Grove Ferry slipway

The Great Stour is Kent's second-longest river, running around 58 miles from its source near Lenham to the sea at Pegwell Bay. At Grove Ferry it is a slow, flat tidal reach, with the tide heavily attenuated by the time it reaches this far upstream but still present; paddlers commonly time a trip around high water for an assisted run in either direction. Upstream the river winds about five miles to Fordwich, the tidal limit; downstream it runs roughly three miles to Plucks Gutter, where the Little Stour joins, before continuing towards Sandwich and the sea.

The south bank is bordered for much of this stretch by Stodmarsh National Nature Reserve, a 241-hectare wetland managed by Natural England that holds the largest reedbed in south-east England, formed largely by historic gravel extraction and mining subsidence. Marsh harrier, bittern, kingfisher, water vole and otter are recorded on the reserve, with water vole and otter also noted at the picnic site itself, and the reedbeds and willow-lined banks dominate the view from the water along this reach.