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Martins Farm oast cowl markMartins Farm EstateFrant · Est. 1830

From the gate

Around Martins Farm

Not a directory. A short list of the places we actually send people, starting at the end of the lane and widening out from there.

Martins Farm is a ten-minute walk from Frant village and The George, 10–12 minutes by car from Royal Tunbridge Wells, and within about half an hour of High Weald castles, gardens, reservoirs and vineyards.

Frant village

The first mile

Frant sits on the ridge above the farm: a green, a church tower, a pub and enough of a shop to rescue a forgotten pint of milk. Most guests never drive further on the first evening, and we think they are right.

The narrow farm lane up to Martins Farm in spring, hedgerows either side and the white oast cowls visible through the trees ahead

The lane has no pavement for part of the way: walk it in daylight, in single file, facing the traffic, and carry a torch if you are coming back after dinner.

Royal Tunbridge Wells

Ten minutes north

A spa town that has kept its manners: Georgian frontages, independent shops, a good bookshop or two, and the Pantiles at the bottom of the hill.

  • The Pantiles (opens in a new tab)

    The colonnaded Georgian promenade at the heart of Royal Tunbridge Wells, built around the chalybeate spring that made the town's name. Best on a weekday morning, coffee in hand, before the shops fill.

    The Pantiles, Royal Tunbridge Wells

    • By car · about 10–12 min from the gate

    Driving route (opens in a new tab)

That is road time before parking. The centre is best done on foot once you have left the car, so allow a little longer than the drive itself.

Worth booking

A short list rather than a long one. All of these take reservations, and on a Saturday they will need one.

That is road time before parking. The centre is best done on foot once you have left the car, so allow a little longer than the drive itself.

Shops worth the walk

Tunbridge Wells still has proper shopkeepers: a jeweller who has been on the High Street since before anyone reading this was born, a department store or two, and enough independents in between to make an afternoon of it.

That is road time before parking. The centre is best done on foot once you have left the car, so allow a little longer than the drive itself.

Provisions, honestly

There is a Waitrose in town, and we would be dishonest to pretend we shop anywhere else at half past six on a Friday. Fill the boot there by all means — but the butcher and farm shop at Eridge and the delicatessen counters in town will make the weekend taste considerably better, and neither takes much longer.

Summer evenings in town

Between seasons

Live at The Pantiles (opens in a new tab)

The Pantiles bandstand, Royal Tunbridge Wells

The 2026 season has finished. Next year’s dates are published by the organisers first, so take them from The Pantiles — Live at The Pantiles 2026 rather than from us.

The town's summer music series, run on the bandstand at the bottom of the Pantiles and long known here for its jazz nights — the Kent Youth Jazz Orchestra opened the 2026 season. Ten minutes north of the farm gate, and the easiest cultural evening we can point a guest at.

Checked against The Pantiles — Live at The Pantiles 2026 (opens in a new tab) on 13 August 2026. Dates, dress and ticketing are the organiser’s to change — confirm before you book a stay around them.

See dates for The Oast

Where everything sits

Three views from the gate

Three plates, drawn from real coordinates rather than by eye, each with Martins Farm on it: the village along the lane, the town ten minutes north, and the wider country you can reach in a morning. Every numbered marker is listed underneath with an approximate time from our gate.

Frant, from the gateAn illustrated map of Frant from Martins Farm. The farm is a gold diamond to the north with labelled dashed quarter-mile and half-mile rings around it, a dotted relationship line running south to the village, and a soft outline grouping Frant Green, St Alban's Church, The George and the village post office and shop. The Abergavenny Arms sits between farm and village, and Frant station is drawn inset at the eastern edge of the plate.

The first mile: the farm to the north, the village about ten minutes along the lane with the green, the church, the pub and the shop grouped inside one soft outline, and Frant station drawn inset at the eastern edge because it sits beyond the plate. Labelled rings mark a quarter and a half mile from the gate.

Key

  • Gold diamond: the estate gate, where every time on this page starts.
  • Numbered disc: a place, listed in the same order underneath. A thin line joins a moved marker back to its true position.
  • Dashed ring: distance from the gate, in miles, measured straight across country. — Quarter of a mile, Half a mile
  • Soft outline: places close enough together to walk between.
  • Dotted line: a relationship, not a route. No road or footpath is drawn.
  • Ringed disc: the place sits beyond the edge of the plate and is drawn inset, so its position is indicative rather than exact.

