Lullingstone parkrun

Since July is prime lavender season, finally this year I managed to stick to my plans and visit Lullingstone parkrun for the first time. Lullingstone parkrun is famous for its gorgeous view on Castle Farm and its large lavender fields. What it is also moderately famous for is being freaking hilly. But that seems to be often overshadowed by its views. It shouldn’t, no, no, no. It shouldn’t. It is a painful run, with 130m of elevation gain and a long hill that never seems to end. But you know what? It is worth it, the views are glorious and not only over the purple patches.

I seem to be collecting hilly courses during my recent out of town escapades. My last was Tilgate, which is hilly but not necessarily dramatic. Not long ago I visited Wendover Woods, which can definitely compete with Lullingstone. And I also added Lloyd in London a few weeks ago because I seem to be seeking pain. Oh well, we like it after all, let’s be honest.

The Run Director mentioned this is the 18th hilliest parkrun venue in the UK. So we have some objective evidence it is going to be painful. And by the way, I am not sure if the apparent apologetic manner he had while saying it fully masked his sadistic pleasure while looking at all those unaware tourists. It must be fun and I am sure they always get tourists here!

Lullingstone Country Park is just outside the M25, among beautiful Kent hills. It is very close to London, just by Sevenoaks, if you want a reference point. Plenty of tourists come from the Big Smoke and not only and there is a lot to do around the venue if you want to stick around a bit longer. Lullingstone Castle is just at the edge of the parkrun course, a Roman villa is not far and the village of Eynsford is full of character.

Anyway, enough with my rumblings. It’s time to dive into some more info about Lullingstone parkrun!

Trip to Lullingstone parkrun and parking

This venue might be just off the M25, but it does not benefit from London-style public transport connections. Eynsford is a small village and the park is out of town, so if you want to come without driving a car, you might need to plan it properly and in advance.

According to the official course page, the closest train station is Eynsford, about 1.1 miles away form the venue. It is served and managed by Southeastern and it offers links to Sevenoaks and London Blackfriars. If this does not help, buses can apparently by boarded in Swanley or Sevenoaks.

I never really thought I could get here without driving, but just for a kick, I checked Citymapper to see how long it would take me. Well, apparently, it would take me close to 2.5hrs from my base in Wimbledon. By car, it was about 50 minutes. Easy choice.

If you are driving, Lullingstone parkrun is actually pretty convenient to get to. If you are coming from the Home Counties, get on the M25 to Swanley and you it a short 10 minutes drive from there. I was surprised, Waze recommended me to cut through town early in the morning. I drove through Morden, Croydon and Bromley and then cut through small country roads until I suddenly reached my destination. The Country Park has a medium-sized dedicated car park, but given low attendance numbers, it will be more than enough even if you don’t arrive at the break of sunshine.

The car park is not free and you can pay with the RingGo app. However, it seems to be located in a mobile network black hole, so that won’t work. It charges a flat daily fee, so you can note down the location number and pay any time during the day. Or walk to one of the machines and pay by card.

The visitor centre is just by the car park, but it is closed before the event. However, the toilets will be open by 8am.

Lullingstone parkrun: start and briefings

The meeting point is not signposted from the car park and smaller than average numbers mean you might have a short moment of panic not knowing where to go and not seeing obvious crowds to follow. I did, but it did not last long. With the visitor centre on your back, just walk straight towards the hill crossing the car park. Once you get out of the car park, you enter a large(ish) flat area with picnic tables. Go around that and start climbing the hill on either side. Good warm up for things to come.

The meeting point is roughly 1/3 of the way up. If you climbed the hill on its left side, you are there. If you climbed it on its right side, cross it using the path which will be part of the parkrun course. About 50 metres, I think.

There is nothing here besides grass and beautiful views, so come up only when you are ready to start basking into your weekly parkrunniness. Also, there seemed to be some spotty mobile network, but nothing major. Possibly enough to try getting the odd message through, not more.

It will be a very small group until it’s nearly time to get started, so the atmosphere is definitely that of a small event. It very welcoming and friendly and they are definitely used to bucket list one-off tourists.

