(S/E) Setting off from Bore Place car park and using the map, public footpath and bridleway waymarkers to guide you, turn right to follow the farm track past the milking parlour. Bear round to the right and then continue straight ahead passing a barn on the left used to store woodchip for the Bore Place biomass district heating system. Continue straight ahead along the track passing an old oast house and a row of houses. Follow the track as it bears round to the left and uphill with hedges on either side. As the track levels out and bears right continue along it passing Fernhill Cottage on the right, until you reach the road and Scollops Farm.
(1) Turn right onto the road, walk with care for 40m, then turn left onto the entrance drive at Scollops Oast and follow the waymarkers through the gate between the houses. This leads downhill to cross a footbridge over a wooded stream and out into the field on the other side. Walk up the slope along the right-hand edge of the field and head for the gap in the hedge ahead, enjoying views of the tree-covered slopes of the Greensand Ridge on the skyline in the distance. Continue into the next field, following the hedge line to the right, pass out the top end of it through a gap in the hedge then straight across the third field heading gently uphill and into the wooded strip ahead. Emerge from the narrow wood and head slightly left across the next field while taking in great views to Yorkshill Farm and beyond. Find a small footbridge in the top left corner, cross this to continue on the path up the hill.
(2) The footpath veers sharply left bringing you to Boarhill Cottage. Turn right onto the road which leads steeply uphill. As the road bears left, turn right off it then immediately left, following the waymarker which points up a steep path with steps leading into Stubbs Wood.
(3) Continue up the hill through dense stands of silver birch trees and sweet chestnut coppice until you connect with the Greensand Way near the top of the ridge.
You can find several species of tree along the way including ash, cherry, field maple, and hazel on the lower slopes and English oak, beech, birch, pine, holly and rowan higher up. Unusually for Kent, pockets of heathland can also be found here with species such as heather, bilberry and heath speedwell adding to the diversity.
(4) Now turn right and follow the Greensand Way waymarkers continuing along the path through the woodland until you reach the small car park and picnic area. This is the highest point of the walk at just over 200m above sea level so have a rest here. Leave the car park crossing the small road to re-join the Greensand Way, which for a time runs parallel with the main road before it starts to slope down passing magnificent veteran beech trees. Keep an eye out for gaps in the trees which reveal a glint of Bough Beech Reservoir in the distance. Look out for a fork in the path to the right which leads you down steps bringing you out at the edge of the woods. Stop to soak up the breathtaking view of the Weald stretching away below you into the distance.
Cross a stile, leaving the woods behind and walk down the field keeping left to pass through a kissing gate on your left into another field. Go straight ahead walking between oak trees on your right and a telegraph pole on the left (with waymarker disc) and find a metal gate on the top edge of Harbour Hook woods. Pass diagonally down to the left through the woods, over a tiny stream and out of a kissing gate on the other side into a field where you head diagonally across towards Hatchlands Farm. On approaching the farm keep left along the edge of the woods, looking for waymarkers and a small bridge over a ditch in the hedge on the left which takes you into the next field. Turn right along the hedgerow and leave the field via a stile and out onto the road at Hatchlands.
(5) Walk left up the road with great care for 80m looking for a waymarker on the right-hand side of the road leading you through a kissing gate into more fields. Keep left down the first field and then continue to bear left heading towards the houses opposite. Leave the field through a metal gate and onto a concrete drive continuing straight ahead first passing Wickhurst Lodge and then Wickhurst Manor. At the end of the drive, leave the Greensand Way behind and turn right onto the narrow road, which is also a bridleway, and follow all the way to Sevenoaks Weald, to be greeted by the welcome sight of the Windmill pub on your left as you arrive.
(6) Pick up the waymarker outside the pub that leads along the eastern edge of the village green and follow the path down between the houses until you reach another road. Turn right. Shortly after look for a wooded byway on the right leading down towards New House Farm. Where the byway meets the road, cross straight over to the stile in the hedge opposite, and proceed along the right-hand edge of the field. Bearing slightly right, continue past the next stile and across the field and down into a gulley with a footbridge over a small wooded stream. Cross over and straight up the slope on the other side, then down again to another footbridge over another stream. Head straight up across the next two fields in the same direction passing over two stiles either side of the track. Continue over the brow of the hill to the corner of the field which meets Eight Acre Wood.
(7) Pass through a squeeze gap, cross over a track and the stile and footbridge opposite. Bear right to trace the edge of the wood, then shortcut in the same direction across the open field to the other side and find another stile and footbridge to cross. Keep right along the woodland edge. On reaching the corner, follow the path as it narrows between the hedge and fence on the left and woodland on the right. Walk diagonally down across the next field towards a low-voltage power pole, passing through a gap in the hedge beyond it to turn right and briefly join a grassy track. Do not go through the gap where the track opens out into the next field, instead turn left just before the gap and follow the right-hand edge of the field, looking for a concealed small metal gate down to the right. Go through the gate and across a footbridge over a stream, up steps and into the field the other side. Now go diagonally left up across the field towards Sharp’s Place aiming right of the farm buildings as they come into view. Join the track to the right of the red barn and follow it round and down to the right to meet the road.
(8) Turn left onto the road and walk with care to the point where the road bends right and the houses of Sharp’s Place are on the left. Continue straight ahead leaving the road, to follow the footpath, over a high stile with buildings to the left, until a further stile takes you into a field where you follow the left-hand edge to the kissing gate on the opposite side. Into the next field walk halfway along the left edge before cutting diagonally down to the right corner, passing through a gap into the next field, where you stay left looking for a stile into a paddock at the corner of the woodland. Cross the paddock diagonally to the stile at the bottom, go with care down a steep uneven bank to meet the road.
(9) Now turn left onto the road, taking care while you follow it to where it bends left at The Old Forge and there turn right following the signs for Bore Place. Continue along the drive past the two cattle grids to arrive back at Bore Place car park to complete the walk.(S/E)
