was once owned by Richard Lovelace (1618-57). A Cavalier and a poet, he was reputed to be the handsomest man in England. Although he wrote many poems, he's best known for just two lines of verse which come from one of his earliest works, To Althea, from Prison (1642); 'Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage'. Richard Lovelace wrote these words while he was in prison in the gatehouse of Westminster Palace. He had been sent there as punishment for supporting the 'Kentish Petition'. This was a document that had been drawn up by the county's gentry, urging the King and Parliament to try to resolve their differences and so avert civil war. It was, as we know, unsuccessful - and when the war did break out and Lovelace was released he fought on the side of the King. When Cromwell came to power, Lovelace lost all his land around Bethersden.

In the churchyard, take the right-hand path that leads to a kissing gate. Walk straight ahead up the field to some trees and continue to a stile and the road.

Cross the stile by a gate opposite and walk down the track towards a salvage yard. Fork off right and take the narrow path through the trees to a stile. Walk ahead along the field-edge, then go left at a crossing of paths at the edge of the wood. Keep ahead at the bottom of the field, then bear right and walk between two ponds. Go through a gate and cross the farmyard.

Follow a tarmac drive to the road (private planes land here and you'll pass a sign saying 'danger - stop, look aircraft'). Turn left and continue for 0.75 mile (1.2km) to the main road and turn right. Turn left at the electricity sub-station. 

Reach a field and walk diagonally left towards the first lone tree, then continue to the hedge and marker post. Cross a bridge, go through some scrub and over a stile. Turn left at the high wire fence, then go through the high metal gate. Another gate brings you into a farmyard (can be muddy in winter). Walk around the pond and go through two more gates to the drive. Cross the two stiles ahead and continue across pasture to a stile by oak trees. Cross a drive and stile by a gate at Monkery Farm, then climb two more stiles on the left, bearing right to a stile in the hedge and the road.

Follow the road as it bears to the right, passing some houses and Tuesnoad Cottage, formerly Dadson Farmhouse. 

The road bears left, follow it until you come to a footpath on your right into a field. Take this path and cross the field, following the field-edge. At a junction of paths turn left. 

Continue through the next field and in the field beyond. Go through the gap in the hedge and head straight across the field. On reaching a lane turn right, then at a T-junction turn left, signed 'Bethersden' and walk along the road . 

On reaching farm buildings, bear left to a stile and walk through the farmyard ahead, passing to the left of a pond. Cross a stile and go through a narrow strip of woodland to a stile. Go to the right of a farm, then diagonally left across the field, and cross a stile to the road. Turn right walk up the road, and pass a white house and some oasts to Wissenden Corner.

Continue on the road and pass Star Farm, then, at the sharp left bend take the footpath right to a gate. Follow the left-hand field-edge, then after a small bridge and stile you reach a marker post. Bear right and walk diagonally towards the woods.

At another marker, cross a tiny bridge and two stiles, then walk straight across the field. Reach another bridge and stile and walk ahead through the woods. Cross a bridge and keep left at the fork of tracks. At another small bridge and stile you emerge from the wood and cross pasture, then head across two fields to a gate and the road. Go through the gate opposite and continue ahead through two more gates to return to the churchyard.