Mayfield - Renhurst Farm - Bassetts - Mayfield

Alison and Clive Gilbert

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This walk was originally compiled by Alan and Janet Love, sadly both are no longer with us. Alison Gilbert has kindly offered to take them over. Alison and Walkingworld would like all these excellent walks to remain as a continuing tribute to Alan and Janet.

Mayfield, East Sussex, is about nine miles south of Tunbridge Wells, just off the A267 which now bypasses the village. The railway station closed under the Beeching Axe in 1965; it was originally part of the Eridge to Polegate Line, but now the line forms part of the bypass. A tiny section remains and is part of the path on this walk.

There is one long section of narrow country lane to be walked, leading to Great Trodgers Farm (super name) but it is so quiet and peaceful, flanked as it is by fields and woods, that it is a delight to walk. It was particularly dry when this walk was done, making the going extremely pleasant. It may be a different story if conditions underfoot were wet, there could be quite a lot of mud.

Part of the walk passes through land owned and managed by Wadhurst Park, the owners of which have been making great efforts to restore the natural habitat of the land: 'We have been restoring wildflower meadows, replanting hedgerows, coppicing woods again, re-establishing lost woods and solitary trees, re-creating lost ponds, and making wetlands in old river meanders.' You can read more about this by looking at the section on Environmental purpose at wadhurstpark.co.uk

England - South England - East Sussex - Countryside

Features

Birds, Butterflies, Church, Flowers, Food Shop, Great Views, Lake/Loch, Play Area, Pub, Public Transport, Restaurant, Toilets

6/23/2014 - John Acord

A few changes since this walk was written: In step 8 the metal farm gate with stile next to it is now clearly visible at the junction with the newly paved path leading off to the right - however the stile is old and broken and we had to climb the gate instead. In step 13 the barbed-wire topped stile (sounds fun!) has been replaced with a metal gate. Finally, in step 27 the stile is now gone. A really pretty walk - we did this on a hot summer day and really enjoyed it. However, the pond mentioned in the introduction was a bit of a let down and the swimming pool in step 32 was nowhere to be seen (high walls of bracken and a new fence preventing access probably didn't help!) Highly recommended.

5/23/2009 - Richard May

This is a lovely walk, with a great level of details in the instructions. The old swimming pool was a particular surprise!Richard