Scotney Castle and Bewl Water Walk Kent 19th May 2022

GPX File Here

Outdooractive file Here

I left home picked up Mike and drove to Cellarheads Brewery in Flimwell East Sussex to start our walk. I had emailed the brewery beforehand to ask if we could park there for the walk and we would be drinking and buying afterwards. They were happy with this. Otherwise you could start the park at Bewl Water (parking charge £6 at time of writing) or at Scotney Castle(parking charge or free for NT members).

We leave the brewery and walk down the back road to the A21 and cross and now walk down the busy A21 (Take care on this busy road). It is still raining and I'm in just shorts and a short sleeved top. But I'm confident it'll stop soon and we'll have the sun we're promised.

We are soon off the A21 and have taken a footpath on the right and now walk paths across Combwell Priory Farm.

The origin of the place-name of Flimwell is from the Old English words fliema and wella meaning the spring of the fugitives. The place-name appears as Flimenwelle in 1210.

In the 16th century, Flimwell was one of the stages on the post road from London to Rye.

The path now enters Shearnfold Wood by the corner of the field.

These woods are a site of scientific interest.

The same occurred as last time I walked in this area, I got lost in the wood, paths seem to disappear with no clear signage. We ended up fighting our way through heavy overgrowth of trees and Rhododendrons wishing we had a machete.  We come out a little of course but get ourselves sorted and back on track. I have amended the GPX so you stay on track!

I walk on down into Kilndown and up to its spectacular church.

Christ Church, Kilndown was built in 1841. It is built in a unique Gothic revival style.

The Church was built by one of the Duke of Wellington’s generals from the Napoleonic Wars, Field Marshal Viscount Beresford. Beresford had purchased the nearby 2,300 acre Bedgebury Park estate in 1836 and the church was built as a chapel of ease for the area of Goudhurst. It was consecrated in 1841 and in 1843 Kilndown became a separate parish.

During the Second World War, all the glass in the south windows was destroyed but the panels have been subsequently restored. At the east end of the church there is a stunning example of a fine stained glass, three-panelled window. In the centre panel there is a depiction of the Virgin and Child and either side there are panels depicting St. Peter with his keys and St. Paul with the martyr’s sword.

One of the most remarkable gems, just inside the church, are the free-standing marquetry panels known as The Bedgebury Panels. The Bedgebury Park estate had its own workshop including a sawpit. The workshop produced high quality examples of marquetry. In the 1860’s marquetry was known as Tarsia or Intarsia, a craft that originated from Italy. Records are not clear as to where exactly the skill of marquetry was learnt by the Bedgebury craftsmen. However, between 1865 and 1881 the workshops on the estate were dedicated to perfecting its complexities and George Parks was their lead craftsman.

I signed the visitors book and found my sons entry from five years ago!

We leave the church and walk on down into Kilndown.

A defibrillator now occupies an old British telecom Phone Box. I notice the old bus stop that once sat next to this has now gone.

Kilndown first appears on Hasted's map in 1778 but was referenced as "Killdown"; the "Kiln" in the current name may have come from the kiln oasts harvested in the area, or that the area produced bricks.

Two estates existed near the village: the first was the Combwell Estate that was formed during the reign of King Henry II, however it became a priory in 1220. However the priory was destroyed during the Reformation of the Church in the 16th century. Nothing of the building remains.

The Bedgebury Estate was mentioned in an 814 charter and was a known home to the Culpeper family in the 16th century and the estate contained two Iron Furnaces to help defeat the Spanish Armada in 1588. William Carr Beresford, or Viscount Beresford, purchased the estate in 1834. This led to development on the estate and Christ Church was built. This led to numerous shops, craftsmen and a public house, which still remains today: The Small Holding.

We stop off by the village pond before continuing our way onto Scotney Castle.

We are soon walking out onto the Scotney Estate.

After a uphill we arrive at Scotney Castle and its Mansion House.

We stop for lunch at the NT Tea room. Where Mike enjoyed two NT beers bought here.

We walked back round and Mike paid the £14 to enter, free for me as I'm a NT member.

The house was built by Edward Hussey III from the sandstone quarried from the grounds of the Old Castle. It is positioned to overlook the Castle and estate and the garden was also designed and created at the same time. This meant that all the three elements: house, garden and estate would work as one in creating a perfect picturesque country home.

Mike got caught by a volunteer who bored Mike to death about its history, I shamelessly left him and escaped ! 

The wood panelling and some of the significant furniture was also designed specifically for the house by Salvin which gives a lovely flow of continuity to the home. However the Hussey family were great collectors and hoarders of everything so you will see many influences from different generations as you walk around.

