Ashurst, Kent

The placename Stone Cross occurs in several parts of England, including two other smaller places in Kent: one near Sandwich, and one southeast of Ashford.Stone Cross is a hamlet in the civil parish of Speldhurst, in the Tunbridge Wells district, in the county of Kent, England. It is on the A264 road east of Ashurst. There are few houses and no shops. Burrswood, a building designed by Decimus Burton is located between the hamlet and Groombridge it in commercial use by a Christian charity.

Fordcombe is a village within the civil parish of Penshurst in the Sevenoaks district of Kent, England. The village is located on the northern slopes of the Weald, five miles (8 km) west of Royal Tunbridge Wells. The church, part of a united benefice with Penshurst, Chiddingstone and Chiddingstone Causeway, is dedicated to St Peter. Several members of the Hardinge family are buried in the churchyard: Henry Hardinge, 1st Viscount Hardinge (1785–1856), British Army Field Marshal, Governor-General of India Charles Hardinge, 2nd Viscount Hardinge (1822–1894), British politician Charles Hardinge, 1st Baron Hardinge of Penshurst (1858–1944), British diplomat and statesman, Viceroy of India Alexander Hardinge, 2nd Baron Hardinge of Penshurst (1894–1960), British Army officer and courtier Sir Arthur Edward Hardinge (1828–1892), British Army general, Governor of Gibraltar Sir Arthur Henry Hardinge (1859–1933), British diplomatThe Chafford Arms pub is at the heart of the village.

The Arun Valley line, also known as the Mid Sussex line, is part of the Southern- and Thameslink-operated railway services. For the initial part of the route trains follow the Brighton Main Line, and at a junction south of Three Bridges the route turns westwards. It then runs via Crawley, Horsham (where there is a junction with the Portsmouth Line) and Arundel, before meeting the West Coastway line at Arundel Junction. Trains on the Arun Valley line then proceed to either Bognor Regis, Portsmouth & Southsea (with some of these extended to Portsmouth Harbour) or Southampon Central.Many stations on this line retain the short platforms which were originally built, not being extended by the Southern Railway when the line was modernised in the 1930s, nor by any subsequent operators. This causes operational difficulties to this day, which require frequent platform and on-train announcements with longer trains, telling passengers they must travel in the correct part of the train.

The River Grom is a short tributary of the River Medway near Tunbridge Wells in south-east England. Flowing westwards through High Rocks and Groombridge, it forms the Kent-Sussex border for part of its length. A diversion of the Grom feeds the moat at Groombridge Place.

Ashurst railway station is on the Uckfield branch of the Oxted line in southern England and serves Ashurst in Kent (very close to the East Sussex border). It is 32 miles 8 chains (32.10 miles, 51.66 km) from London Bridge. The station is managed by Southern.

Groombridge is a village of about 1,600 people. It straddles the border between Kent and East Sussex, in England. The nearest large town is Royal Tunbridge Wells, about 4.5 miles (7.2 km) away by road. The main part of the village ("New Groombridge") lies in the Withyham civil parish, which forms part of Wealden District of East Sussex. Across the county boundary lies the much smaller and older part of the village ("Old Groombridge"). This is within the Speldhurst civil parish, which forms part of the Tunbridge Wells Borough of Kent. At the 2011 Census the population of the Kent portion of the village was included in the civil parish of Frant. New Groombridge has a primary school associated with the church of St Thomas, part of the Diocese of Chichester. It has a general store, a bakery, a post office, a hairdresser, a car dealership and the Junction Inn public house. The railway station is also in the East Sussex part of Groombridge. Old Groombridge has the church of St John, which is part of the Diocese of Rochester. It also has the Crown Inn public house and the "Blooming Perfect" florist. The village hit the headlines in November 2020 due to East Sussex and Kent going into different Coronavirus tiers. With East Sussex being in Tier 2, the Junction could open and serve alcohol with a substantial meal, but, with Kent in Tier 3, the Crown Inn was forced to remain closed.

Groombridge Place is a moated manor house in the village of Groombridge near Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England. It has become a tourist attraction, noted for its formal gardens and vineyards. The manor house has an associated Dower House.

Groombridge railway station is a station on the Spa Valley Railway (SVR) in Groombridge, East Sussex, England. Once a busy station serving four directions, it closed in 1985 to British Rail services. A new station the other side of Station Road bridge was opened by the SVR in 1997 as part of a standard gauge heritage railway to Tunbridge Wells West.

Blackham is a village in the Wealden district of East Sussex. It lies within the Withyham civil parish. Its nearest town is Royal Tunbridge Wells, which lies approximately 5.3 miles (8.5 km) east from the village. The village is situated on the East Sussex-Kent border. The name Blackham (Black Hamlet) comes from the village being known as the resting place for smugglers returning from the coast with their booty as it was exactly one day's ride from Dover. At the time, it was described as a 'den of iniquity' due to the raucous and often violent behaviour of the smugglers. Hever Castle (the childhood home of Anne Boleyn), Penshurst Place and Bolebroke Castle, all regularly frequented by Henry VIII are all within 4 miles of Blackham as is the village of Hartfield - the home of Christopher Robin, Winnie-the-Pooh, and the actual "Pooh Bridge" location in Ashdown Forest where people still play poohsticks.

Harrison's Rocks is a series of sandstone crags approximately 1.5 kilometres (1 mi) south of the village of Groombridge in the county of East Sussex. The site is a notable example of a periglacial tor landform developed in rocks of the Ardingly Sandstone Member of the Tunbridge Wells Sand Formation. It is popular with rock climbers, and is the largest of the cluster of local outcrops known by climbers as Southern Sandstone. Harrison's Rocks is owned by climbers and is managed on their behalf by the British Mountaineering Council with funding from the English Sports Council.

Withyham was a railway station on the Three Bridges to Tunbridge Wells Central Line which closed in 1967, a casualty of the Beeching Axe. The station opened on 1 October 1866 and the buildings were designed by Charles Henry Driver. The station building survived the closure and is now a private residence named the "Old Withyham Station"; much of the trackbed as far as Groombridge and Three Bridges are part of the Worth Way and Forest Way cyclepath/footpaths.

Penn's Rocks is a 10.2-hectare (25-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest north of Crowborough in East Sussex.This site is a steep sided valley on sandstone with many mosses and liverworts, which is a nationally rare habitat. Uncommon species include Orthodontium gracile, Bazzania trilobata, Saccogyna viticulosa and Harpanthus scutatus.This site is in four separate areas. A footpath runs through one of them but the others are private land.