The First Timers Briefing happens on the grass by the finish funnel. It was quite fun, with the volunteer going out of this way to stress we might find a bit more uphill sections than we expected. It is always fun to see volunteers trying to be kind and encouraging while, at the same time, knowing many parkrunners will seriously reassess their life choices over the next 30/60 minutes.

At 9am, everybody lines up by the finish funnel, facing the cross path you might have used on your way there. The Briefing happens quickly while everyone is already lined/bunched up and then it naturally transitions into the main event with no need to go anywhere.

You might barely hear it, but it is time for the countdown. 3, 2, 1.

Go!

Lullingstone parkrun course review – star ratings

Lullingstone parkrun course review – route highlights

There were 86 parkrunners on the day I visited. This seems to be on the higher end of average attendance levels for Lullingstone parkrun. Looking at historical results, it seems the range is about 50-100, with larger fields in June-July during lavender season and numbers closer to 50 and even below during winter. I suspect weather also has a major impact here: it is a hard run when it is dry, I cannot even start thinking how it could be when muddy. 50 or around 50 seems to be the most frequent attendance level.

Lullingstone parkrun offers a fairly open start line. It is not on a wide path, but it is one of the few flat segments and you can overtake fairly easily going on grass for a short while. But do it fast, because there will soon be a 90 degrees turn. There will be a few more bottlenecks around the course. The most notable one, where I also got stuck as you can see in the video below, is when you cross into the forest the first time, nearly at the top of the hill. There, you will find a narrow and steep path where people can be tempted to walk. This is not a course that would do great with much higher numbers, but I think it is perfectly enjoyable around 100 and it can easily sustain a few more.

Surface-wise, it’s all grass or trails. I was lucky to visit on a fairly dry day, so I cannot comment on conditions when muddy. On the day I visited, I think I could have gotten away with road shoes, but I was grateful I chose trail shoes nonetheless. Grass sections can be a bit slippery and you might want to stray out of the small path here and there. Trail sections can be steep, with plenty of pebbles and roots. I don’t think there was any section that I would consider ‘technical’ or particularly difficult, but a bit of additional grip is always welcome.

Elevation-wise, at 130m elevation gain, over 2 laps, it is definitely hilly but not an absolute monster, right?. Well, it feels more painful than you would think. This is probably because the climb is constant, relentless, evil. It does not stop. Until you reach the top, enjoy a brief downhill and then it starts again. With an evil laugh in the background. I suffered, it is definitely painful. But it is runnable: I think I could have run it all without stops had I been in better shape. As said before, it reminded me of Wendover Woods. If anything, the latter felt harder because it starts with a downhill and then you have the second half on a relentless, never ending uphill. Here at least you break it down, a bit.

In terms of course design, it is pretty weird. However, I commend the course designers for finding a way to inflict maximum pain over two laps. Well done, guys! It is 2 laps. You climb a hill, loop around a forest, come back down, run an out and back and then do it again. Interesting, no doubt. Painful, no doubt. Scenic, unquestionable. Fun? For sure!

A quick Relive route plot is on my YouTube Channel, with longer video highlights embedded below.

Once it is time to start, we all started running across the hill, for a nice if brief flat segment. Even with small numbers, sticking to the narrow path with shorter grass will be hard, if you don’t want to slow down. And even if sprinting on this course is not a good idea, we all know how hard it is to contain your enthusiasm at the start. So many people, me included, end up straying onto higher grass briefly to overtake a few people. This segment is short, 50m at most, then you have to turn 90 degrees left. And the hill starts. The evil hill that will keep showing you turns not far away where you think it will flatten out. Just to show you more climbing ahead and laugh at your naive hope.

The first climb is relatively steep, but doable. It runs along the right side of the hill, on a good, wide trail. A couple 100m later, you reach what you think could be the top and turn right. For more uphill. You were, actually, not running along the side of the hill, just by the side of a small bunch of trees that cut it in half. So keep climbing after you have turn right, to reach the real side of the hill. Let’s be honest: this segment has a little flat segment and even a short downhill, but it immaterial. To all extent and purposes, you are still climbing.

Once you reach the end of this ‘hill crossing segment’, turn left again and now there is no doubt left. You will climbing towards the visible top of the hill. Remember what I wrote: visible. There will be more once you get on top, obviously. Because why not, right?

