Tunbridge Wells; Sunday, 27 October, 2019

I had a quick breakfast, checked out of the hotel and then walked the short distance round the corner to Tunbridge Wells West station. The station was originally on a number of different lines that over the years successively closed, until the final line from Tunbridge Wells to Eridge was closed by Network SouthEast in 1985 – possibly one of the last lines in the South East of England to be closed without any replacement. Shortly after closure the line was preserved and now operates as a heritage railway, with today being the last day of their regular operations for the year.

I made it to the station about 15 minutes before the first departure of the day so I was able to get a good seat for the first journey over to Eridge. I went the whole way through to Eridge before heading back one stop to Groombridge.

Groombridge had been a major junction in it’s day, but today it is a very quiet little village with a large moated manor house – whose grounds are open to the public and that’s where I headed to next.

I spent several hours wandering around Groombridge Place including going for a ride on the canal that feeds the moat and a wander through the Enchanted Forest – which mostly appeared to be a walk through the trees past lots of wooden objects that had been left to rot. There was a distinct, that’ll do, feel to the place.

I had an expensive and not particularly great lunch in the café – spending the whole time being watched by a peacock that clearly had designs on my crisps. Lunch completed (thankfully without losing anything to the peacock) I had a wander around the formal gardens before heading back to Groombridge station to pick up the train.

I had intended on catching the train one stop back to High Rocks to explore the large rock outcrop of the same name, but on arrival there it turned out that the site was closed for a function so it wasn’t possible to explore – instead I got back on the train and travelled back down to Eridge before catching the last train of the night back from Eridge to Tunbridge Wells West.

Back in Tunbridge Wells I walked back to the hotel, picked up my luggage and started my lengthy (caused by engineering works) journey back home.