blog7t: jeskyns

The north-west corner of Kent is home to the Gravesham local government district, which has its council based in the town of Gravesend. Interestingly when the district was created in 1974, the name Gravesham was taken from the 1086 Domesday Book, however this is the only recorded historical instance of the name Gravesham. It is believed that the entry in the book was a 'clerical error' which should have simply stated Gravesend. The district itself spreads in an upside-down triangular shape right down to the village of Vigo.

In the very centre of the district is the village of Cobham (Kent) which since 1970 has been within a conservation area designed to protect its historic character and appearance. It is linked to the famous writer Charles Dickens who is noted to have spent time walking in the village and who set part of his first novel, The Pickwick Papers, in the village's 17th century pub, The Leather Bottle. The 12th century church, St Mary Magdalene is the final resting place of Ivo Bligh who was the captain of the England team in the first ever test cricket series against Australia, in 1882.

A number of large country manors have been present in the area including Cobham Hall, Ifield Court and Henhurst Manor (which was mentioned in the Domesday Book, but the exact location of its former manor house is unknown). Henhurst Manor no longer exists but much of its former grounds seem to have ended up as part of Jeskyns Court (possibly taking its name from the Joskyns family). The land was used as a large farm for hundreds of years until, following the death of its then-owner, was put up for sale in 2005. The former farmland was purchased by the Forestry Commission using money from the 'Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's Sustainability Fund' and in 2007 was opened as a country park called 'Jeskyns Community Woodland', and is also known as 'Jeskyns Country Park' or simply 'Jeskyns'.

The 360 acre country park is managed by Forestry England and has five distinct areas: Jeskyns Wood, Jenskyns Glade, Jeskyns Meadows, Jeskyns Orchards, and Jeskyns Grove. In the years since its opening over 150,000 trees and shrubs have been planted and a number of lakes created. Much of the work has been carried out with assistance from volunteers from the local community. The park now has a number of sculptures, children's play areas, a cafe and a dog training area (in fact, Jeskyns is locally known to be very popular with dog walkers). In July 2026 the park became home to Jeskyns Community Woodland parkrun, which is a volunteer-led free, weekly, timed 5km event that is open to all abilities including those who wish to walk and also to wheelchair users.

Jeskyns is situated just to the south of the A2 motorway within a fairly dense cluster of parkrun venues, in fact there are now four 5k parkruns within this 6 mile stretch of the A2. This road of course makes travel by car very simple, and it is only a short drive from the M25 (junction 2). The park can be found shortly after taking the A2's 'Gravesend (E)' junction - it is clearly signposted with brown tourist attraction road signs from the roundabout just after leaving the motorway. There is an onsite car park which opens at 7am and holds in the region of around 200 vehicles. There are also a couple of 'additional parking' areas that can be opened if required, bringing the total up to around 400. So even if a large number of vehicles turn up there seems to be the capacity to handle them all.

A parking fee applies which at time of writing starts at £2.50 for an hour up to £6.50 for the whole day for cars. Payment can be made by using the RingGo app, by using a card on a payment machine or by phone. There is no facility to pay by cash. An interesting point that I noticed is that the pricing structure through the RingGo app is a little different to the on-site prices, with the main difference being that all-day parking is charged at £6.50 at the machine and only £5 (plus 15p) through the app. Correct as of August 2026.

photo credit: thumbs-up photo taken by tracey littlemore (official photographer)

Minibuses and coaches can also park onsite but have a different pricing structures - please also note that there is a 2-metre vehicle height restriction, and the park rangers require 48 hours notice if access is required for any vehicles over this limit. There are two ways to avoid the standard daily car parking charge at the venue, both are via membership schemes. The local one is the 'Jeskyns Community Woodland Membership' (£49 per year as of August 2026) and the national option is the 'Forestry England National Membership' scheme (£96 per year as of August 2026).

If travelling by public transport, the nearest train station is Sole Street national rail station which is served by Southeastern trains running between Gillingham and London Victoria, and the onward walk is 1.7 miles if you cut directly through the park, or 2 miles if you stick to the roads, but be warned that whichever route you use you will be on country lanes with no pavements. There is a bus service from the station that gets you to Cobham which cuts out some, but not all, of the country lanes.

For all other bus travel, the closest bus stop is on the northern side of the A2 and is served by the Arriva 490 bus from Gravesend. So if travelling by national rail, taking the train the Gravesend and then the 490 bus, plus a 15-20 minute walk to the park, is another option. Perhaps surprisingly, cycling is a viable travel option too, as there is a segregated cycle path that runs alongside the A2 between Dartford and Rochester. There do not appear to be any proper cycle racks within the park, so you may have to use a wooden fence to secure a bike.

