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In early summer wildflowers bring colour to the meadows

For the long-distance walker, the North Downs Way keeps mostly to the scarp edge on its 130-mile/208km journey from Farnham in Surrey to Dover, with an alternative section that breaks away near Wye to visit Canterbury before curving round to the coast. The Pilgrims Way, however, traces a route along the base of the Downs, but as this is tarmac road for most of the way, it’s lost much of its appeal for walkers. Not so the broad crest, the scarp edge and the inner valleys where abundant opportunities exist for walks of varying lengths; delightful half-day rambles or full-day walks, some of which can be found in this book – from Lullingstone, Shoreham, Camer Country Park, Stansted and Trosley and Wye.

The greensand hills

The greensand hills act as an inner lining to the North Downs. But the ridge which shadows that downland wall is much narrower and more clearly defined than its better-known neighbour, and the views arguably even better from its crest. Overlooking the Weald, this ridge also stretches right across the county, entering Kent from Surrey a little south of Westerham, and making a long curve towards Hythe and the edge of Romney Marsh. Unlike the chalk downs, the greensand hills are, as their name suggests, sandy in places – although this is not evident everywhere. The vegetation is different, with bracken-covered heaths, stands of pine and birch and many handsome beechwoods. The hurricane winds of October 1987 flattened vast areas of woodland, but time has served to heal the landscape and, following programmes of replanting, large wooded sections have recovered well. One of the legacies of that hurricane is the welcome spread of bluebells, wood anemones and wood sorrel, so walking along the greensand hills in springtime can be truly spectacular.