The Common is two hundred and fifty acres of unfenced woodland and grassland on the western edge of the town centre, threaded with footpaths and dotted with dramatic sandstone outcrops left over from the Cretaceous period. Wellington Rocks, High Rocks and the Toad Rock are the most famous, the last a curious balancing stone that looks unmistakably amphibian from one angle.
The Common has been protected from enclosure since the seventeenth century, when the Manor of Rusthall granted local freeholders rights that prevented developers from carving it up. The result is that the town has wild, open ground right at its centre — popular with walkers, dog-owners, climbers and the cricket teams who use Higher Common Ground at the southern end.