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| Ashdown Forest | |
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 Ashdown Forest near Greenwood Gate Clump
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| Country | England |
| County | East Sussex |
| Location | south-east England |
| - coordinates | 51°04′21″N 0°02′35″E / 51.0725°N 0.04306°ECoordinates: 51°04′21″N 0°02′35″E / 51.0725°N 0.04306°E |
| Plant | Heather, Bracken, Gorse, Pedunculate Oak, Silver Birch, Scots Pine, Willow, Alder, Common Yew, Beech, Sessile Oak |
| Animal | Fallow Deer, Adder, Badger, Dartford Warbler, Nightjar, Stonechat, Meadow Pipit, Lesser Redpoll, Goldcrest, Reed Bunting, Cuckoo, Skylark |
| Managed by | The Board of Conservators of Ashdown Forest |
  Location of Ashdown Forest in the UK
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| Website : http://www.ashdownforest.org | |
Ashdown Forest, situated 50 kilometres (30 miles) south of London in the county of East Sussex, England, is an area of tranquil open heathland and woodland on the highest sandy ridge-top of the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It reaches its highest altitude of 223 metres (732 feet) above sea level at Greenwood Gate Clump near King's Standing and offers expansive views across the High Weald in all directions[1], but particularly northwards toward the Greensand Ridge and North Downs, and southwards to the chalk escarpment of the South Downs. Ashdown Forest's origins lie in Norman times as a royal forest set aside for deer-hunting. By 1283 the forest was fenced in by a 38 km (23 mile) pale enclosing a hunting park of 5,300 hectares (20.5 square miles). Gates and hatches in the pale allowed local people to enter to graze their livestock, collect firewood and cut heather and bracken for animal bedding. In 1693 more than half the forest was taken into private hands. The rest, some 2,470 hectares (9.5 square miles), remained common land that today is entirely open for public access (subject to various byelaws). It is the largest area of its kind in south-east England. Ashdown Forest is famous as the setting for the "Winnie-the-Pooh" stories written by A.A. Milne. Its chief villages, all situated on the edge of the forest, are Nutley, Forest Row, Hartfield, Maresfield and Danehill, while to the east lies the town of Crowborough.
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Ashdown is of Anglo-Saxon origin and means Aesca’s hill[2]. Forest is of Norman origin, an Old French word derived from the Latin "forestem silvam" (the "outside woods"). While the word forest has acquired the generic meaning of "an extensive area of woodland", in this context it denoted uncultivated land legally set aside for exclusive use by the king for the hunting of deer and boar; such land was subject not to Common Law but to the harsh Forest Law, which protected both royal and aristocratic hunting privileges and commoners' rights[3]. It follows that the designation of Ashdown by the Normans as a royal forest does not imply that it was heavily wooded. In fact, royal forests in England in medieval times typically consisted of a mixture of heath, woodland and other habitats in which a variety of game could flourish and Ashdown Forest, notwithstanding its location in the middle of the heavily wooded High Weald, may have been no exception.
Ashdown Forest is very roughly triangular in shape, some seven miles from east to west and the same distance from north to south, with an extent of about 14,000 acres[4].
The Forest can be defined in various ways. The most important is that given by the line of the medieval pale, which goes back to the Forest's origins as a Norman deer-hunting park. This 38 km (23 mile) long ditch and bank topped with an oak palisade enclosed an area of some 13,100 acres (5,300 hectares, or 20.5 square miles). First referred to in 1283, the pale can still be discerned today.
During the Protectorate, in 1658, a comprehensive Parliamentary Survey found Lancaster Great Park (the name given to Ashdown Forest from 1372 to 1672 after it was granted to John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, by Edward III) to have an area of 13,991 acres (5,662 hectares)[5].
In 1693, following the Restoration, the Forest was divided up and it took its present shape. Slightly more than half of the forest, 55%, was dedicated to private use for enclosure and improvement, while the remainder was set aside as common land. Many present-day references to Ashdown Forest, particularly by the Board of Conservators and in legal, statutory and scientific documents and designations, treat the Forest as synonymous and co-terminous with this rather fragmentary residual common land. This can lead to confusion. According to one authority "when people speak of Ashdown Forest, they may mean either a whole district of heaths and woodland that includes many private estates to which there is no public access, or they may be talking of the [common land] where the public are free to roam".[6]
Most of today's common land lies within the medieval pale, although one tract, near Chelwood Beacon, extends outside. The Conservators have also acquired land in recent years and incorporated it into the forest, for example at Chelwood Vachery. According to the definition used by the Conservators, which relates to the land for which they have statutory responsibility, the area of Ashdown Forest is 2,472 hectares (6,108 acres, or 9.5 square miles).
The area of Ashdown Forest stated in connection with statutory designations varies but in all cases is greater than that employed by the Conservators. The Ashdown Forest Site of Special Scientific Interest covers 3,144 hectares (7,770 acres), but this includes land owned by Sussex Wildlife Trust at Old Lodge. The EU Special Protection Area (relating to protection of birds) covers 3,207 hectares, while the EU Special Area of Conservation (relating to conservation of habitats) covers 2,729 hectares.
