Location
Harbledown
OS Map Reference
TR 117 577What3Words:
snacks.only.increases
Know before you go
Entry fee
NoneParking information
No onsite parking. Park on Faulkers Lane by Kent College School or at Chartham Hatch village.Bicycle parking
NoneWalking trails
The North Downs Way runs through the reserve and can be joined at Chartham Hatch to the west or on Faulkners Road from Harbledown to the east.
Access
The North Downs Way footpath runs through the reserve. There is a Kissing gate leading to level track.
Dogs
When to visit
Opening times
All timesBest time to visit
All year-round. Spring and summer offers colourful views of the surrounding area.About the reserve
Bigbury Camp is an Iron Age hillfort in Howfield Wood, a short hop from the centre of Canterbury. The site was occupied from about 350BC and may have been stormed in one of the first engagements between the local peoples and the legions of Julius Caesar in 55BC. Many of the defensive earthworks can still be seen today.
The site was planted over with European Larch and Sweet Chestnut in the 18th and 19th century with the chestnut being used as hop poles in the nearby hop farms. Kent Wildlife Trust is busy removing the plantations restore more natural habitats as they would have been when the site was occupied and to show the defensive earthworks that have survived for over two thousand years. There is, on view, an artists impression of what the occupied site might have looked like.