Every marker, in order

  1. 1. Martins Farm

    Martins Farm

    Frant, East Sussex TN3 9HG

    The estate gate, where all of these times start.

  2. 2. The Abergavenny Arms

    Table

    Frant Green Road, Frant, East Sussex TN3 9DB

    • By car · about 4 min from the gate

    Driving route (opens in a new tab)

  3. 3. Frant station

    Station

    Bells Yew Green TN3 9BJ

    • By car · about 6 min from the gate
    • Drawn inset at the edge of the plate, because it sits beyond it.

    Driving route (opens in a new tab)

  4. 4. St Alban's Church

    House, castle or garden

    Church Lane, Frant TN3 9DX

    • By car · about 3 min from the gate
    • On foot · about 10 min from the gate

    Driving route (opens in a new tab)Walking route (opens in a new tab)

  5. 5. The George

    Table

    36 High Street, Frant TN3 9DU

    • By car · about 2 min from the gate
    • On foot · about 10 min from the gate

    Driving route (opens in a new tab)Walking route (opens in a new tab)

  6. 6. Frant Post Office and village shop

    Shop

    The Green, Frant TN3 9DA

    • By car · about 3 min from the gate
    • On foot · about 10 min from the gate

    Driving route (opens in a new tab)Walking route (opens in a new tab)

  7. 7. Frant Green

    Village

    Frant Green, Frant

    • By car · about 2 min from the gate
    • On foot · about 10 min from the gate

    Driving route (opens in a new tab)Walking route (opens in a new tab)

The lane has no pavement for part of the way: walk it in daylight, in single file, facing the traffic, and carry a torch if you are coming back after dinner.

Illustrated plates, not navigation. Positions are approximate and times are stored planning estimates from the gate rather than live traffic. No road, lane or right of way is drawn — use proper directions to actually drive or walk anywhere.

Railway days and city lights

Steam trains, Christmas magic and London

The line out of Tunbridge Wells does two quite different things. One end of it is heritage steam, and at Christmas something closer to theatre. The other end is London, near enough that you can stay in the country and still spend a whole day in the city.

Timetables, running days and engineering work all change, so we link to the operators rather than repeat their detail here.

Wider East Sussex

Worth the drive south

Some things in this county are not an afternoon out. They are the reason for the trip, and the stay is built around them rather than the other way round. We list the season and the source; the organisers hold the dates.

Between seasons

Glyndebourne Festival (opens in a new tab)

Glyndebourne, near Lewes, East Sussex

The 2026 season has finished. Next year’s dates are published by the organisers first, so take them from Glyndebourne — Festival 2026 rather than from us.

Opera in the middle of the Sussex countryside, and the one fixture that makes people plan a whole week around a single evening. It is a proper drive south from Frant rather than a local outing — which is precisely the argument for staying somewhere quiet and going down for the night rather than making the round trip from London.

Checked against Glyndebourne — Festival 2026 (opens in a new tab) on 13 August 2026. Dates, dress and ticketing are the organiser’s to change — confirm before you book a stay around them.

See dates for The Oast

Castles, abbeys and gardens

The wider Weald

Check opening times, ticketing and whether dogs are welcome before you set off; the seasons change all three.

Closest and easiest

Worth the longer drive

Water and trees

Outdoor days

Four places take a whole day rather than an afternoon, and each is the sort of outing that sends everyone back to the Oast tired in the right way. One is open water; the second is trees, and a great many of them; the third is a botanic garden gone happily wild; the fourth is heathland with a literary reputation and a genuinely wild heart.

All four are run or cared for by organisations that publish their own current detail. We link straight to them rather than repeat anything here, because what is open, what is bookable and what is running changes with the season.

More on the forest, the bridge and the summer the Queen came to play Poohsticks: The Queen, Poohsticks and the Hundred Acre Wood

Further afield

Wildlife days further afield

A short, considered list rather than a directory: four places within a drive that reward the whole day, and that children remember long after the journey home is forgotten.

Each publishes its own current detail, so we link straight to the official page. As a rule, book before you travel — these are days that reward planning rather than turning up.

Boots by the door

Walking from the gate

There are fifteen acres to walk here, and guests are welcome on all of them. Beyond our boundary the rule is simple and we would rather state it plainly: follow the signed public rights of way. The surrounding farmland and the neighbouring parkland are private, and nothing on this page should be read as permission to cross them.

Frant village is walkable from the farm — roughly ten minutes along the lane to the green, the church and the pub. It is a country lane with no pavement for part of the way, so walk it in daylight, in single file, facing the traffic, and take a torch if you are coming back after dinner.

