Hollingbourne
There's not much to say about Hollingbourne. Fewer than a thousand people live here, in the middle of the North Downs. There's one train line, and that's about it when it comes to transport. Four miles away lies Maidstone, Kent's county town and probably a future blogpost in the waiting. Here, though, lies a more tranquil way of life, beloved by hikers and retirees alike.
Geographical aside
That said, Hollingbourne does have one claim to fame - cartography. Hollingbourne is alleged to have acted as a triangulation point in the Anglo-French Survey, conducted in the 1780s. The survey linked the Royal Observatory in Greenwich with the Paris Observatory, with Hollingbourne Hill one of several points used to measure just how far apart the two observatories were. They used loads of triangles and trigonometry to determine the distance between them, in a technique also used to draw up incredibly accurate maps.
Hollingbourne was also historically taken to be the meridian of Kent...at least according to the Ordnance Survey. And only on specific scale maps. Hollingbourne was one of 153 meridians used by the OS, although they scrapped 152 of them over time. Now, the only meridian left is longitude 2°W of Greenwich, but hey. It was fun while it lasted.
Heading down to the castle
Onto the hike, then. We trundled down a path right next to the station, hopping over a stile next to a sign saying "beware cattle on footpath". For the time being, there were no cows - just flat, unobstructed greenery, and eventually we emerged onto an unremarkable cul-de-sac with no cows in sight. We'd entered the village, where we skirted past a pub and the local village hall - just a plain bungalow with a notice stuck to its front door. To be specific, we were in the Eyhorne Street hamlet, though I doubt anyone could seriously tell the difference. It looks like the centre of Hollingbourne is slightly more northern.
Heading onwards, we passed into the Hollingbourne Meadows, where I stumbled across a hidden river running next to our route. This was Hollingbourne Creek, which later down the line flows into the larger River Len. Over here, though, it's entirely unobtrusive, just a thin rivulet shrouded in autumnal trees. I took some photos, but didn't want to spend too long and risk lagging behind our hiking group, so they could have been better.
Our route then took us past a flock of grazing sheep, which I was all too eager to photograph. Sheep are pretty rare in south London, after all, unless you live on a farm. We were greeted by more open fields, the grass changing from bright green to a bruised yellow, before we ended up crossing over HS1 and the M20. The landscape's been blighted by the latter ever since 1971, with the motorway slicing through the Downs on its way to Folkestone.
We continued for a little while, wandering down a path and crossing into Leeds, not to be confused with its more prominent namesake up in Yorkshire. This Leeds is actually named for the River Len. It also happens to feature the second tallest Norman tower in England, as well as a now long destroyed priory. But that wasn't on our route, so I won't dwell on that.
There was still a bit to get through before we reached the castle. First, we had to cross the golf course with its pristinely trimmed grass, and I could spot some golfers swinging their putts in the distance. There was an additional stretch of woodland along the way, but we quickly cleared it. We were then greeted by a lake, which is merely part of the Len; we headed around it, taking in some lovely trees and mushrooms along the footpath.
And then, after forty minutes of walking, we finally made it. The castle was in sight.
Leeds Castle
Leeds Castle was built along the banks of the Len by a Saxon chief called Leed. It was originally a wooden structure, and was rebuilt in stone in 1119 by Robert de Crevecoeur, a Norman nobleman. The castle remained in his family until being bought in 1278 by Queen Eleanor of Castille, wife of King Edward I, where it passed into royal possession. The castle was a favourite of King Henry VIII, who lavishly decorated it for his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, to live in; Elizabeth I also briefly stayed there before her coronation. The castle has been home to six queens; it's even referred to as the "Castle of Queens".
The castle, though, has long passed from the royal family's hands. They sold it in 1552, and was privately owned as late as 1976. Nowadays, it's open as a museum to the public...at a price. £34.50, to be precise. We were the hiking society, not the museum society, so we didn't enter.
I do have some pretty photos of the castle, though. It's exceptionally unique amongst British castles because it's built on a series of islands, with the Len acting as a moat. It's incredibly picturesque, with trees crowding around the castle accompanied by its shining reflection. There were several swans resting along the pavement, along with ducks and seagulls. We took a group photo using the castle as a backdrop, and swiftly headed onwards, there not being much else to do.
Walking back to Hollingbourne
I continued taking some more photos, mainly of trees. Thanks to it being autumn, they looked beautiful, their roots covered completely in leaf litter. We headed back through some woodland and took one final glance at the golf course, before emerging back on the main road.
We took a slightly different route back, but the sights were more of the same. We rambled through farmland and past sheep, just like before. My coat got caught in some thorns. The only exception to our journey back was we entered Hollingbourne via a different side street, where I spotted a giant rock stuck in the ground. That's the Charles Goldup Memorial, in honour of a local man who isn't well documented online. Yet the memorial is listed on OpenStreetMap, so I assume he's fairly significant.
The rest of the trip up to the station was the same, just go through the cul-de-sac and through the park, and there we were. All in all, a satisfying hike, though fairly brisk in length. That's probably why we continued right after onto the second leg of the trip. You see, we were also going to take in a vast section of the North Downs right after, something that came as a bit of a surprise to me at the time.
You can look forward to that post in a few days...for now, I hope you enjoyed the photos!
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