Ashdown Forest is one of the largest single continuous blocks of heath, semi-natural woodland and valley bog in south-east England. Heathland predominates: of its 2472 ha of common land, 55% (1365 ha) is heathland and 40% (997 ha) mixed woodland (the remaining 5% (112 ha) consists of car parks, picnic areas, golf courses, etc). It was designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1953 in recognition of its unique ecology, and its designation was reffirmed in 1986.
Ashdown Forest is underlain predominantly by the sandy bedrock of the Lower Cretaceous Hastings Beds, in particular the Ashdown Formation of interbedded sandstone and siltstone[7]. These Ashdown Sands, combined with a local climate that is generally wetter, cooler and windier than the surrounding area owing to the forest's elevation, which rises from 200 feet to over 700 feet above sea level, give rise to soils that are characteristically acid, clay, and nutrient-poor[8]. On these soils have developed heathland, valley mires and damp woodland. These conditions have never favoured cultivation.
Ashdown Forest is noted for its profusion of heathland plants and flowers, such as the rare Marsh Gentian, but it also provides other distinctive or unusual plant habitats.
The extensive areas of dry heath are dominated by ling Calluna vulgaris, bell heather Erica cinerea and dwarf gorse Ulex minor. Important lichen communities include Pycnothelia papillaria. Bracken Pteridium aquilinum is dominant over large areas. On the damper heath, cross-leaved heath Erica tetralix becomes dominant with deer-grass Trichophorum cespitosum. The heath and bracken communities form a mosaic with acid grassland dominated by purple moor-grass Molinia caerulea mingled with many specialised heathland plants such as petty whin Genista anglica, creeping willow sp. Salicaceae and heath spotted orchid Dactylorhiza maculata.
In the wet areas are found several species of sphagnum moss together with bog asphodel Narthecium ossifragum, common cotton-grass Eriophorum angustifolium and specialities such as marsh gentian Gentiana pneumonanthe, ivy-leaved bell flower Wahlenbergia hederacea, white-beaked sedge Rhynchospora alba and marsh club moss Lycopodiella inundata. The Marsh Gentian, noted for its bright blue trumpet-like flowers, has a flowering season lasting from July well into October and is found in about a dozen colonies.
Gorse Ulex europaeus, silver birch Betula pendula, pendunculate oak Quercus robur and scots pine Pinus sylvestris are scattered across the heath, in places forming extensive areas of secondary woodland and scrub. Older woodlands consist of beech Fagus sylvatica and sweet chestnut Castanea sativa. These contain bluebell Hyacinthinoides non-scripta, bilberry Vaccinium myrtillus, the hard fern Blechnum spicant and honeysuckle Lonicera periclymenum with birds-nest orchid Neottia nidus-avis and violet helleborine Epipactis purpurata found particularly under beech. In the woodlands can also be found wood anemone Anemone nemorosa and common wood sorrel Oxalis acetosella.
Forest streams, often lined by alder trees Alnus glutinosa, grey sallow Salix cinerea, birch and oak, cut through the soft sandstone forming steep-sided valleys (ghylls) that are sheltered from winter frosts and remain humid in summer, creating conditions more familiar in the Atlantic-facing western coastal regions of Britain. Uncommon bryophytes such as the liverwort Nardia compressa and a range of ferns including the mountain fern Oreopteris limbosperma and the hay-scented buckler fern Dryopteris aemula thrive in this “Atlantic” microclimate.
The damming of streams, digging for marl, and quarrying have produced several large ponds containing, particularly in former marl pits, localised rafts of broad-leaved pondweed Potamogeton natans, beds of bulrush (reedmace) Typha latifolia and water horsetail Equisetum fluviatile.
The clumps of Scots pine that form such a distinctive, iconic hilltop feature of Ashdown Forest were mostly planted in 1825 by Arabella Diana, Dowager Duchess, Lady of the Manor to provide habitats for blackgame. She planted eight clumps and granted the public permission to cross her land to visit them. A clump at Millbrook also dates from this time. 20th century plantings comprise Macmillan Clump near Chelwood Gate (commemorating former British prime-minister Harold Macmillan, who lived at Birch Grove), Kennedy Clump (commemorating a visit to the area by John F. Kennedy, when he stayed with Macmillan), Millenium Clump and Friends Clump, planted in 1973 to mark the Year of the Tree.
Important populations of heath and woodland birds are found on the forest, notably Dartford Warbler Sylvia undata and Nightjar Caprimulgus europaeus. Because of this, it has been designated as a European Union Special Protection Area and it is a popular destination for bird-watchers.
