Review: Dog Walk at Lullingstone Country Park

We are really lucky to live in Kent where there are lots of really lovely places to take Lexi for her daily walks. Recently we have been taking our morning walk at Lullingstone Country Park which was originally the deer park belonging to the estate. It comprises of 460 acres between Eynsford and Shoreham.

The park is made up of several different areas including woodlands and meadows which are home to many fantastic plants including orchids as well as the Darent river running through the eastern valley being a home for many native wildlife species such as kingfishers, herons, grass snakes, dragonflies and damselflies.

One of the most well known feature of the Park is its collection of ancient trees including 300 veteran oaks, beechs, hornbeams, ash and sweet chestnut trees – some thought to be around 500 years old! The park holds a Green Flag Award from Natural England. The park is popular by all sorts of people from hikers and dog walkers to families who come to play. The visitor centre is home to both a shop where you can find seasonal cards, local produce and a range of small gifts as well as a café serving homemade soups, hot meals, snacks and baguettes.

I really love walking Lexi at Lullingstone Country Park. My favourite thing about the park is the variation in surroundings from riverside and open grass to woodland and the beautiful wildflower meadow which means that Lexi gets to experience all of the sights, sounds and smells of each area rather than just one type of surrounding. It’s important for puppies to experience as many different things as possible to become a well socialised dog, so this is a big big plus for me. Lexi just LOVES chasing butterflies in the long grass left for wildflowers.

The only draw backs to walking my dog at Lullingstone Country Park are the lack of waste bins on the walking routes and the expense of parking. Although there are a number of waste bins for collecting dog poop along the paths I feel that there should be more which would mean dog walkers wouldn’t have to carry their poop bags so far and it would potentially encourage more people to pick up after their dogs.

When I was a kid and we walked our family dogs at Lullingstone the parking was free, however, now the parking is pay and display which can be expensive. I have paid for a season ticket which isn’t unreasonable at £40 for a year and as we usually visit once a day it isn’t bad value but I feel like I should mention it as some people might not want to have to pay to park. Unfortunately there are some people who don’t want to pay to park and they end up parking in the road outside the entrance to the park which means the narrow country roads can get very tricky to navigate!

All in all I think Lullingstone Country Park is a fantastic place to walk a dog with so much to explore and plenty of opportunities for dogs to play and burn off some energy. Despite having to pay for parking and sometimes having to walk half way around our path to find a waste bin this doesn’t stop us going. I award Lullingstone Country Park 4 out of 5 stars.