The car park is free on Sundays, so that’s when we usually go. You can walk through the park/heritage area, along the river and behind the old warehouses. You can keep walking through the industrial area to meet up the canal. At this point turn left if you want to continue along the Saxon Shore Way. The Canal Tavern, back near the yachting area, has a pool table and allows dogs.
Park the car on the junction of Norfolk Rd, Wharf Rd and Mark Lane and just walk alongside the canal, with the rail tracks on the other side. There is very little traffic. The road turns into a cycle path. It smells sometimes as you pass the sewage works but that doesn’t last long. You can also walk down the road where the paddocks start and before the rifle range. This leads you to the Thames and you can walk for miles along the bank. I really like the industrial feel of this walk even though it leads into the marshes.
A lot was happening here when we first went on New Years Day 2013 – families, dogs, a pony, a kids motorbike, a model air plane and a small pony trap. Although it had been raining it was not too muddy but you’d want the right shoes to walk across the fields. There is a paved path through some areas. In summer dogs can swim south of the bridge and it seems shallow enough for small dogs.
Another great park not far from home. The park was originally set out as a private estate and its design has been attributed to Capability Brown and to a Mr Richmond. An wealthy merchant, John Boyd, purchased the site and built Danson House, designed by Robert Taylor (the architect of the Bank of England) in the style of a classic Palladian villa, between 1762 and 1767. There is a large lake, fields, various gardens, a tea room and pub. Nearby to William Morris’s Red House.
The shopping centre, which sits within a chalk pit, is surrounded by landscaping. If you park at ‘The Village’ you can cross underneath a bridge to walking path around a couple of lakes, including a pebbled beach area.
Very shrubby heath. Some areas muddy after wet weather but not all. Good for ball throwing. The Heath contains three ponds, the Glory Bumps and many habitats including grassland, broadleaved semi-natural woodland, heather, dwarf gorse, orchids and a rare Kentish plant, petty whin.
Tankerton and Whitstable are favourite places to go. Whitstable is a great place to bring visitors but a little hard with a dog if you want to eat inside. There is a good fish and chips shop near the beach though. Some pubs/cafes allow dogs only Couscous isn’t best behaved when tied to a table. Tankerton beach is great, specifically at low tide when you can walk out a little way. It’s difficult to get a park by the beach but there are other car parks not too far back towards Whitstable. There is a cafe on the hill behind the loos.
This is one of the places we take CC.
Couscous and I
Dartford Heath