The Forest contains four main bird habitats[9]. Open lowland heath, with various species of gorse and heather, supports all-year resident populations of Britain's scarcest heathland bird species, the Dartford Warbler (which has seen a resurgence since the early 1990s), Stonechat Saxicola rubecola and Meadow Pipit Anthus trivialis; in the summer, Skylark Alauda arvensis, Linnet Carduelis cannabina, Yellowhammer Emberiza citrinella and Cuckoo Cuculus canorus; and in winter, rarely, Hen Harrier Circus cyaneus. Open areas of grassland, heather or gorse, with some bogs, interspersed with single trees or clumps of trees, particularly Scots Pine, support year-round populations of Lesser redpoll Carduelis cabaret and Goldcrest Regulus regulus; in the summer, Woodlark Lullula arborea, Tree Pipit Anthus sylvestris, European Nightjar Caprimulgus europaeus, Common Redstart Phoenicurus phoenicurus, Spotted flycatcher Muscicapa striata, Common Snipe Gallinago gallinago, Eurasian Hobby Falco subbuteo, Eurasian Woodcock Scolopax rusticola, and Yellowhammer; in spring and autumn, Wheatear Oenanthe oenanthe, Whinchat Saxicola rubetra, Common crossbill Loxia curvirostra; and in winter, rarely, Great Grey Shrike Lanius exubitor. In scrub areas, especially on the boundary between woodland and heath/grassland, an all-year resident is Reed bunting Emberiza schoeniclus; in summer, Turtle dove Streptopelia turtur ; and in winter, Eurasian Siskin Carduelis spinus and Lesser redpoll. Finally, in mixed woodlands of oak, birch and sweet chestnut, often with Scots pine, all-year residents are Stock dove Columba oenas, Marsh tit Parus palustris, Tawny owl Strix aluco, Bullfinch Pyrrhula pyrrhula, and Eurasian Sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus; in the summer, Firecrest Regulus ignicapillus; an occasional visitor is the Common Buzzard Buteo buteo.
The Forest supports a rich invertebrate fauna, with many heathland specialities. Half of Britain's 46 breeding species of damselflies and dragonflies (the Odonata) have been recorded, the scarcer among them being the Black Darter, Brilliant Emerald and Small Red Damselfly. It is also an important home for the golden-ringed dragonfly, which flies from mid-June to early September. Of the Forest's 34 species of butterfly, the most spectacular, the Purple Emperor, can be hard to see, but another speciality, the Silver-studded Blue, is plentiful; the main food plants of its caterpillars are gorses and heathers.
Deer have been a feature of Ashdown Forest particularly since its impaling as a royal hunting park in the 13th century.[10] Red deer, an essential part of Wealden culture as long as 6-8,000 years ago, and Fallow deer, already present in Sussex in the Romano-British era and particularly favoured by the Normans for hunting, were both hunted here until the 17th century. By the end of the 17th century Red deer had disappeared completely while Fallow deer had declined to very low numbers, the poor condition of the forest pale having allowed them to escape. Fallow deer returned in the 20th century, probably as a result of escapes from a local deer park. Also present are Roe deer (the only native deer roaming the forest), Muntjac and Sika deer.
The population of Fallow deer has grown sharply in the last three decades, and they now number in their thousands. Around 500 a year are involved in collisions with motor vehicles on local roads[11] and many are killed. Reducing deer casualties and how best to control their numbers have become major public issues. The presence of deer in large numbers on the private land of the forest as well as on the common land administered by the Conservators makes resolving these issues more difficult.[12]
Ashdown Forest is essentially a man-made landscape. There is debate about how early in history heathland came to dominate the landscape, but from at least medieval times the forest's commoners were playing a major role in maintaining the forest as predominantly heathland by keeping large numbers of livestock on the common land where they would graze on tree shoots. For example, at the end of the 13th century the commoners were turning out 2,000-3,000 cattle onto the forest alongside the 1,000-2,000 deer that were also present[13], while according to a 1297 record the forest was also being grazed by almost 2,700 swine[14].
The local iron industry that flourished in the Tudor and early Stuart period also had a major influence on the landscape by significantly reducing the forest's woodlands in order to feed furnaces and forges. The loss of much of the tree cover from the fringes of the forest during the 16th century has been attributed at least in part to the rapid growth of the industry following the introduction of blast furnaces with their huge demand for charcoal. For example, large-scale tree cutting took place to feed the iron works of Ralph Hogge to the south of the forest between Buxted and Maresfield[15]. The loss of trees caused much public concern: as early as 1520 it was lamented that "much of the King's woods were cut down and coled [turned into charcoal] for the iron mills, and the Forest digged for Irne [iron] by which man and beast be in jeopardy" [16]. The industry continued to denude Ashdown Forest during the 17th century: by 1632 there was little great wood left, and by 1658 none, while by 1632 coppices were slight and much affected by illicit cutting[17]. The effect of the local iron industry on the forest was curtailed however by its rapid decline during the 17th century and disappearance during the 18th century.
