Forest bathing at King’s Wood, Challock

King's Wood is a 1,500-acre working forest on the Kent Downs above Challock, managed for timber, wildlife and recreation. It is a mix of broadleaf and conifer: beech, sweet chestnut, Corsican pine and Douglas fir, with fallow deer moving through. Since 1994 artists have been commissioned to make sculptures here from natural materials. The pieces are left to decay back into the wood, so the trail changes from year to year and you may find the faint outline of older works being taken over by moss and leaf litter.

Most visits start from the car park at White Hill. The sculpture trail is about 3.5 miles; give it at least two and a half hours, longer if you are stopping often. Walkers use the public footpaths, and horse riders share the gravel tracks, so step off the main tracks if you want stillness. In spring this is one of the best bluebell woods in East Kent, and in autumn and winter look out for fungi, including fly agaric. There are no designated accessible parking spaces.