There are two individual toilet cubicles located in the main cafe building and these are listed as being open from 8.30am (they were open earlier when we visited). At the time of our first visit (1 August 2026) there were also four additional portable toilets available for use. There were lengthy queues for the toilets pre-event so if you are likely to need them, I would advise arriving early enough to account for the queue. If you are looking for an overnight stay the closest hotels are the Inn on the Lake and the Best Western Manor Hotel, which are both adjacent to the A2 on its northern side. If you are prepared to stay a little further away the option of a Premier Inn becomes available with the closest ones being Gravesend and Rochester, however there are many more scattered around. If you happen to have a campervan or motorhome, you may find that you can book a space and stay overnight within the park at certain times of the year.

Once in the park, the meeting area can be found to the right (south) of the main entrance, just next to the cafe and toilets. There is also a spot where belongings can be left, but as always please note that this is at your own risk. Just before 9am the first-timers briefing is held and this is followed by the main briefing with everyone broadly assembled in the adjacent start area. The parkrun itself takes place over a two-lap anti-clockwise course on a combination of tarmac and gravelly/stony paths, with just the final few metres leading into the finish on grass. Regular road shoes should be fine all year round and participants are free to take part with a dog or a buggy. The course is gently undulating and my GPS data recorded the total elevation change at 53 metres.

From the start, the participants head to the south along the tarmac path which initially has a slight rise before heading gently downhill with a picturesque view across the open grass field to the right. Interestingly, considering the venue is described as 'community woodland' the parkrun itself does not go through any woodland and most of the adjacent terrain is large open grassy fields, some of which are home to the park's 26 grazing cows; brought in to help manage the grasslands.

The shape of the course could be described as a 'butterfly' or possibly a bubble writing capital 'N'. Either way, it has some nice long straight sections and also plenty of corners, both left and right. There are marshals at key turning points and where a marshal isn't present, the course is very clearly marked with cones and arrows.

At about half-way around the lap, the course passes 'The Portal Keepers', which are two carved wooden figures that stand either side of the path. They are also known as 'The Dementors' and are described as acting as symbolic gate keepers or guardians of the landscape. At 94 metres above sea level, they mark the highest point of the parkrun course. They are also on the parkrun's longest unbroken straight section which is 500 metres in length and for three-quarters of its length maintains a constant drop in elevation of around-3%. The remaining part of the lap continues in the same vein of undulating straight sections and distinct turning points. As I mentioned earlier in this write-up, the park is very popular with dog walkers and the course passes through different dog control zones, with most of the course being in the green zone which allows dogs to be off their leads. This does not apply to dogs taking part in parkrun, as the owners must still abide by the parkrun rules on dogs.

Once two laps have been completed the parkrun course turns onto the adjacent grass and doubles back on itself as it heads into the finish. It is worth noting that if the finish starts to get busy, a double finish funnel may be brought into use. If you are unfamiliar with the process just follow the guidance of the finish funnel team and you will be fine. Barcode scanning takes place at the original meeting point which is just a few metres past the finish funnel. I recorded the course using my Garmin and the GPS data from 1 August 2026 can be found on my Strava account. I used that data to create a Relive course fly-by video that can be viewed on my YouTube page.

Should post-parkrun refreshments be required, the cafe is open for business and sells mainly drinks, cakes and snacks. There are a couple of seats inside, but the majority of the seating is located outside. If a more substantial breakfast is required you would have to travel elsewhere. The closest option would be the award-winning Nell's Cafe, which is just on the other side of the A2. It's also worth noting that Bluewater Shopping Centre is only a few minutes away so there are many more options there.

As for other post-parkrun activities, the park has a couple of playgrounds, a Fairy and Elf village and is also home to a Disc Golf course - the discs themselves can be hired from the cafe for a small charge. There may also be other seasonal activities on offer, just check the park's website for the latest information.

As it stands, I do not know of any other large events that would lead to the cancellation of the parkrun. The most likely cancellation reasons would be weather-related, so icy paths, high winds or lightning. Of course, I will update this section if more information comes to light. In terms of attendance figures, this write-up is from event number 3 which had a total number of 536 finishers (full event attendance history). This is quite inflated as it is still a new event so should be a little lower once it has bedded in. I'll update this section once the attendance figures have settled down.

This parkrun has a fairly rare feature in that it starts with a letter J, so that will likely keep attendances on the higher side as people come to collect the letter for their parkrun alphabet challenge. However, to come here just for a letter does the country park a little disservice as it is a really beautiful venue and a lovely parkrun that deserves to be visited regardless of the letter of the alphabet it begins with.

A huge thanks goes to all the volunteers that continue to make the event possible.

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