We do not publish routes across land we do not own, and we have not invented any. For anything beyond the village, use the county map below rather than a line drawn on a phone.

With a dog

  • On a lead near livestock, always, and through any field where stock may be out of sight over a rise.
  • On a lead on the lane. It is single track, and vehicles come round the bends faster than you would like.
  • Under close control near the meadow at dawn and dusk, when deer are moving through from the neighbouring parkland.
  • Gates closed behind you, and anything your dog leaves behind carried out with you.

Ground conditions are honest rather than charming: from autumn to spring assume mud, and bring boots. A practical boot room and laundry facilities, with a tumble dryer and an electric drying rack, are there for exactly this reason — see the stay guide, or the dog-friendly guide to staying here with a dog, or read what a dog-friendly stay in East Sussex involves here. Planning two days? See weekend breaks in the High Weald.

The stay guideDog-friendly guide to staying here with a dogDog-friendly stays in East SussexWeekend breaks in the High Weald

Local food and provisions

What is local now, and what is only planned

Nothing edible is produced at Martins Farm. What we can do is shop the way we would for ourselves: the breakfast hamper and the welcome basket are put together from genuinely local Sussex and Kent suppliers where the season and the shop allow, and where they do not, we say so rather than stretch the word local.

Sussex sparkling wine is the one thing that is unarguably from here. Chilled on arrival, it is a request-with-your-booking item rather than a fixed price on a list.

Planned, not available

Orchard fruit, estate honey from hives planned for the meadow, and any wine from the proposed vineyard. None of it exists yet, none of it is offered, and we will not put it in a hamper until it comes off this ground.

See the add-ons

  • Fuller's Butchers & Farm Shop (opens in a new tab)

    A Tunbridge Wells butcher of long standing, with the farm shop out at Bunny Lane, Eridge — a few minutes from the top of our lane. Butchery counter and locally sourced provisions; the sort of place you go for the makings of dinner rather than a full weekly shop. Check hours on their site before driving over.

    Bunny Lane, Eridge TN3 9BY

    • By car · about 5 min from the gate

    Driving route (opens in a new tab)

Wine country

Taste what the South East is becoming

The reason we are looking at our own south-facing slope is the same reason these estates exist. Visit one and the argument for English sparkling makes itself.

Why we're planting vines

Questions

Asked at the gate

Which pub do you send guests to?
The George at Frant, roughly ten minutes along the lane on foot. It is the village pub and the one we recommend first.
How far is Royal Tunbridge Wells?
Royal Tunbridge Wells is about 10–12 minutes by car from the Martins Farm gate before parking. The Pantiles, independent shops and mainline station are all in the town; once parked, the centre is best explored on foot.
Can we walk from the farm?
Yes. There are fifteen acres to walk here and Frant village is walkable along the lane. Beyond our boundary, follow the signed public rights of way; the surrounding farmland and neighbouring parkland are private.
Is it muddy?
From autumn to spring, assume mud and bring boots. A practical boot room and laundry facilities, with a tumble dryer and an electric drying rack, are there for exactly this reason.
Where can we taste English sparkling wine nearby?
Several South East vineyards are within reach and are listed on this page. Check their opening times and tour bookings before setting off.
Is there anywhere for a bigger day outdoors?
Yes. At Bewl Water the waterside walking and cycling can be planned without booking, while organised activities and bike hire are worth booking early, particularly for busy weekends and school holidays. At Bedgebury National Pinetum and Forest an ordinary visit needs no advance booking, but Go Ape, bike hire and special events are best arranged early. Both publish their own current detail, so plan the day from their sites.
Can we visit London during a stay?
Yes. Direct trains from Tunbridge Wells to London Bridge can take under an hour, with the fastest scheduled journeys around 44 minutes. Check the live timetable and any engineering work for your date.
Which family days out need advance planning?
Arrange tickets ahead for the wildlife attractions, Bewl Water's organised activities, and Spa Valley Railway dining or special-event trains; reserve the Christmas Polar Express especially early. An ordinary visit to Bedgebury National Pinetum and Forest does not need advance booking, but Go Ape, bike hire and special events are best arranged early.

Where to stayThe stay guideThe estateWeekend breaks in the High Weald

Curated by Ali Hine at Martins Farm · Page reviewed

Stay a while

The Oast sleeps four, and everything on this page is easier with a base at the top of the lane.

Reserve the Oast