Circular walk from Ide Hill to Bough Beech Reservoir
This walk from Ide Hill to Bough Beech Reservoir and back is a very easy and perfect if you have about 1/2 day. There are few places where the path goes up and down, but the walk close to the reservoir is fairly flat. Great walk with fabulous views around Ide Hill and you can also do a spot of birdwatching at the Bough Beech Reservoir.
Having spent most of the festive period in and around the house, we decided to head for the High Weald on the New Year Bank Holiday Monday.
We thought that a walk in the Weald would clear our heads – not just from New Year celebrations but also from a bit of a cold, which we’ve only just managed to shake off.
The walk basics info
The Ide Hill to Bough Beech Reservoir walk is very easy and suitable for 1/2 day (if you want to walk around part of the reservoir, village and perhaps have a meal or refreshments in the pub). Also perfect as a longer evening summer walk as you need about 3 hrs for the actual walk.
- Distance: 4 km from Ide Hill to Bough Beech Reservoir (& back to Ide Hill 8 km in total – 5 miles)
- Difficulty Level: fairly easy, mostly level walk on minor roads and paths, but some walking up & down the hill around Ide Hill
- Type of walk: you’ll walk through the fields, meadows and arrive at a large lake
- Navigation: The path is not marked, but it’s very straightforward (I use maps on my phone & also have an oldfashioned paper one!)
- Parking: Free street parking in Ide Hill
- Refreshments: Pubs at Ide Hill village
- Make it longer: Once you get to the reservoir, you can have a look around before returning back (it’s a bit too big to walk around, but you can walk on one side following few paths) or walk back via Bore Place and then pick up the Greensand Way towards Ide Hill (this is about 10 km)
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Start of the walk & parking
We parked at Hanging Bank near Goathurst Common (alternative parking is at Stubbs Wood Car Park – free – but further away from Ide Hill). The name doesn’t have any sinister connotations but rather reflects the hanging wooden scarp that clings to the hillside.
Visiting nearby Emmetts Garden, one of the National Trust Properties in Kent, would have been the obvious choice but we’d been before. So after a few false trails trying to traverse the mud and slippery leaves, we consulted the map and instead decided to follow a narrow road which descended to Bough Beech Reservoir via Winkhurst Farm.
I kept a watchful eye on the road ahead for oncoming cars but Magdalena’s detour in the woods was rewarded by the sight of three deer crossing a field towards her. All I saw was a tractor loaded with hay. Still, both countryside sights in their own way.
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Bird watching at Bough Beech Reservoir
Update January 2025: Sadly the visitor’s centre has closed down as Kent Wildlife Trust has withdrawn from looking after the site in 2017-20. You can still walk around the lake on road & permitted paths, but there is no access to the lake itself.
About half an hour later we arrived at the Bough Beech Reservoir Visitor Centre. Run by volunteers from the Kent Wildlife Trust, who manage sixty such sites across the county, this is a vibrant place to learn more about local fauna and flora which also happens to brew a decent cup of tea as well.
Inside we learnt about tips on water conservation as well trying to distinguish various bird calls from the touch button recordings. The call of the Tawny Owl is still in my head as I write this blog.
Outside, there are some lovely natural as well as several wet lands conversation areas, nature reserves and bird hides. We had no trouble making out several groups of bird watchers glued to their binoculars. We just weren’t quite sure what exactly they were watching!
Slightly easier to spot were two wonderful natural ‘sculptures’; one of a giant insect crawling up the side of the centre and the other of a dragon fly resting on the grass– the wings made from huge willow branches.
Walk around the Bough Beech Reservoir
Bough Beech Reservoir was completed in 1969. A large area round used to be leased to the Kent Trust for Nature Conservation as a nature reserve and still continues to be a protected area. There is no access to water for swimming or boating, but you can walk around some part of the reservoir (mainly on the road).
Rested, we walked round to the reservoir itself and soon could hear for ourselves, the calls and cries of wildfowl at the water’s edge.
The water line was quite low and we could see, in the distance, the outlines of gulls, geese and grebes. The low hanging pale sun gave off a glittering effect as the expanse of water stretched before us. We could see from various noticeboards that local birdwatchers had recorded recent sightings which included buzzards, snipes and peregrines.
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Following the Greensand Way Path
Only the northern part of the reservoir hugs the water so after a while we doubled back and uphill again, taking in part of the Greensand Way.
On our return journey we saw a bird overhead with a dash of red at its base and black striped marking. Enthused, we looked it up later and concluded that it might have been a greater spotted woodpecker.
Finishing the walk in Ide Hill village
We thought that an ideal way to end an idyll day would be to look around Ide Hill. Puns aside the views over The Chart and Toy’s Hill, were splendid as we watched the late afternoon sun descend into the mist from the wooded landscape.
Parking near St Mary’s Church we wandered around what is the highest point in Kent, at over 200 metres above sea level.
The Church is relatively modern, having been built in the 1860s and stands on a sandstone ridge. It has two rows of three distinctive six pointed hollowed out stars just underneath the top of the spire on either side of the clock.
We spotted a white shaggy donkey in a field by the side of the church which came over to greet us. As it’s the start of another walk, we’ll say hello again, next time we’re passing by.
The Cock Inn is a cosy pub nestling on one side of the rolling common and another pot of tea seemed like the best way to round off a leisurely stroll through the beautiful Kent countryside.
This blog post was originally published on 17 January 2017 and last updated on 6 January 2025
