Ashdown Forest Traverse (linear)
Sat 27th Jun 2015
Walk Details:
(London Victoria 08.02 change at East Croydon). Return from Ashurst station (hourly; TN3 9TL). Uckfield to Ashurst. Drivers park at Ashurst (charge) and take same train at 08.59.
Route includes a ‘lost village’ at Buxted and traverses high across the former deer forest of Ashdown Forest, using the Wealdway and Vanguard Way.
Entry Details:
Walk Report
Ashdown Forest Traverse - Uckfield to Ashurst, Saturday 27th June 201521 walkers, 21.7 miles - leader Paul Lawrence
After first visiting Buxted Park and the location of its 'lost village' and later some unusual rock formations, we made a crossing of Ashdown Forest on sections of the Vanguard Way and Wealdway stopping at the Forester's Arms at Fairwarp for a welcome lunch and drinks in the warm weather. Then ascending to one of the Forest's high points at Camp Hill Clump and some cooling breezes, we descended to join the High Weald Landscape Trail and a tea-stop at Hartfield Village. The final section was along the Medway Vvalley and Sussex Border Path. Ashdown Forest is a former hunting 'forest' with large open areas with wide tracks and is one of the largest remaining areas of lowland heath habitat in Britain and is mostly accessible to walkers. Views extend southwards to the South Downs and northwards to the greensand ridge and the North Downs. It was a past centre for the iron industry and the first blast furnace and is crossed by the track of a Roman road. The walk included 2100 ft of ascent. At Buxted Park, the site of a 'lost village' lies near the church, but there is little to see of the original location of the village after the then landowner, the first Lord Liverpool, politician, close adviser of George III, and father of a Prime Minister in Victorian times, 'encouraged' the villagers to relocate to make the grounds of his mansion more secluded, a process known as 'Emparkation'. The first military iron canon was cast in the village. Thanks to Andy Davies for backmarking!
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