Walk 34 : Balcombe to East Grinstead

This walk has a fair number of relatively gentle uphills and downhills, but is well worth it. It starts in the old village of Balcombe, passes Balcombe House, and then goes through the woods and by the lake of Balcombe Estate, up to a farm that can be extremely muddy in wet weather, to reach the National Trust gardens and Tudor mansion at Wakehurst Place around mid-morning. From there the route passes through further woods to the Priest House Museum, Norman church and the lunchtime pub in West Hoathly (which is less than halfway and is the second highest point in Sussex).

After lunch, the route is through Giffards Wood then past the Stone Arm climbing rocks (sandstone rocks formed from the bodies of plants and invertebrates, and used as shelters in mesolithic and neolithic times), leading to the shoreline of the Weir Wood Reservoir and nature reserve (home to the great crested grebe, heron, osprey etc) - the very energetic could at this point detour to the National Trust estate at Standen - finally reaching the station via a walk along a stream and through potentially very muddy fields that mark the outer edges of East Grinstead.

There is a bus about once an hour from West Hoathly (the suggested lunchtime stop) to either East Grinstead or (the next hour) to Crawley (the bus goes from the shelter just on the right as you come out of the Cat Inn, the Lunch pub).

It might also be possible to get a taxi three miles to Horsted Keynes Station to catch a Bluebell Line steam locomotive towards East Grinstead (the fare is £7.40; phone for details on 01825 723 777).

The poet Shelley lived for a time in Balcombe's Highley Manor. The present queen was a bridesmaid at a wedding in Balcombe Church before the war. Balcombe House, privately owned, was part-gutted by fire in 1995.

Wakehurst Place tel 01444 894 066) dates from Norman times, but the Tudor manor house with its sandstone walls was built in 1590 by Sir Edward Culpeper, a distant relative of Nicholas Culpeper who published the famous herbal compendium in 1651. The gardens are divided into geographical themes, such as Himalayan, Chinese and North American; and are linked to Kew - plants and trees suited to high altitude and extra rainfall can be grown at Wakehurst Place (which won a £10 million lottery award for its seed bank plans). Admission is £5; £3.50 concessions (free to National Trust members). Opening hours are 10am to 6pm daily in March and October; 10am to 7pm daily April to September; 10am to 4pm daily in November, December and January. The restaurant closes about half an hour before these times.

The timber-framed Priest House Museum in West Hoathly is managed by the Sussex Archaeological Trust, and the house and garden are open from March 1st to October 1st 11am to 5.30pm Monday to Saturday, 2pm to 5.30pm Sunday. Admission is £1.80.

St Margaret's Church in West Hoathly has a magnificent coffin-shaped chest, probably thirteenth-century, which was used to collect money for the crusades; it also has a brass memorial to Ann Tree, the last woman to be burned at the stake in England.

The Cat Inn once had a tunnel under it, which a past murderer is said to have used to reach the pub for refuge.

This text was taken from an older edition of the book, and is a little out of date. Please check the updates for this walk.