Ranscombe Farm covers a total area of 560 acres on the slopes of the North Downs and provides opportunities for quiet walks amongst attractive countryside with a fascinating flora. The reserve boasts stunning views across the Medway Gap and Luddesdown valley.
The Ranscombe Farm landscape includes arable habitats, extensive ancient woodland and fragments of chalk grassland. A large part of the site is within the Cobham Woods Site of Special Scientific Interest, and the whole farm is within the Kent Downs National Landscape. The woodlands are being managed for conservation and have good populations of dormice, birds, large mammals, butterflies and insects.
The site is famous for its extremely unusual collection of rare wild plants, especially arable wildflowers and orchids. The first UK records of two Nationally Rare species, meadow clary and rough mallow, were both from Ranscombe Farm, dating from 1699 and 1792 respectively. Both species still survive in the same spot. Other species of note are the tall pink Corncockle, once thought to be extinct, and the internationally rare Broadleaved Cudweed, and at least 6 species of orchid have also been recorded. These include Fly, Lady, and Man Orchid. There are several varieties of wild poppies that form rich red carpets along the edges of the farm’s wheat fields from late May, and Blue Pimpernel, Wild Pansy, Venus’s Looking Glass and Dense Flowered Fumitory can also be spotted.
Visitors are welcome to visit throughout the year and are asked to protect plants and wildlife by keeping to the footpaths. It is the perfect place to enjoy autumn walks in the misty woodland, or a stroll through carpets of bluebells in the spring.
Easy access information
This park and open space has at least one accessible route but otherwise is considered to be less suitable for visitors with pushchairs and/or wheelchairs.