Ashdown Forest's landscape in the early 19th century was famously described by William Cobbett after he had ridden through in January 1822[18]:
"At about three miles from Grinstead you come to a pretty village, called Forest-Row, and then, on the road to Uckfield, you cross Ashurst (sic) Forest, which is a heath, with here and there a few birch scrubs upon it, verily the most villainously ugly spot I saw in England. This lasts you for five miles, getting, if possible, uglier and uglier all the way, till, at last, as if barren soil, nasty spewy gravel, heath and even that stunted, were not enough, you see some rising spots, which instead of trees, present you with black, ragged, hideous rocks."
At the start of the 20th century the forest was virtually treeless, apart from the picturesque clumps of Scots Pine that had been planted on its hill-tops in the early 19th century and the woods remaining in its deeper valleys and ghylls, and its heathland was the largest in south-east England. However, after World War II a sharp decline in livestock grazing by the commoners owing to economic and social factors (see below) led to a rapid and substantial loss of heathland to scrub and trees. The increasing amounts of road traffic across the forest, with the consequent loss of animals in road traffic collisions, also became a major deterrent to grazing, with the last of the free-ranging livestock of the commoners being removed in 1985. As a consequence the proportion of heathland in the forest has declined greatly in the last sixty years, from 90% in 1947 to 60% in 2007.
The post-war decline in the exploitation of the forest by the commoners forced the Conservators to step in to stem any further loss of the heathland that gives the forest its distinctive open landscape and rare wildlife habitats. The Conservators' stated aim is to maintain the ratio of heathland to woodland at 60:40[19]. To suppress scrub, trees and bracken regular mowing of the heathland is undertaken in the summer and birch saplings are cut down in the winter. In 1996 the Secretary of State for the Environment gave permission for a 550 ha (1359 acre) fenced enclosure in the south and west chases to allow Commoners to graze their livestock in safety, and to enhance the conservation value of the heathlands. More recently, a close-herded shepherding project, funded by the Higher Level Stewardship scheme (see below), has been piloted in which a flock of Hebridean sheep, now numbering 225, is guided by a shepherd to graze the heathland. An advantage of this approach is that sheep prefer to eat coarse grass and scrub and ignore heather, their grazing can be targeted on the most over-grown areas, they will graze in places that are difficult to deal with through mowing, and no fencing is required; a disadvantage may be that it is a labour-intensive activity whose impact is small in scale.
The conservation work of the Board of Conservators is being supported by substantial public funding from Natural England under a ten-year Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) agreement. Signed in August 2006, this requires the heathland to be restored to "favourable condition". It is the largest such scheme in south-east England.
Reflecting its ecological importance in the UK and Europe, Ashdown Forest is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)[20], a Special Protection Area (SPA)[21] and a Special Area of Conservation (SAC). The first is a UK designation while the last two are designations under EU directives relating to the protection of birds and habitats respectively. The forest's importance on the European level is underlined by its membership of the Natura 2000 network, which brings together Europe's most precious and threatened wildlife sites.[22] The whole of the forest is in the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, "...one of the best surviving, intact medieval landscapes in Northern Europe"[23], characterised by rolling hills, steep-sided ghyll streams, sandstone outcrops, nationally-high woodland cover, many interconnected ancient woods, narrow sunken lanes, scattered farmsteads and hamlets, small irregular-shaped fields, and open heaths, of which Ashdown Forest, whose 1,500 hectares of lowland heathland[24] make it the largest area of this threatened habitat in south-east England, is the most important example.
Ashdown Forest is the largest area of open countryside in south-east England. It offers visitors a large, elevated expanse of unspoiled heath and woodland close to London and other centres of population where they may walk, picnic or simply sit while taking in glorious views. The Forest's common land is freely open to the public, subject to a number of bye-laws. These include prohibitions on activities that are detrimental to the forest environment such as off-road cycling (mountain biking) and other wheeled vehicles, horse-riding (except by permit), camping and the lighting of fires.
The forest attracts over 750,000 visitors each year[13]. Most come by car, and access is straightforward: the forest is crossed by a major artery, the A22, which provides access from the M25 and M23 motorways. The Conservators have provided 48 unobtrusive car parks, and picnic areas. The nearest railway station is at East Grinstead[25]. Two bus services cross the forest: the 261 service from East Grinstead railway station to Uckfield stops at Nutley, Chelwood Gate, Wych Cross, the Ashdown Forest Centre and Colemans Hatch (two-hourly; no service on Sundays or public holidays); the 270 service from East Grinstead railway station to Haywards Heath stops at Wych Cross and Chelwood Gate (hourly service, every day)[26]. Gatwick Airport is about 25 minutes away by car.
The Ashdown Forest Centre (see below) is the main visitor centre for the forest. Tourist information points may be found at Ashdown Forest Llama Park, Forest Row Community Centre[27] and Perryhill Orchards[28], Hartfield. The Forest's principal tourism organisation is the Ashdown Forest Tourism Association[29].
