Marden Walking Group
Marden Walking Group was established in February 2005 and is affiliated to the Marden Society. Its original aim was to update the “Walks around Marden” leaflets originally published by the Marden Society in the 1970s. Our first set of “Six Walks Around Marden” was published in 2006, followed by a second set of “Six More Walks Around Marden” in 2009. When these ran out in 2016, the Group decided to revise the routes as they were 10 years old and many had changed significantly, due to all the recent development in Marden. The new set of “Six New Walks Around Marden” was published in January 2019 and updated in March 2021. These are available from “No 47 High St.” for £5 per set. These walks are:
Walk 1: Circular walk starting and ending at the Unicorn. 2¾ miles/4½ km
Walk 2: Circular walk along the River Beult from the Stilebridge Inn. 4¾ miles/7½ km or 3½ miles/5½ km
Walk 3: Circular walk to Marden Meadow to view the flowers. 4½ miles/7 km
Walk 4: Marden Diamond Jubilee Walk. 6 miles/9½ km
Walk 5: West End Wander. 6½ miles/10½ km.
Walk 6: Circular walk to Turkey Farm. 4 miles/6½ km or 2¼ miles/3½ km
A further set of Historic Walks was published in March 2022, cost £6 also available from No 47 and The Library. Details as follows:
Walk 1 Trees of Marden 3 or 4 miles
Walk 2 Historic Farmhouses around Marden 6¼ or 9 miles
Walk 3 Hops and grapes in Marden 5½ miles
Walk 4 The PLUTO Walk 6½ miles
Walk 5 Marden’s Aviation History – East 5½ miles or 7 miles
Walk 6 Marden’s Aviation History – West 7 miles
The Walking Group helps to maintain the many footpaths within Marden Parish (the largest in Kent!). All paths have official KCC numbers which are displayed on the Fingerposts where footpaths intersect with roads (e.g. KM240) which are referenced in our walks leaflets. It is important that walkers should ONLY use these footpaths which are Public Rights of Way (PROWs), unless there is a specific Permissive path, to respect the farming community.
We normally organise three series of regular walks:
Saturday Strolls: These are held on Saturday afternoons for 1 – 1½ hours around Marden with no stiles. Routes depend on the weather and conditions underfoot. Meet at 2 p.m. outside the Library.
Sunday Walks: These are generally held on the first Sunday of each month and are usually 5-6 miles over paths around Marden (or other local villages) including stiles. Meet at 10.00 in the village car park unless informed otherwise.
Long distance walks: These are long distance trail, such as the Saxon Shore Way which are walked in sections of 8-10 miles over a period of time.
We are aware that the dog population has increased significantly during lockdown, and the Parish Council have increased the number of dog litter bins in the village, so please do use them. We do not normally invite dogs on our scheduled walks but we do urge dog walkers to use the correct PROWs as shown in our leaflets.
Our current programme of Walks is given below, If you would like further information, or would like to be put on an e-mail list to receive information on future walks, please contact Steve McArragher (steve.mcarragher@btinternet.com).
Programme for March 2025
Long Distance Walks:
The River Beult Walk from Great Chart to Yalding will be walked in three legs on 11th, 18th & 25th of March. Longer term the plan is to walk the North Downs Way from Dover to Farnham in 15 sections probably from April to August. For further information contact Ian Balmer at igbalmer@gmail.com
Sunday Walks:
The next Sunday walk will be on March 2nd starting from the Library at 10.am. The route will be decided nearer the day as some of the fields are waterlogged. We are hopeful a walk of approximately six miles will be possible with reasonable terrain.
Weekly Saturday walks start at the Library at 2.pm. The proposed walks for March are:
March 1st : Turkey farm via Wheelbarrow estate
March 8th Cemetery via Community Orchard
March 15th Plain Road via Community orchard
March 22nd Turkey Farm via the parsonage
March 29th Car Share to East Peckham
March 31st Train Trek to Dover. Clifftop walk via Capel le Ferne to Folkestone. Bring Lunch