Wivelsfield to Haywards Heath T=swc.225
Length: 18¾ km (11.6 miles). Short Walk 14¾ km (9.2 miles). 4 out of 10
You start with a rural stretch through the woods and meadows of Bedelands Farm Local Nature Reserve to the picturesque Valebridge Pond. An undulating section through woods and farmland crossed by numerous streams takes you up to the large churchyard of Holy Trinity Church and into the lunchtime village of Cuckfield
Much of the afternoon section is on the High Weald Landscape Trail, a long-distance path through this undulating countryside. A section through a wood managed as a nature reserve takes you up to the neighbouring village of Whitemans Green, where some of the first dinosaur fossils were discovered in its sandstone quarries.
After fine views across the Ouse Valley as you approach Borde Hill Garden, a set of formal gardens and parkland containing a nationally important collection of trees and shrubs, overlooked by an Elizabethan mansion; admission is £9 (2021).
Trains: Get the Thameslink 0935 Brighton train from London Bridge (East Croydon 0949 amongst many joining points) arriving 1025. Get a return to Wivelsfield. Note, that there are no Southern trains running from Victoria this weekend.
Haywards Heath has a frequent service back to London.
Lunch Cuckfiled after 5.6 miles (8.75km) Picnic in the Church or The Talbot (01444-455898) bar/restaurant, which has a small patio area just off the High Street and "does good bar meals"
Tea: Borde Hill Gardens, where Café Elvira open to 5pm. "This large tearoom has a nice back garden and serves a good range of cakes and desserts."
2 comments:
I'm probably not the best person to report the numbers for this walk as I was one of 3 who arrived on later trains and caught up with the others at lunchtime, but I think we were about n=14. It was a w=warm-sunny-and-calm day, perfect for this scenic walk, which probably deserves to be posted more often. Desite the recently dry weather, there was one notably deep muddy stretch along the morning route so I'd say boots (rather than trainers) are a must for this walk.
15 off the train plus 2 by car plus 3 off later train, so n=20
(5 were new to SWC)
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