Cranbrook, Sissinghurst & Frittenden

Cranbrook, Sissinghurst and Frittenden sit on the High Weald within the Tunbridge Wells borough, linked by lanes, farmland and public footpaths. Cranbrook is a market town with a long High Street, surviving weavers’ cottages and a local history tied to cloth production; the name also recalls the 19th-century Cranbrook Colony of painters who worked in the area. Sissinghurst village is best known for Sissinghurst Castle Garden, created by Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson, where the White Garden and the restored tower draw many visitors.

Frittenden remains a small village among orchards and pasture, with a church and village green at its heart and a network of bridleways onto the surrounding commons. The area supports mixed agriculture and smallholdings, and seasonal hedgerows and hop fields still shape the landscape. Local life revolves around parish events, village pubs and shops in Cranbrook, while walkers use the paths between the settlements to explore woodlands, ponds and the ridge-and-valley pattern of the High Weald.