The Forest is very popular with walkers, and all its common land is open to them. Two long-distance footpaths, the Vanguard Way and Wealdway cross the forest and meet near Old Lodge. The Wealdway passes through Five Hundred Acre wood, the Hundred Acre Wood of the Winnie-the-Pooh stories. The Ashdown Forest Centre produces a series of leaflets detailing interesting walks in various parts of the forest, which may also be downloaded from its website[30].
Ashdown Forest contains 82 miles (132 km) of permitted tracks that may be ridden by horse once an annual permit has been obtained from the Conservators. The main horse-riding organisation is the Ashdown Forest Riding Association, which has around 200 members[31].
The Forest, with its attractive landscapes, vistas and hills, is a popular destination for road cyclists, races and cyclosportives such as the Hell of the Ashdown[32]. Former Tour de France rider Sean Yates lives at Forest Row and has taken Lance Armstrong training here. Off-road cycling and mountain biking is prohibited for environmental reasons, except along public bridleways. A local pressure group is campaigning for this ban to be lifted[33].
The Royal Ashdown Forest Golf Club occupies a large area of leasehold land in the northern part of the Forest near Forest Row. It is a traditional members' club founded in 1888 at the instigation of Earl de la Warr, Lord of the Manor, who became its first president. Its two 18-hole heathland courses are notable for the absence of bunkers (at the insistence of the Conservators). As elsewhere in Ashdown Forest, trees and bracken scrub have invaded following the cessation of grazing and decreased wood cutting by the Commoners, and the club is working with the Conservators to restore the golf courses to their original heathland character[34].
The principal hotel within the Forest is the Ashdown Park Hotel & Country Club, a listed 19th century mansion house set in 186 acres[35].
The Ashdown Forest Centre, situated opposite Ashdown Park hotel between Wych Cross and Coleman's Hatch, houses a visitor centre and is the administrative base for the Board of Conservators of Ashdown Forest. Completed in 1983, it consists of three old reconstructed barns. The visitor centre[36] has a permanent display about the forest's history and wildlife, details of walks in the forest and much other useful information for visitors, and an exhibition area for local craft and art work. It is open 7 days a week during the summer, weekends in the winter, and on Bank Holidays except Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
Old Lodge nature reserve[37], managed by Sussex Wildlife Trust, offers open vistas of the forest's heathland. A well-marked nature trail leads round most of the hilly 76 hectare reserve, which contains acidic ponds and areas of pine woodland. The reserve is notable for dragonfly, nightjar, redstart, woodcock, tree pipit, stonechat and adder.
Nutley Windmill, which stands just north of the Nutley to Duddleswell road, is thought to be about 300 years old and is a rare example of an open-trestle post mill (the whole body of the mill can be rotated on its central post to face the wind). It has been restored to full working order and is open to the public. It is within easy walking distance of Friend's Clump car-park.
The Airman's Grave is not in fact a grave, but a memorial to the six man crew of a Wellington bomber of 142 Squadron which crashed in the forest on the morning of 31 July 1941 on its return from a raid on Cologne during World War II. The memorial, which is a simple stone-walled enclosure on the heathland west of Duddleswell, shelters a white cross surrounded by a tiny garden of remembrance and was erected by the mother of Sergeant P.V.R. Sutton, who was aged 24 at the time of his death. A short public service takes place each year on Remembrance Sunday when a wreath is laid by an Ashdown Forest Ranger, at the request of Mrs Sutton, together with one from the Ashdown Forest Riding Association. The Ashdown Forest Centre has published a circular walk to the memorial from Hollies car park.
Situated south-east of Wych Cross on the A22 main road, Ashdown Forest Llama Park breeds and sells llamas and alpacas, and operates as a visitor attraction to educate the public about these animals. The park has a gift shop, coffee shop and tourist information point for which there is no admission charge.
Ashdown Forest is famous as the setting for the Winnie-the-Pooh stories, written by A. A. Milne for his son Christopher Robin Milne. The first book, Winnie-the-Pooh, was published in 1926 with illustrations by E. H. Shepard. The second book, The House at Pooh Corner, also illustrated by Shepard, was published in 1928. These hugely popular stories were set in Ashdown Forest: A.A. Milne's country retreat at Cotchford Farm near Hartfield was situated just north of the forest about a mile from the entrance at Chuck Hatch; from there he and his wife, son and nanny would regularly venture out onto the forest. In his autobiography Christopher Milne wrote that “Pooh’s forest and Ashdown Forest are identical”. Several of the sites described in the books can be easily identified, although their names have been changed. For example Five Hundred Acre Wood became Hundred Acre Wood and Gills Lap became Galleon's Lap. The North Pole and Gloomy Place are in Wren’s Warren valley as is The Dark and Mysterious Forest. The landscapes depicted in Shepard’s illustrations for the books, which are very evocative of Ashdown Forest, can in many cases be matched up to actual views, allowing for a degree of artistic licence (Shepard's sketches of pine trees and other forest scenes are on display at the V&A Museum in London).
