Every Cloud

HORSTED KEYNES TO CRAWLEY DOWN VIA SHARPTHORNE, WEST HOATHLY, GRAVETYE MANOR AND SELSFIELD COMMON

 

This is probably my last venture of the season to the William Robinson Estate to do some butterfly surveying. I have approached the place from all angles and then I remembered that Horsted Keynes is quite easy to get to and was a decent option. This is yet another demonstration to myself that mooching around in a place is completely acceptable and very enjoyable. I could have quite honestly spent a great deal of time just watching the dragonfly at a small pond. The whole thing was very satisfactory. The key to using this learning, is to to plan in time at a place for things to happen. It is true that good weather and picnics makes it easier and there is some sacrifice to be made to the distance that can be achieved but it is normally worth it and also snacks. I remembered snacks. I can change and I can grow.

 

Horsted Keynes is little over half an hour by the 270 bus from Burgess Hill. You could get a similar but less frequent bus back from Crawley Down in an hour. More likely, you can take a bus to Three Bridges and then train south.

 

From the Church Lane bus stop, go north and descend to Church Lane on the Sussex Border Path. In sight of said St Giles church, leave the Border Path and take the next footpath on the left, beside the meadow. While the church may have been built on an even more ancient tomb, the addition of 'Keynes' (say canes) comes from the Norman that was given the area after 1066. The second pony was curious. The atmosphere and all in it, were benefitting from the early rain. This had cleared and in the cheerful morning light, I was remembering how unwaterproof my boots are, now that we have experienced some wet for the first time in ages. Continue past a small pond then the Mill Lake and through Pain's Wood. Be sure to take the footpath that stays within the wood when you pass the lake. It takes over a series of little footbridges and on to Cinder Hill Lane.

 

From this charming High Weald settlement, a place long of horses and ponds and iron, it is difficult to imagine it as a hub of existential cold war decisions. Lord Stockton, otherwise Harold MacMillan, lived just up the road. JFK, no less visited for talks with the secret service descending on the town and the Crown Inn.

 

Go north and then left onto a footpath north of Leamland Wood. You can continue to the road and turn right. There is a second car park and then the railway bridge over the track. You can look over at the Bluebell Railway and Horsted Keynes Station. The line runs steam trains. Once, it was part of the Lewes and East Grinstead Line but after closure in 1958, enthusiasts restored this portion with four stations. For your information, Horsted Keynes serves as a junction and preservation workshop hub, maintaining a fleet of nearly 150 vintage carriages and wagons that includes rare timber-framed Victorian coaches and Pullman dining stock. Great if you like that kind of thing.

 

The path takes you around to the far side of the track and I can imagine the lure for trainspotters. Go north for a bit and cross the track at the next opportunity. Follow the path to reach Horsted Lane and Vox or Vaex End. The word derives from a french word, meaning valley. Take the road north, back on the Border Path. Leave the road on the left, towards Northwood House. Some very attractive undulations follow and the deer grazing here, provided the performance as I disturbed the peace. There is but one path so stick with until you emerge on the road at Sharpthorne.

 

Turn left, leave the border path and you'll walk over the longest railway tunnel on a heritage line. This is the West Hoathly Tunnel. Also note the view to the north. Keep walking west to Vinols Cross and West Hoathly, itself. Climb the steps to Finches Field. The local notice board spoke of the People's National Emergency Briefing and so we lurch from the Cold War to climate catastrophe. Finche Field was the site of nuclear detonation monitoring by the Royal Observer Corps. It now is a picnic area. and it is good to see the place remaining the front and centre of emergency planning. You can climb down some steps built by captive Italian POWs to cross the road and look at the view to the south from this high point.

 

Back to the clump of trees, continue along the edge of the field to where the footpath goes north again. It is a little tricky to emerge at the road and go left on the Hollow. It might be better to have walked onward from the field to North Lane to join with the High Weald Landscape Trail on Woodside.

 

Carry on north into the Gravetye Estate. Do not go left but continue into Giffard's Wood. Go right at the fork. When the track becomes gravel, you are on a permissive bridleway and stay with this surface. Continue through Hastings and Bushy Wood. There are many coloured trails here and you are free to wander on a number of paths. I did some surveys in Minepit wood. It was clear that many of the flowers are spent and I did not get too lucky with butterflies here. In the meadow to the south, I was more fortunate and a flurry of clouded yellows were dancing about. This is a butterfly I don't recall noticing before and this migratory species is known to have of 'clouded yellow years', maybe this is one.

 

You can rejoin the Landscape Trail going south past Home Farm and Warrens Wood. You will come to Gravetye Manor and the hotel. Turn right through their car park, leaving the HWT and following a westward footpath. Take the next footpath on the right to go north. and bear left to reach Vowels Lane. Continue in this direction and take the next footpath on the right. I remembered walking this way but in the other direction. There is a view north and a water tower on your left as you reach the redwoods at Selsfield Place. You can explore the National Trust's Selsfield Common and then go north. The Roman road that passes through Burgess Hill parallels you on the right. You cross this line in the woods before East Street.

 

While I'd had my snacks way back at Gravetye, Pots and Pithoi, to the left of the Alexander Hotel was forthcoming with its cafe. Never was there a more appropriate toasty. A small touch of Crete in West Sussex. Take the footpath on the left of the shop and keep going north, go over the Medway and you'll walk through a white gate and on to the SBP, one last time. Turn left on Sandhill Road. There is a bus stop at the Red Lion and I got lucky with an excellent delayed connection at Three Bridges. Home twenty minutes sooner than I expected. No ice-cream.