Cranbrook stands in the High Weald of Kent, a hilly, wooded country of sandstone ridges and winding lanes, and in the Middle Ages it was one of the richest towns in the county, thanks to the cloth trade. Edward III encouraged Flemish weavers to settle here in the fourteenth century, and the broadcloth they made brought wealth to the town, visible today in the big timber-framed houses and the huge church known as the Cathedral of the Weald. On the edge of the town stands Union Mill, an eighteenth-century smock mill that is the tallest working windmill of its kind in Britain.
A few kilometres away, Sissinghurst is famous for its castle garden, created in the 1930s by the writer Vita Sackville-West and her husband Harold Nicolson among the ruins of an Elizabethan house. The white garden and the tower, which was Vita's writing room, are widely known, and the property belongs to the National Trust. Hawkhurst, a village of nearly four thousand people, is bigger, with a long street of shops and an old pond called the Moor. Tenterden, eight kilometres away with just over seven thousand people, has the nearest fuel and a handsome wide high street lined with weatherboarded houses.
The swim stop on the label should be taken lightly, because there is no beach here, and the pools of the Weald are mostly private. For a rider, the pleasure is in the lanes themselves, which are narrow and twisting, with high banks, overhanging trees and sudden dips where a stream crosses. Take them slowly, because blind bends and farm vehicles are common. The surface is often patched and the verges soft, and in wet weather mud can wash across the road in the low spots.
The High Weald is at its best in spring, when the woods are carpeted with bluebells and the orchards bloom, and in autumn, when the beeches and oaks turn bronze. Summer brings crowds to Sissinghurst, so aim for a weekday or an early start. A cream tea in one of the village tearooms is a very English way to finish.