Hothfield is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below district ...

in the Ashford Borough of

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, England and is 3 miles north-west of Ashford on the A20. It is completely split in two by Hothfield Common.

Geography

In the north west is Hothfield Common, 58

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is ...

s (143

acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial and US customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one chain by one furlong (66 by 660 feet), which is exactly equal to 10 square chains, of a square mile, 4,840 square ...

s) of

heath A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a cooler ...

land and

lowland Upland and lowland are conditional descriptions of a plain based on elevation above sea level. In studies of the ecology of freshwater rivers, habitats are classified as upland or lowland. Definitions Upland and lowland are portions of p ...

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muskeg; a ...

s: a

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

managed by Kent Wildlife Trust, To the immediate south is the private parkland of the former Hothfield House. This area is crossed by the

Greensand Way The Greensand Way is a long-distance path of in southeast England, from Haslemere in Surrey to Hamstreet in Kent. It follows the Greensand Ridge along the Surrey Hills and Chart Hills. The route is mostly rural, passing through woods, and ...

passing the church en route to Godinton House. A small part of the neighbourhood of Ram Lane is in the far northern point of the civil parish. Small tributaries of the West Stour rise in the parish.

Amenities

The village has a shop and post office with internal ATM service (closed Tuesday PM and Sunday PM). Hothfield Common has a children's playground and a multi-use all-weather games pitch adjacent to the south east and a car park to the north just off the A20. A large village community centre (hothfield village hall) is located on the edge of the village views over rolling fields The former school is now a children's centre, run by sure start. It is called the bluebells children centre and runs many parent and child groups and midwife and health visitors drop in services

History

The

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

parish

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Ch ...

is dedicated to Saint Margaret; it was rebuilt in 1598 after a fire. ''Hothfield'' in Edward Hasted's Topography of Kent (1798) has a substantial amount of information about the history and the then layout of land and settlement.

Transport

The village is, for approximately one mile, immediately to the south-east of the A20 road, and is south of the M20 which has a very small border to the far north. It is served by the 10X bus service operated by

Stagecoach South East Stagecoach South East is the trading name of East Kent Road Car Company Limited, a bus operator based in Canterbury providing services in Kent and East Sussex in the south east of England. It is a subsidiary of Stagecoach Group. History Stagec ...

, stopping on the junction of Cades Road and Station Road, as well as the 123 bus service stopping on School Road. It was served by

Hothfield railway station Hothfield railway station (later Hothfield Halt) was a railway station on the Maidstone Line at Hothfield, Kent. It was situated between Ashford and stations. The station opened in 1884; it closed to passengers in 1959 and general freight in ...

on the Maidstone Line from 1884 until 1959. The nearest railway stations are Ashford International station and Charing station.

References

External links

Statistical civil parish overview - map

External links

Official website of Hothfield Parish Council
Villages in Kent Villages in the Borough of Ashford Civil parishes in Ashford, Kent {{Kent-geo-stub