This is a long climb along the edge of a hill, on a path with mixed grass sections. It is exposed, which must make it miserable on windy days, but it was not windy when I was there. The views are glorious, helping a bit with the pain. On your right, beautiful rolling green hills, on your left you will soon reach the best vantage points to see the lavender fields. There are also wooden frames for people to take selfies. I am sure no one jumped on the opportunity to use them as an excuse to take a breather! Plenty of people stopped and took pictures even if they certainly did not want to stop.

When I reached the top and turned left, I was greeted by a volunteer guarding a crossing point in the course. Here you can rest a bit and not only because of the mandatory pictures. There is a short flat segment that crosses the hill again towards the side where we had originally started from. It is a narrow path again, but pleasant to run on.

At the end of this part, a hard right turn gets us into the woods. This is probably the steepest section and it is on a path where only one person at a time can pass. Probably 20/30 metres, until it opens up again, turning left and then right, to join a wider path going through the woods. We are now running the little loop on the right side of the map. A couple 100 metres still to go uphill: you did not think we had reached the top yet, right? Come on, you know the drill by now, there is also more to climb at Lullingstone parkrun!

But eventually, a top has to be reached. When you get there, roughly half way through the forest loop, you will meet a volunteer showing you the way where you have to turn right and start going down. The downhill is steep and fun, with some roots and stones, but not enough to stop you from enjoying it. And making up some time. It starts winding down inside the forest, then it reaches the end of the forest and you turn left where you had met the volunteer at the top of the first hill before. You get out of the forest in the prime picture spot in front of the lavender fields, actually. Great exit.

At this point, you turn left and run down the same hill you climbed before, sharing the path with other parkrunners climbing it. Don’t worry, you will have to climb it again, so don’t look too smug! At the bottom, you turn left to run along the other side of the little spot of vegetation you had run by before and descend towards the lower levels of the course. After a few more turns and scenic spots, it is time to turn left for the out and back straight leading towards Lullingstone Castle.

I enjoyed this section, again with two way flow and some elevation but not as steep as in the main hill. Run it until the end, turn around 360 degrees and run it back. This time, keep going when you reach the trees and you will cross them. Nice segment under the trees and soon you are out and reach the point where you had started your climb soon after the start.

You see the finish funnel just across the field. Very tempting, isn’t it? It is so close and only flat terrain separates you from it. Nope, not yet. Turn right and start climbing again, my friend. This is the start of your second lap.

When you have gone through the second lap, you will finally be allowed to cross the path again to reach the funnel. It’s flat, so in the unlikely case you have some energy left, you can sprint it. lol, very unlikely case.

Congratulations on completing Lullingstone parkrun!

Facilities at Lullingstone parkrun

Lullingstone Country Park is a good size venue, but it is mostly left to its natural beauty and walking paths. Plenty to see around it, but in terms of facilities it is mostly what can be found at the Visitor Centre.

Toilets are open before the event, on the left side of the visitor centre when approaching it from the car park.

The cafe is open after the event. It is small but it offers a few seats indoor and some nice seating outdoor. Also remember the ‘picnic area’ on the other side of the car park, if it is a nice day.

As a competitor to the McDonald’s index, I am continuing to collect data for the parkbreakfast index: how much is breakfast at each location?

At Lullingstone parkrun, I ordered a single espresso, a diet Coke and a lemon Bakewell tarts. This cost £6.4, which is ok given the location.

Lullingstone parkrun: Video Highlights

As usual, I’ve taken a few video snippets during the run to give an idea of the course. If you like it, please subscribe, it’s a fun past time for me 🙂

The other parkrun videos on my YouTube channel are all linked on the course review and video highlights summary page.

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Achievements and performance

Conclusions

I really enjoyed Lullingstone parkrun. It is a quirky route with wonderful views and an incredibly friendly set of volunteers. I guess they know how painful the run is, so natural selection made sure only the most supportive volunteers were left to ensure people get through their evil course. Similar to the conclusion I came to when I visited Huddinge parkrun near Stockholm.

This is definitely a venue for your bucket lists. If you are lucky to visit during lavender blooming months and catch some sunshine, it must really be unique. I did not have the sunshine, but at least I had the lavender fields in bloom.

Finally, obviously, thank you, Lullingstone parkrun team for your hospitality!