Chislehurst, Scadbury Park, Petts Wood and the Common

Although it lies within the boundary of Greater London, this is emphatically not a town walk, and features woods, farmland and a village green. The first part of the route follows the Acorn Trail, a nature trail, through Scanbury Park. You cross an area of pasture and walk alongside a small copse of elder and hazel trees. Next you come to Little Wood, notable in autumn for its fine sweet chestnuts. Soon after is a pond which contains irises and duckweed as well as frogs and newts.

Beyond this, you reach Park Wood, the main woodland section of the walk. Dogwood and dog roses grow here, and ferns and bullrushes thrive in the damper ground. The chalk loving wild clematis, otherwise known as traveller's joy or old man's beard, twines up through the trees seeking the light. You can hear woodpeckers here and nuthatches and tawny owls can be seen.

The walk takes you past the ruins of Scadbury Manor. Little remains of the house, though the moat is still intact with traces of a drawbridge. The dramatist Christopher Marlowe completed his play, Dr Faustus here, while taking refuge from plague stricken London in 1592-3.

Beyond the house, the route goes through an overgrown stretch of wild woodland, passes a group of established silver birches and leaves Scadbury Park.

You then cross a road and plunge into Petts Wood, which is managed by the National Trust. Part of the wood is a memorial to William Willett, the man responsible for the concept of British Summer Time. The wood has given its name to a garden suburb lying just to the south, which was developed in the 1920's and 1930's.

A railway runs along the southern boundary of the wood, and you follow this for a while, until you emerge into open country and take a right turn through fields. Tongue Farm has an attractive cottage with Gothic windows, flint surrounds and a tiled lean-to barn. The pervading atmosphere is of deep countryside, and it is hard to believe that you are just 10 miles from St Paul's Cathedral in the heart of the City of London.

From the farm, you walk along Botany Bay Lane to reach Chislehurst village, with its common, pubs and old Georgian houses. The route takes you straight through the village, but there is plenty to see if you have time to wander.

The Church of St Nicholas, with its prominent shingled spire, is particularly worth a visit. It contains many notable monuments, perhaps the most memorablel is that to Lord Thomas Bertie, showing a sea battle.

The partly wooded common acts as a miniature green belt for the village, protecting it from the surrounding suburbs. It has been a much favoured residence for City gents for more than a century, and this fact is reflected in the abundance of grand houses here.

After walking down a smart private road, you enter the section of open country that surrounds Kemnal Manor. You then cross fields grazed by cattle and return to the start of the walk through more woodland.

Note, if you have the time after the walk, it is worth taking a short walk to seek out Chislehurst Caves. They were originally used to mine flint and chalk. During World War II, they were used nightly as an air-raid shelter. More recently, the caves have also been used as a venue for live music; Jimi Hendrix, the Who, the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin have all played at the caves.