At the top of the garden stands a house which was built to replace the Old Castle between 1835 and 1843. This is known as Scotney New Castle, or simply Scotney Castle, and was designed by Anthony Salvin. It is an early, and unusually restrained, example of Tudor Revival architectural style in 19th century Britain. Following the death of the resident, Elizabeth Hussey, in 2006, this house was opened to the public for the first time on 6 June 2007.

We walk on down through the gardens. Scotney Castle’s garden is like a landscape painting with drama and romance. From a stunning vista of the Old Castle glimpsed through a swathe of rhododendrons and azaleas in spring to colourful reflections in the moat throughout autumn.

The garden has naturalistic planting which is seemingly untouched by human hand and its cloud-like planting of rhododendrons and azaleas creates a fairytale feel, with the ruins of the Old Castle at its centre. Wisteria and old English roses adorn its sandstone walls, whilst the surrounding herbaceous beds are always throwing out new colours throughout the seasons.

The earliest record from 1137 gives the owner of the estate as Lambert de Scoteni. Roger Ashburnham is credited with building the castle c.1378–80.

Construction of the castle began as a roughly rectangular fortified house with towers in each corner. The original plan may never have been finished, and by 1558 it is likely only the southern tower remained. In 1580 the south wing was rebuilt in Elizabethan architecture style, and around 1630 the eastern range was rebuilt in three-story Inigo Jones style. The Elizabethan wing remained a bailiff's residence until 1905, but the eastern range was partly dismantled on the completion of the new house in 1843, leaving the ruin as a garden feature.

Catholic Recusant owner Thomas Darrell hid Jesuit Father Richard Blount, S.J. in the castle while he ministered to Roman Catholics from 1591 to 1598. Catholicism was then illegal in England, and during the second raid by authorities to arrest the Father he fled over a wall into the moat and escaped.

The Darrell family owned the estate for some 350 years. In 1778 Edward Hussey bought the estate and his grandson, also Edward, built the 'new' Castle to the designs of Anthony Salvin, from sandstone quarried from the slope below. The hollow created was developed into a Quarry Garden and contains a 100-million-year-old impression of a dinosaur's footprint.

On Christopher Hussey's death in 1970 the estate was left to the National Trust. Several apartments in the castle and on the estate were let out by the Trust, with tenants including Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher who rented the Belfry flat for a time during the 1970s and 1980s, when it served as a weekend escape for her from Westminster life.

The castle grounds have played host to Shakespeare productions, notably A Midsummer Night's Dream, with the actors appearing from behind the bushes on cue.

Old Scotney Castle was used as the location for the video to the Squeeze song Some Fantastic Place.

We walk around the Castle and its grounds, this is a photographers dream and looks spectacular in the sunshine.

After five years at the English College in Rome, Blount was ordained a priest in 1589. He worked with Father Robert Parsons, S.J. to smuggle himself back into England in 1591 posing as returning sailor prisoners-of-war from the failed expedition against Spain by the Earl of Essex. He was taken before the Lord High Admiral Howard of Effingham to present his story. His knowledge of the events and of seamanship were good enough for him to pass and be allowed back into England.

He worked as a priest from hiding in Scotney Castle.

He entered the Society of Jesus and became a Jesuit on 5 May 1608 by taking the four vows of the Order.

In 1617, Blount was selected as Superior of the English mission of the Society. As Superior he took on the yoke of leadership of the English Jesuits. At the time there were approximately 200 Jesuits, 109 of which were in hiding in England.

In 1619, the Pope made England a trial province. Identification as a province indicated that the area covered had stability and permanence. Blount was appointed to the highest leadership position in a trial province, Vice-Provincial. Blount's task as Vice-Provincial was to organise the province for further validation at the next meeting of the Society of Jesus leadership. Blount organised five fictional colleges in London, Lancashire, Suffolk, Leicestershire and Wales.

His work was recognised by the Order leadership and England was made a full Province of the Society with Blount as the first Provincial superior. Blount was the Provincial of the English Province of the Society of Jesus until 11 August 1635, when he was succeeded by Henry More, S.J.

Father Blount hid in the priest hole within the castle.

We pass the Grade II listed boat-house built 1838.

Crossing the bridge we view Scotney Castle from the opposite side of the moat.

A magnificent old Oak Tree

We leave the Castle and its grounds and walk up the entrance road and back to the A21, where it is even busier now and had to run across at a gap and across onto a footpath through a wooded area next ro Whisketts Farm.

More nettles to sting my legs, downside to wearing shorts!

We emerge and walk up the B2100 for a while.

We pass an old Oast House turned into a residential property. 

An oast, oast house or hop kiln is a building designed for kilning (drying) hops as part of the brewing process

We take a path on our left further up and across farm fields in the blazing sun.

Thankfully a bit of rest from the sun we walk through a wooded area, before coming to Bewlbridge Lane and crossing into Bewl Water.

