Inner Active
Seems I managed to do a walk that allowed for a wonderful butterfly hunt in the middle of it. It is not too long and it allowed for relaxation and enjoyment, a rare thing for me. The route spans the High Weald National Landscape and contains the cretaceous Tunbridge Wells sandstones and Grinstead clays responsible for the drama of stony outcrops, Woods with hammer ponds, ancient roadways and steep, watery valleys. Iron has afforded the place with wealthy hunting and manorial estates and Gravetye is one. The iron masters sold to the horticulturalists and it is here that I surveyed a bit of the biodiversity. Accounting for wildlife is a great way to give yourself time in an area and I loved both the walk in and the shady reservoir approach towards the edge of Ashdown Forest.
Crawley Down can be made with a train to Three Bridges and then a 272 bus eastward. Return was by the same 272 bus.
From the war memorial go immediately south on Station Road and then on to Burleigh Lane. This doubles as the Sussex Border Path. After Burleigh House Farm, take the next footpath right and then south at the next junction which passes between the lakes of Fen Mill Place. This is the first mill on the Medway and Fen Place was once home to an iron master and later, a cornmill. The hedges and meadows were already full of insects, hazelnuts and blackberries and some terns were hunting over the grebe-filled water. Cross the bridge and continue on the well-marked path.
Join the Turner Hill Road and take the footpath off to the right to Tickeridge Farm. Go to the right of the barns and over Vowels Lane. Join the bridleway opposite and you are now within the William Robinson Estate. A few paths exist for your pleasure. My wanderings involved the surveying of many, many butterflies and pollinators and some mild biting of insects.
You can do as I did but I recommend snacks. Otherwise, take the footpath marked with the red arrows and High Weald Landscape Trail. This joins the green path, crosses Vowels Gill and emerges at a road where you turn right. This is the blue route past Home Farm. Shimmy left beyond Gravetye Manor and take the path to the far side of the Lower Lake. You can then leave the Landscape Trail and continue on the blue path through Hastings Wood. This crosses a stream and joins a footpath following the stream and crossing a tarmac road before fording the stream, joining the HWLT and going under the railway at the Kingscote Estate.
I watched a steam train on the bridge on the Bluebell Railway. The vineyard is on the left and the bridleway follows a walk over the Medway, by the angling lakes beyond. I stopped at the cafe but I had no wine and maybe one too many pickled onions. Stay on the bridleway and some surprising sandstone rocks appear at Stone Farm.
At the West Hoathly Road, cross carefully and turn right to join the Admiral's Bridge Lane. You will continue on the edge of the reservoir and ignore all leftward turns until near the end. The walk is partly through meadows but you stay with the fence on your right and things are largely through the shade of trees. Views of the water are limited until you reach the Millennium Picnic Site and then after this, there is interpretation.
The valley at Weir Wood was flooded in 1954 to form the reservoir, hiding under the water, the evidence of centuries of iron-working. So successful was it for wildlife that it was declared a Site of Special Scientific Interest in the 1966.
At the far end, take the GMT path marked on the ground at a crossroads. This is not currently on the OS map. The path does not quite give you access to the water's edge by takes you past the 1950s water works. The path merges with the Weir Wood Road and an awkward fence cross brings you back on a footpath across the field on your left. Having been freshly mowed, I walked directly to the footbridge.
Turn right and join the road past the fruit farm. Brambletye had raspberries and redcurrants growing in the hedge. There was no real view of the old double moat, amongst the treeson your right from Brambletye Lane. Historic England says that moast moats were constructed between 1250 and 1350 and so this probably represents a manorial site and predecessor of the 17th Century Brambletye Ruin. This appears on your left as you round the corner onto the southern bridleway.
Go east at the crossroads and pass Burnthouse Farm. You'll walk through some flats and into Forest Row on the Lewes Road. I had an hour wait for the bus but don't waste your time here. Do as I did and reward yourself with a drink at The Chequers or The Swan.
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