A leaflet, “Pooh Walks from Gills Lap”, available from the Ashdown Forest Centre and downloadable from its website, describes a walk that takes in many locations familiar from the Pooh stories including Galleon's Lap, The Enchanted Place, the Heffalump Trap and Lone Pine, North Pole, 100 Aker Wood and Eeyore’s Sad and Gloomy Place.
A memorial plaque to Milne and Shepard can be found at Gills Lap. Its heading is a quotation from the Pooh stories: "...and by and by they came to an enchanted place on the very top of the Forest called Galleons Lap". The dedication reads: "Here at Gills Lap are commemorated A.A. Milne 1882-1956 and E.H. Shepard 1879-1976 who collaborated in the creation of "Winnie-the-Pooh" and so captured the magic of Ashdown Forest and gave it to the world".
Pooh Sticks Bridge is a mile north of Gills Lap at Chuck Hatch and is open to the public. The original bridge was built in 1907, restored in 1979 and completely rebuilt in 1999. So popular is the game of Poohsticks that the surrounding area has been denuded of twigs and small branches by the many visitors. A path leads to the bridge from a car-park on Chuck Hatch Lane, just off the B2026 Maresfield to Hartfield road.
Pooh Corner, situated on the High Street in Hartfield, sells Winnie-the-Pooh related products and offers much information for visitors.[38]
Various locations in and around Ashdown Forest have been used as settings for television and film productions. These include Colditz, the 2002 version of The Four Feathers, Under Suspicion, Flyboys and HBO/BBC's mini-series Band of Brothers.[39]
Brian Jones of the The Rolling Stones lived at A.A. Milne's former country home at Cotchford Farm and died there in 1969. The author of the Sherlock Holmes stories, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, lived at Crowborough, on the eastern edge of the forest, as did the nature writer Richard Jefferies for a period while he wrote some of his famous essays.[40] British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan lived at Birch Grove, a house on the edge of the forest near Chelwood Gate; the Macmillan Clump of trees is named in his honour. Major Edward Dudley Metcalfe, the best friend and equerry of Edward VIII.[41], lived in a grey stone house in the forest.
Ashdown Forest's origins lie as a Norman royal hunting forest, dating back to the period immediately following the Norman conquest of 1066. Prior to that, it formed an unnamed part of a much larger area of dense, impenetrable, and sparsely populated oak woodland, extending for 30 miles between the North and South Downs and for over 90 miles from east to west between Kent and Hampshire, that was known in Saxon times as Andredes weald ("the forest of Andred", from the name of the Roman fort at Pevensey, Anderida), from which the name of the physiographic region of south-east England in which Ashdown Forest is situated, the Weald, is derived.[42].
Ashdown Forest is not mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 but, lying as it did within the Forest of Pevensel (sic) in the Rape of Pevensey, it had already been granted by William the Conqueror to his half-brother Robert, Count of Mortain. This strategically and economically important Rape was awarded to Robert by William, along with several hundred manors across England, in recognition of his support during the invasion. There were two important conditions: the king could keep and hunt deer on the forest, while the commoners - tenant farmers who had smallholdings near the forest - could continue to use it to graze their livestock and cut wood for fuel and bracken for livestock bedding.
During the Middle Ages Ashdown Forest was enclosed as a royal hunting park by a 38 kilometre (23 mile) long pale. This consisted of an earth bank 4-5 feet high surmounted by an oak paling fence with a deep ditch on the forest side that allowed deer to enter but not to leave. It enclosed an area of over 5,300 hectares (20.5 square miles)[43]. Entry was via 34 gates and hatches, gates being used for access by wheeled vehicles, commoners' animals and mounted groups, hatches by pedestrians. These names survive in local place-names such as Chuck Hatch and Chelwood Gate. Some of these entrances were, and still are, marked by pubs, for example the 18th century Hatch Inn[44] at Coleman's Hatch.
It is not known precisely when the pale was built. Forest management accounts of 1283 refer to the cost of repairing the pale and building new lengths[45]. However, the granting of the "Free-chase of Ashdon" to John of Gaunt in 1372 and its renaming as Lancaster Great Park (see below) implies that the Forest may only have been recently enclosed (chase denoted an open hunting ground, park an enclosed one). Although the condition of the pale deteriorated during the Tudor and Stuart period, and it seems to have fallen into almost complete disrepair by the end of the 17th century, remnants of the bank and ditch are still visible in places today, such as at Legsheath.
The forest was owned by the Lords of Pevensey Castle - various Norman nobles - for most of the period until the reign of Henry III, when, in 1268, it was vested in the Crown in perpetuity. The forest was used for deer hunting by Edward II, who built a hunting lodge near Nutley that was later to be used by John of Gaunt.
In 1372 Edward III granted the "Free-chase of Ashdon" to his third son, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. From then for the next 300 years, until 1672, it was known as Lancaster Great Park, though the park reverted to the Crown with the rest of the Duchy of Lancaster after the Duke's death in 1399.
