JEFF KENT is a bit of a stickler when it comes to hill walking. He always aims to reach the exact peak of every one he climbs – without exception. It’s one of his passions.

On one excursion to Malvern last year, Jeff, a writer and publisher aged 66, scaled British Camp (otherwise known as the Herefordshire Beacon) and was slightly miffed to find a couple of people sitting on the exact point of the summit.

Torn between letting them enjoy the views in peace and his obsession with standing on the highest point, he eventually gave way to his inner compulsion and asked them to move for a few moments. They willingly obliged.

This might sound a bit like extreme behaviour – the actions of someone with a psychological disorder – but in fact there is method in Jeff’s “madness”. He has embarked on a massive project to identify, climb and document his ascension to every peak between 1,000 and 1,999ft which is at least 50ft higher than the surrounding landscape in a number of English counties.

It all started a few years ago when his dad, aged 96, passed away. Jeff, an easy-going former teacher and college lecturer from Staffordshire, has been a keen hill walker since childhood – climbing numerous hills and mountains over the years.

He had a close relationship with his dad and took him out most Sundays in his final years but, when he passed away, it opened up more time for Jeff to do what he wanted.

“I had this idea of looking into whether anyone had identified Staffordshire’s 1,000ft peaks. I decided to take it on as a project and identify them and go up them all. It focused my mind on something else after my father died,” he said.

Jeff was already aware of the Munros, which are Scottish mountains over 3,000ft and other British classifications such as the Nuttalls – a list of peaks of 2,000ft and above in England – but as there was no land of those heights anywhere near Jeff’s home he took an interest and natural features of at least 1,000ft.

He focused on his home county to start and discovered most of them had never been identified in this way. Using Ordnance Survey maps he pinpointed 65 in Staffordshire and then proceeded to climb them from the nearest low ground – often in river valleys.

He decided to name these peaks the Kents after his countryside-loving parents and, with the publication of books on the subject in mind, he climbed the hills in a series of circular walks – often climbing several adjacent hills in a single outing.

With Staffordshire well and truly under his belt, Jeff decided to cast his net further field. His next target was neighbouring county Cheshire where he discovered 46 peaks matching his category. After completing his conquests of the hills in the first two counties he published his books – Staffordshire’s 1,000 Foot Peaks in 2013 and Cheshire’s 1,000-Foot Peaks in 2015.

He then focused on another neighbouring county Shropshire where there were no less than 197 peaks to keep him occupied. This kept him absorbed through 2015 and 2016.

Looking for more projects, last year Jeff targeted Worcestershire with a mere eight peaks in his height range, Herefordshire with 44 and Gloucestershire with just five.

He had, some years ago, walked a substantial section of the Malvern Hills, and thoroughly enjoyed this return visit. The only other hills over 1,000ft in Worcestershire are in the Clent Hills, near Hagley, and that’s where Jeff started his mission. He climbed Adam’s Hill and Walton Hill, in the Clent Hills, on April 3 last year and followed this four days later with a jaunt into Herefordshire to bag Bringewood West, Middle and East Hills and Mary Knoll. Jeff made steady progress on Herefordshire’s hills and climbed Hergest Ridge (not for the first time) on June 23.

On July 3 he conquered all the most northerly six 1,000-foot peaks of the Malvern Hills, all of them in Worcestershire. He resumed after a holiday, completing his Malvern Hills climbs on August 13 by successfully tackling all the most southerly six peaks, all of them in Herefordshire. He then moved onto Gloucestershire’s 1,000-foot hills and ascended all five of them in two visits.

Jeff, who is accompanied by his partner and photographer Sue Bell, completed his three counties project on October 4 by reaching the top of the final hill, Myndd Ferddin.

“It was very interesting. Worcestershire was taking us into an area we did not know. We thought it would be quite interesting to go off into territory we did not know very well.

“The Malvern Hills are fantastic. They are a wonderful range of hills. It is very spectacular but they look a lot bigger than they are,” he said.

“It is very likely that other people have all the Worcestershire peaks but it is possible that I am the first person to walk to the exact summit.”

He said people often walk up to a view point or a trig point and then descend but those are not necessarily the highest places - it is often a few yards away.

“What always strikes me is how many people go up the main hills like the Malverns and walk to the summit area and they do not seem very bothered if they are on the summit. They go to broadly the summit area but they are not obsessed about going to the summit like me.

“When we went up the Herefordshire Beacon, there were two young men sitting on the exact point of the summit but I wanted to stand on it to have my photograph taken. I did eventually ask them to move so I could do it.”

Having reached the summit of all the peaks of 1,000ft and over in Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Gloucestershire, Jeff says he does intent to publish a book of his walks in these combined counties.

But those eager to buy the publication will probably have to wait for a couple of years. Jeff has decided to embark on the mammoth task of identifying all the peaks in this height range across the whole of England.

“The plan is to publish a book for Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Gloucestershire on similar lines as the other two but my guess is that it will be a couple of years.

In the meantime people can take a sneak peek at some of his photos by visiting www.flickr.com and search in the photos section for Jeff Kent Witan.