About
Gallery
Parking
Poo bins?
Self-guided walk
About
You’ll find Tower Wood on Hosey Common (also known as Hosey Hill) just south of Westerham in Kent and a little north of Chartwell, the former home of the late Sir Winston Churchill, who was the Prime Minister from 1940-1945.
Tower Wood is so-called because of the ruins of an old folly tower nestled at its heart. Dating back to the 18th century, today it’s roofless and covered in ivy and other plants – to the point that it’s so well camouflaged that you could be forgiven for walking past it without noticing it. The Visit Westerham website describes it as “galletted rubble masonry, two storeys and basement. East and west walls have tall, round arched windows on first floor and two round windows below.” Apparently, the tower was built “to obtain an uninterrupted view of St Paul’s London, 21 miles away.” Anyway, it’s Grade II listed and there’s a detailed study and history here.
Tower Wood is a semi mature-woodland that has some pockets of bluebells in spring, rhododendrons in summer and is awash with vibrant colours in autumn. There are beech, yew, maple, birch and chestnut trees as well as tall pines.
Along the bottom of Hosey Hill/Tower Wood flows the River Darent, although it’s just a tiny stream here. This is a relatively rare chalk stream and home to wildlife such as otters and water voles. The grassy areas this walk passes through are its water meadows, although I am not sure how much it floods, if ever. The Darent runs through two large shallow ponds here created by dams.
Gallery: What’s it like here?
Parking
There’s a free car park at Hosey Hill on the Hosey Common Road / B2026, which runs between Westerham and Chartwell, the former home of the late Sir Winston Churchill.
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NEAREST POSTCODE: TN16 1PL
Poo bins?
One bin at the car park.
Self-guided walk
Here is a Footpath app route from the free car park at Hosey Common on Hosey Hill. Also on AllTrails. It loops through Tower Wood past the ruins of Hosey Tower, which you can still venture into, although there’s some graffiti and litter because humans are awful and don’t deserve nice things. The route takes you down the hill and along the edge of Squerryes Park, skirting the stream.
Length: approximately 2.1 miles/3.3 km
Terrain: Woodland and fields. Paths are well defined, but they do get very muddy in winter. One sleep downward slope – and this is the least steep way down I have been able to find. Part of the walk goes by the stream, which is nice for a paddle. This walk gets very muddy in winter.
Stiles/kissing gates? No stiles, no kissing gates
Park up and, with Hosey Common Road (and the bin) on your right-hand side, head towards the back of the car park where you’ll see an information board. Before you get there, there’s a path off to the right with a small, stumpy post in the middle of it and an arrow indicating it’s for a walk relating to Chartwell. Take this path – it goes towards the road.
Cross the road – carefully – and turn left to pass the white posts and sign. At the signpost for the public footpath (next to another small stumpy post) follow the path ahead and slightly right. It goes through the trees and bushes and gradually takes you away from the road.
At end of this path, there’s currently (April 2025) a fallen tree and the path forks as a result. Ahead, where the tree lies, there’s a really short section of old boardwalk. To the right is a fork of mud path. Doesn’t matter which one you take because it’s very clear they both go down to the same path. Whichever way you choose to take a few paces down to it, when you get there turn left. Pass the small stumpy post with the arrow pointing left (post is on the left) and walk up the gently-rising slope.
This is a fairly long, straight bit of the route. Keep a look out for a track off to the right. It’s not small but it can be surprisingly hard to see when the paths are churned up. There are a couple of thin tree stumps by it.
After turning right, walk straight ahead and when you get to a cross paths, go straight over. Keep on ahead until you get to the tower. You may not notice it at first – it looks like a massive bush because plants have grown right over it.
You may want to have an explore of the tower – it is possible to go inside it still, although no doubt some jobsworth will come along at some point and close it all off and it’ll be one of those places that people talk about like how you used to be able to touch Stonehenge. I’ll concede that this is less impressive, of course.
Anyway, before you do any nosing around the tower, make sure you’re clear on where you’re going next. With the way you came behind you and the tower ahead, you’re going to turn left. There’s a weird tree that looks like an upside down octopus (IMHO) next to this particular path. So I hope you know what I am talking about.
When you’re done looking at the tower, take the path away that has the upside down octopus tree next to it. It is flat and heads away from the tower on a gentle curve to the left. Head down here until you get to a well defined path that goes off and down to the right. If you’re not sure you’ve found it, opposite this path, there’s a tree with four trunks growing up out of one major trunk at the base.
This path goes downslope quite steeply at first, so take really good care if you’re here when it’s wet/muddy – but, trust me, it’s nothing compared to some of the other paths down this hill! You’re on this path as it descends along the side of the hill for a fairly long way. The steepness of the descent lessens and at times it’s flat. Then it sort of crests ever so slightly and a path joins from the right (which is also steep).
Continue straight ahead/down here and you’ll very soon get to a T-junction. Ahead, you’ll see a dead tree sticking up. Turn left here and follow the path out of the woods.
Pass some scrub and you’ll get to another T-junction with a barbed wire fence ahead. Turn right.
Take care on this narrow path because, as I said, there’s barbed wire (now to your left.) The path will cross over a stream and then it’ll come to a T-junction with a wide path by a vehicle gate.
Turn right onto this main path.
This passes through an open grassy area with a grass hill up to the left and Tower Wood up and over to the right (although there’s the stream in between). Follow this main path ahead and it’ll bear round to the left. There are a couple of points along here where you can easily get to the water – these should be clear from flattened bits of grass where others have walked.
Keep on the main path and it’ll pass some fenced off ponds on the right and then you’ll see a metal kissing gate up ahead. Head towards it but before you reach it, take the path that goes off to the right. It passes through an open gate and then goes over the stream – this is a good spot for a paddle or drink.
The path curves around the edge of the woods, which are on the right. There’ll be a grassy hill off to the left. Walk through this little valley towards another kissing gate up ahead.
When you get to the kissing gate, you’ll see that it’s pointless as there’s no fence to worry about. Continue straight ahead, passing to the right of the kissing gate.
Almost immediately, you get to a fork. At time of writing (still April 2025), there’s a tree down here. Ideally, you want to continue ahead, but if the tree is still there (it may get cleared at some point) and bothersome for you, bear right to go up and around it. But basically, you want to go ahead so that the woods are still on your right-hand side.
Now you just follow this path straight ahead with the woods on your right and the rather nice garden of a rather nice house on your left. When you get to the fork with two posts in the middle (one that is short and stumpy, the other that is taller), bear left on the slightly steeper path (sorry, but the other path would get worse later on, I’ve tried it).
After a little way, this path comes to a small stumpy post by an old boardwalk. Continue slightly left onto the boardwalk. This area is a swamp unless the weather has been super dry.
After the boardwalk, it’s straight on until you get to the left-hand path that leads you out the way you came. If you overshoot it, a few steps later you’ll reach the small stumpy post and boardwalk to the left – and you can turn left here instead.
Retrace your steps out of Tower Wood on this path, which will take you back to the road. Enter Westerham and cross over back to the car park.
Walks with Rena 
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