Evening all, a pal of mine has moved to Maidstone and is looking to get out on some trails. I don't know the area, closest I've ridden is Bedgebury.
So over to the hive mind..
I ride on the North Downs and Pilgrims way near junction 4 off the M20. There are lots of trails around, lots of hills, not too sure nearer Maidstone, best thing to do is grab an os map and have a look!
Head out to Blue Bell Hill as there is some fun stuff there. If you want to find more post on the Sketchy site.
[url= http://www.sketchymtb.co.uk/Blah.pl ]Sketchy[/url]
Lots of stuff around BBH, Boxley and Detling - sketchy is a good place to look
Used to live that way. In addition to above you've got Greensand Way, Holly Hill, Mereworth Woods and quite a few other options locally. Some good routes out towards Canterbury too. Conditions similar to Surrey Hills in places with far fewer crowds. in the dry there is some cracking woodsy single track but tends to get very claggy in the wet. Have got an old MTB route guide to Kent which I have no use for anymore which is a good pointer and which I'd be happy to post onto your mate. OS map is a good idea too.
Yeah around Mereworth woods, Wrotham Heath, Bearstead all have stuff. As previously said it can be a bit of a mud fest on the North Downs way around Wrotham as a lot of it is byway. You can link from Bluebell Hill area all the way around to Cuxton and then back into Ryarsh, Addington through East Malling and back to Maidstone. MBR ran quite a nice route guide too a few years ago for the Bearstead area.
As mentioned above, get your man to come and say hello on Sketchymtb.
Lots of riders covering all sorts of riding, mostly friendly too...