A leisurely wildflower-scented stroll through ancient woodland and past orchards ends in a cosy Kentish pub with fine cuisine
The path runs through starry blankets of wood anemones and the trees are full of birdsong. I can pick out the insistent cheeping of chiffchaffs and the distant yaffling of a green woodpecker. Three minutes after stepping off the bus outside the Tyler’s Kiln pub, I’m already striding through Blean, 11 square miles of mostly ancient woodland just north of Canterbury. It’s one of south-east England’s largest areas of woodland and I’m currently following part of the 25-mile Big Blean Walk, whose waymark has a picture of a brown and orange heath fritillary. The Blean is one of the best places to see these rare butterflies, and the Tyler’s Kiln is at the heart of this complex of woods and nature reserves.
There’s lots of human history here, too: medieval pottery, a disused railway line, a salt way, an organic art trail. The woods are always changing. Most recently, an ambitious rewilding project is introducing grazing animals, including bison. Kent Wildlife Trust appointed the UK’s first bison rangers last year. A low mossy bank and ditch on my left, running parallel with the path, are part of the Radfall, an old drovers’ route. Archeological surveys suggest this sunken woodland track was used to drive pigs, and the banks were there to stop the animals eating the young coppice shoots either side. Two arrows on a wooden marker point north to the coast and south to Canterbury, both three miles away.