Outdoors & Nature

Ideal for a sunny day. And for a cold rainy day: "There's no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing".

Charing Cross: the Weald and the Kent coast by train

Sevenoaks and Knole in half an hour, Tunbridge Wells and the Weald in an hour, Hastings and the Kent coast beyond.

Day trips by trainCountrysideSeaside

A long wall of white chalk cliffs above a calm sea under a sky of grey and white cloud, with a small white lighthouse on the green clifftop. — The white cliffs of Dover. Charing Cross's slow way round, or St Pancras's fast one. Photo by Mustang Joe, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Fallow deer grazing on a grassy slope under bare winter trees, one pale stag in front and a small group resting on the skyline, two walkers among the trees. — Knole's deer park, a walk from Sevenoaks station. Photo by Michael Garlick, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Two fishing boats hauled up on a shingle beach, one red-hulled, in front of black net huts and the funicular railway climbing the sandstone cliff behind. — Hastings, the fishing beach and the East Hill lift. An hour and a half. Photo by kallerna, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Small fishing boats and dinghies moored in a tidal harbour at low water, with the harbour wall and a lighthouse beyond and gulls on the water. — Folkestone harbour. Photo by Tim Sheerman-Chase, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Dover Castle's square keep and curtain walls on a green hill, with grass banks and ditches in front, the sea beyond and a single sheep grazing. — Dover Castle, above the harbour. Photo by Richard Nevell, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Canterbury Cathedral from the south-west on a clear day: the twin west towers, the long nave and the tall central tower, all in pale stone, with a few visitors on the paved precinct. — Canterbury Cathedral. Photo by Kreuzau, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

A round painted plaque on a whitewashed timber wall, with crossed flintlock pistols over a barrel, two figures with cutlasses and the words Hawkhurst Gang Smugglers Trail, Est. 1735, half hidden by vine leaves. — The Mermaid Inn, Rye, where the smugglers drank. Change at Ashford. Photo by DimiTalen, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Southeastern lines from the Strand run through the North Downs at Sevenoaks, with Knole's deer park a walk from the station, on to Tunbridge Wells and the wooded Weald, and down to Hastings, its old town and its fishing beach, in an hour and a half. The Ashford line reaches Folkestone, Dover and Canterbury more slowly than the fast trains from St Pancras but from the middle of town, and Rye, the hill town above the marsh, with a change at Ashford. Waterloo East, its twin across the footbridge, is the same trains one stop on.

Where: Strand, WC2N 5HF

Google Maps visitkent.co.uk

Trains from early morning until after midnight

Submit a correction for this listing.

Data is compiled from public sources including OpenStreetMap, under the ODbL. Hours change often, so check before making a journey.