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Access to fresh air, a space to breathe and nature filled green spaces make us feel happier and healthier. Our local parks offer us all this and more for free.

Exploring the outdoors hasn’t always been easy for everyone but more parks, woodlands and open spaces are being made accessible with wider paths and removal of gates and stiles. Here are Explore Kent’s top picks for Swale.

Oare Gunpowder Works

Facilities: toilets, disabled toilets, parking, disabled parking, public transport accessible, waymarked paths, rest points, picnic area, toilets, and visitor centre.

Near to the village of Oare and a stone’s throw from Faversham town centre is Oare Gunpowder Works Country Park. Ideal for a family day out thanks to the surfaced walking trails around the site, which are helpfully colour coded throughout the woodlands. The abandoned site was developed into a country park with a unique blend of history and wildlife in 2003 thanks to the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Barton’s Point Coastal Park

Facilities: toilets, disabled toilets, parking, disabled parking, public transport accessible, waymarked paths, rest points, picnic area, children play area.

Located on the east coast of Sheerness is the beautiful Barton’s Point Coastal Park, an attractive park with walking trails, cycle paths and bridleways. The park is focused around a large saltwater lake which is home to a variety of marine life. It’s also the perfect location to try out sailing, windsurfing, kayaking or paddle boarding. The Sheerness Way cycling route runs through the park and along Queenborough Lines, making the park ideal to visit from the town centre.

Milton Creek Country Park

Facilities: toilets, disabled toilets, parking, disabled parking, public transport accessible, surfaced paths, rest points, picnic area, play area, entrance accessible for wheelchair and mobility users using a radar key.

The Milton Creek Country Park is the ‘green heart’ of Sittingbourne that links the town centre and the creek. A tranquil oasis for wildlife, it offers a large natural play area, a community events space, and extensive network of paths through areas of different meadow, scrub and aquatic habitats. The park is accessible from Sittingbourne town centre via The Saxon Shore Way.

If this has inspired you to get outdoors then visit www.explorekent.org for more parks, woodlands and walking routes in Kent.