In 1561 Richard Sackville was granted the "mastership of the Forest and keepership of the wild beasts therein", thus beginning a family involvement that lasted over 400 years. The Sackvilles later became Earls of Dorset and it was in in 1605, under James I, that Thomas Sackville, Earl of Dorset, became Lord of the Manor of Duddleswell (the manor within which Lancaster Great Park lay). The Earls and Dukes of Dorset remained Lords of the Manor until the male line died out in 1815, at which point the freehold passed to the related de la Warr (pronounced "Delaware") family, who retained it until 1988.
In 1693 more than half of Ashdown Forest was taken into private hands. Repeated attempts during the 17th century to enclose and improve the forest, whose condition had deteriorated by the Restoration in 1660 to a state where "the whole forest [had been] laid open and made waste"[46], had been strongly opposed by the commoners and by the owners of neighbouring estates who claimed right of pasture there. After the Restoration it was disafforested by letters patent of Charles II and granted, in 1671, to the Earl of Bristol and then to the Earl of Dorset and others whose efforts to enclose and develop the heathland were frustrated "by the crossness of the neighbourhood"[47]. In 1689, the Earl of Dorset brought a legal suit against 133 defendants led by one John Newnham who claimed rights of common on the forest having exercised them "from time out of mind". Commissioners appointed by the Duchy Court to divide up the 13,991 acres (5,662 ha) of forest made their award on 4 December 1693, setting aside 6,400 acres (2,590 ha) in the vicinity of farms and villages for the commoners. Here they were given sole right of pasturage and the right to cut birch, alder and willow. But they were excluded from the rest of the forest, 55 per cent of its area, which was assigned for "inclosure and improvement". As a result, the common land of Ashdown Forest today is highly fragmented and irregular in shape, broken up by large tracts of privately-owned land. Some of the largest enclosures, such as Hindleap Warren, Prestridge Warren, Broadstone Warren and Crowborough Warren, were created for intensive rabbit farming. Other large enclosures include Pippingford Park, today a military training area, and Five Hundred Acre Wood. That the forest today still appears to be an extensive area of wild country is partly because the land that was taken into private hands has largely remained uncultivated[48]. That said, the contrast between the areas of common land, which are predominantly heathland, and the privately-held lands, which are generally either quite heavily wooded or cleared for pasture, and which in cases cover large areas within the old forest pale, is stark.
In 1876-82 a further challenge to commoners' rights, which became known as the Ashdown Forest Dispute, led directly to today's framework of forest governance. On 13 October 1877 John Miles was seen cutting litter on behalf of his landlord Bernard Hale, a commoner, by a keeper employed by the Lord of the Manor, the Earl De La Warr. In a test case[49][50], the earl challenged the right of Hale and Miles to cut and take away litter, claiming that it could only be taken away from the forest in the stomachs of their animals[51]. The commoners lost, but an appeal in 1881 found in their favour. Following this dispute a Board of Conservators was established by Act of Parliament in 1885 to oversee the Forest bye-laws, including the protection of Commoner's rights. Further Acts of Parliament have since further refined the governance of Ashdown Forest, the final and most important being the Ashdown Forest Act 1974.
In the 1980s the Lord of the Manor, the 10th Earl de la Warr, offered Ashdown Forest for sale direct to the local authority, East Sussex County Council, if they would buy it; otherwise he would probably sell the forest piecemeal on the open market[52]. On 25 November 1988 this threat to split up the forest was averted when, with the benefit of donations from many sources, including the proceeds of a public appeal supported by Christopher Robin Milne that raised £175,000, East Sussex County Council purchased the freehold of Ashdown Forest from the executors of the earl, who had died the previous February. The freehold was then vested by the council in a newly-created charitable trust, the Ashdown Forest Trust.
Ashdown Forest formed an important part of the Wealden iron industry that operated from pre-Roman times until the early 18th century. The forest was a particularly favourable location because of the presence of iron-ore in the local geology of Ashdown Beds and overlying Wadhurst Clay and of woodland for the production of charcoal fuel for furnaces and forges, while its deep, steep-sided valleys and locally high rainfall made it practical to dam streams to provide water power. The industry reached its peak in the two periods when the Weald was the main iron-producing region of Britain, namely in the first two centuries of the Roman occupation (first to third centuries AD) and during Tudor and early Stuart times. Iron-smelting in the former period was based on bloomery technology, while the latter depended on the blast furnace.
When the Romans invaded Britain in AD 43 the Weald already had a well-established tradition of iron-making, using very small, clay bloomery furnaces for iron-smelting. The pre-Roman settlement pattern was one of sparse occupation based on major defended enclosures along the northern edge of the High Weald with smaller enclosures deeper within it, such as the hill-fort at Garden Hill. The association of these smaller enclosures with iron-making and other evidence suggest that Iron Age colonizers saw the Weald primarily as a source of iron[53].