We now follow the reservoirs edge.

Bewl Water now has an Aqua Park, £21 per person if booked online, £25 if booked on day at reception.

It was as early as 1946 that the idea was conceived to build a reservoir to serve the Medway towns along with other parts of Kent and East Sussex. However it wasn’t until the 1960s that plans for this new source of drinking water began to gather pace and attention came to rest on the Bewl Valley between Lamberhurst and Ticehurst.

In the years immediately following the Second World War it was realised that the growing population in the South East of England would not be able to rely on traditional underground supplies of water forever. Instead it was decided that harnessing and storing surface water for times of need would be an invaluable investment for the future. Architects, planners and engineers wanted somewhere close enough to the target area to be practical yet at the same time avoid large-scale disruption.

The Bewl Valley seemed to be the perfect choice as it would not affect any major road or rail lines and there were very few people living in the immediate vicinity that would be affected. Furthermore, two major materials necessary for building the dam were available locally. These were clay, ideal for retaining water, and sandstone, both of which could be dug out of the ground nearby thus saving the cost of importing them.

The Queen gave Royal Assent to what was known as the Medway Water Act on 26th July 1968. This was the green light for work at Bewl and the project began in 1973.

A 900 metre long dam was constructed across the valley from clay excavated from the ground. This was strengthened with blocks of sandstone. The bank of the dam was covered in twelve inches of gravel underneath a layer of five inch concrete slabs to protect it from erosion. Pipes were built underneath the dam to enable the river Bewl to continue flowing.

Two large concrete towers were installed. The taller of the two was designed to draw off water when needed. The other was the overflow which was built to prevent the reservoir from getting too full.

We make our way around the reservoir and stop to take some pictures of the concrete towers.

Many recreational activities take place on and around the reservoir. These include sailing and windsurfing (formerly through Bewl Valley Sailing Club, now through Bewl Sailing Association Ltd), rowing and sculling (through Bewl Bridge Rowing Club), Canoeing and Kayaking (through Bewl Canoe Club), trout fishing, Laser Quest, Aqua ParkPaddle Board hire, Soft play area ],Outdoor open water swimming,walking and cycling (on a 12½ mile Round Reservoir Route).

Bewl Water Outdoor Centre offers a wide range of training, team building and adventure opportunities, on and around Bewl Water.

There is also a passenger boat and a restaurant, conference facility and gift shop.

The project was completed by the end of 1975 and when full, Bewl Water can hold up to 31 million litres of water and covers about 770 acres of land.

In 2004 work was completed on a pipeline connecting Bewl Water with Darwell Reservoir near Robertsbridge. At a cost of £25 million the 17km long stretch of piping was installed to help resupply this area of East Sussex during times of drought.

We walk around the Reservoir and tried to stay mud free from the large flooded areas of the path after last nights thunder storm.

A walk beside the beautiful waterside, contrasted by walks into wooded areas by the water.

Across Bewl water we can see some Oasthouses.

RSA gained planning permission for the conversion of the oast house near Ticehurst to a detached five bedroom dwelling.

The oast house is situated near to Bewl Water with extensive views across the water. The clients required a high level of internal finishes and oak was specified extensively for the flooring and joinery including the staircase.

We walk out onto Rosemary Lane and walk over Bewl Waters end and take a footpath on our left.

We are now walking through Chingley Wood.

After walking uphill through the woods we turn left and out into Farm fields and up ahead we can see Cellarheads Brewery where we have parked up.

We arrive and throw our boots off and head off into the taproom.

From their website;

Cellar Head Brewing Company is an award-winning independent microbrewery founded by Chris and Julia McKenzie in 2017. We wanted to create an all-inclusive brewery that crossed many divides - generations, beer tastes and styles, in a no nonsense "what you see is what you get" way.

We use traditional brewing methods to produce a varied range of modern beers focused on drinkability and quality using the finest of English grown malts and hops as well as selected high quality hops from around the world and our own strain of historic Sussex live yeast. We are lucky to still be surrounded by hop gardens in this corner of Kent and source as many hops locally as we can. We showcases these hops with our monthly-changing Single Hop Pale series and Small Batch specials.

I order a half of their award winning Session Pale Ale. Refreshing straw coloured pale ale with tropical fruit and sweet floral aromas with intense flavour of Gooseberry, green grapes honeyed sweetness and a clean dry finish.

Then a half of Wonderland NEIPA. This is amazing! Fruity, Juicy heavily hopped with Citra, Mosaic and Amarillio, full body, smooth and very little bitterness. How can you not like this with those hops!

We both bought a few bottles and cans to take home. Then made our way home, longer than coming thanks to the usual traffic jams at Dartford crossing! A great 13 mile walk!