insideSUSSEX Magazine Issue 20 - October 2016 | Page 99

Cranbrook
Windmill

Stop off to try
local produce

Rye’s pretty
harbour

the village Collier Street, then made for Marden,
speeding up as the lanes became a broader.

its delights, taking the B2082 Smallhythe Road,
sending me into Sussex and Rye.

With its mix of shops, a railway station and
garages, Marden has the feel of a village that’s
lived in rather than just commuted from. I hadn’t
noticed the quiet beauty of the lanes that take
you to it before though, as I’d had other things
on my mind – it’s also home to my dentist.

with clear, straight stretches and tight corners.
Much of the land here is reclaimed from the sea.
Indeed, Tenterden was once a ‘Cinque Port’ and
Smallhythe a centre for boat building.

I overruled the QX30’s sat nav and turned right
grace and sent me down ever smaller wooded
lanes until I eventually emerged near Staplehurst.
Here, I turned right onto the A229 Cranbrook
Road, deciding this time not to make the short
detour to Sissinghurst on the B2083.
The A229 is a fast, sinuous road that allowed the
miles outside Cranbrook it climbs into woodland,
jinking right then left.
Cranbrook has an old-fashioned bustle and
a refreshing lack of chain stores, so I cruised
along its high street, then headed for Tenterden,
glimpsing the giant windmill in the distance.

Beyond it, the countryside starts to change. The
road dips and weaves, and with the car willing, I
whisking through open bends. I was now in the
Isle of Oxney, which perversely isn’t an island
but a district. Either way, it was fun.
At the end of the B2082 I turned left onto the
– a delicious slice of English Bohemia. Much of
the town is perched above the harbour, and can
be reached by a corkscrew-like one-way system.
I made my way up into the old town with its
ancient buildings and jumble of shops.
After that, it was time to head back towards

right onto the Military Road to Appledore. Arrow
straight in parts, it sometimes writhes with a
series of S-bends as it slices through the
other-worldly landscape of Romney Marsh,
All too soon I reached the Appledore give way
sign, turned left and ambled through this pretty
village, at the end of which I again went left on to
the A2080. This would take me to the outskirts of
Tenterden. Surrounded by swathes of farmland,
this road is broad, straight and fast in places,
Before reaching Tenterden the road climbed
steadily, slid left, right, then under a canopy of
mature trees. I ambled past houses for a couple
of miles, arrived at a junction where I signalled
right onto the Ashford Road, slipped out of
Tenterden and about four miles later turned
Biddenden, Headcorn and Sutton Valence,
before setting my sights on Maidstone, passing
through lush countryside for which the ‘Garden
of England’ cliché more than applies.
After climbing the hill into Sutton Valence, I turned
left by The Plough pub onto the B2163 (go right
to visit Leeds Castle). This skirts Maidstone’s
urban sprawl before slipping through the outskirts
of Coxheath, and soon after I pulled up outside
the Tickled Trout pub in West Farleigh for a
delicious meal.

The Tenterden Road – or the Cranbrook Road,
as it’s known to people coming the other way –
is challenging, but in a good way, as it dips and
You might have noticed that lots of Weald place
names end in ‘hurst’ and ‘den’. The former
apparently relates to being near a wooded hill,
the latter, woods where people kept pigs.

I detoured to Teston Country Park and walked

Tenterden, with its broad main street, is certainly
livestock friendly. As recently as the 1960s, when
it still hosted markets, people would drive sheep
along this thoroughfare. However, I eschewed

Medway – on the way thinking about all the
places I hadn’t seen and the roads that would
take me to them. This had been an empowering
experience, and one I knew I’d repeat.

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