The Romans also saw the Weald's economic potential for iron-making and with growing markets in south-east England generated by the building of towns, villas and farms the industry grew, achieving high levels of output at its peak. There is evidence in Ashdown Forest of Roman bloomeries at Garden Hill, Pippingford Park and elsewhere. These are thought to have been private, commercial operations set up by entrepreneurs to produce iron goods for nearby civilian markets (in contrast to iron production in the eastern Weald, which is thought to have been state-controlled and linked to the needs of the British Fleet, the Classis Britannica, and possibly part of an Imperial Estate)[54].
The transition from Late Iron Age to Roman Era iron production in the Forest, as elsewhere in the Weald, may have been quite smooth, as bloomery production was already well-established and this southern coastal region of Britain had already become Romanised prior to the invasion of AD 43. It has been suggested that the poorly-built Roman-era bath building at Garden Hill may indicate continuity of indigenous community and activity, and a desire to indulge in a more Romanised way of life[55].
The trunk road between London and Lewes, partly metalled with iron slag from local bloomeries, would have served to carry the Forest's iron products to the Roman province's pre-eminent mercantile centre at London and to the densely populated agricultural areas of the South Downs and coastal plain[53].
Although the Roman iron industry flourished from the invasion to the mid third century, it then declined until there was very little activity at all during the fourth century.
During the period between the departure of the Romans in the early 5th century AD and the Norman Conquest iron-making in the forest - as in the Weald as a whole - seems to have taken place on only a very small scale. A primitive Middle Saxon iron-smelting furnace at Millbrook, near Nutley, which operated in the 9th century, is the only furnace from the Saxon period to have been found in the entire Weald[56][57].
The iron industry underwent a massive resurgence in Tudor and early Stuart times as a result of the introduction of the blast furnace from northern France. Blast furnaces were much larger and more permanent structures than bloomeries, and produced much greater quantities of iron - and correspondingly made a much greater demand on local resources of raw materials. Ashdown Forest became the site of Britain's second blast furnace when the works at Newbridge began operation in 1496 (Britain's earliest known blast furnace, a few miles away at at Queenstock, Buxted, began operation at the end of 1490). The Newbridge furnace, constructed at the commission of Henry VII for the production of heavy metalwork for gun carriages for his war against the Scots, was designed and initially run by French immigrants[58]. The Crown's involvement with Newbridge continued until a replacement, larger furnace was built in 1539 on the western edge of Ashdown Forest at Stumbles. Other works set up around this time in or near the Forest include a steel forge at Pippingford Park, around 1505, and a furnace and forge at Parrock, Hartfield, in 1513. Unfortunately, there is little visible trace of any of these sites today.
The industry grew very rapidly here and elsewhere in the High Weald during the 16th century. The area became particularly noted for the production of cannons for the British navy. The iron-master and gun founder Ralph Hogge, who in 1543 had cast the first iron cannon in England at Buxted, drew his raw materials from the southern part of the forest. The rapid expansion of the iron industry and its huge demand for raw materials, particularly the cutting of trees for making charcoal, is likely to have had a major impact on Ashdown Forest.
The industry declined in the 17th century as a result of competition from lower-cost and more productive iron-producing areas in England and overseas, particularly Sweden.
The earliest known trace of human activity in Ashdown Forest is a stone hand axe found near Gills Lap, which is thought to be about 50,000 years old[59]. In total, more than 570 archaeological sites have been identified, including Bronze Age round barrows, Iron Age enclosures, prehistoric field systems, iron workings from Roman times onwards, the Pale, medieval and post-medieval pillow mounds for the rearing of rabbits, and a set of military kitchen mounds between Camp Hill and Nutley dating from 1793 that are among the only surviving ones in the United Kingdom.[60]
The late pre-Roman Iron Age (100 BC to AD 43) saw a conspicuous reconfiguration of the settlement and economic geography of Sussex, of which one aspect was the disappearance of hill-forts from the South Downs (except Devil's Dyke) and the establishment of hill-forts in the High Weald, including one in Ashdown Forest at Garden Hill[61]. Three other hill-forts lie in close proximity at Philpots, Saxonbury and Dry Hill. The general consensus is that these hill-forts are associated with a more intensive exploitation of the iron resources of the Weald[62]. This period also presents the first evidence for centralised ceramic production, with specialist pottery sites identified at Chelwood Gate and Horsted Keynes, both situated close to the Forest and ideally located to exploit the local potting clays. Elsewhere in Ashdown Forest there is evidence of Iron Age enclosures at Gills Lap, marked by a roundel of fir trees, and King's Standing, both situated on high hilltops.[63] Another site, at Chelwood Gate, known as Danes Graves, shows evidence of late pre-Roman Iron Age iron working.
Garden Hill, situated on a hill spur south of Colemans Hatch Road, is Ashdown Forest's most important scheduled ancient monument, containing both an Iron Age hill-fort and the remains of an important Romano-British iron-working centre[64]. In 1972 archaeologists uncovered a small but complete 2nd century AD Romano-British stone-built bath-house. Subsequent excavations produced evidence of Neolithic, Bronze Age and early pre-Roman occupation of the hill-top and uncovered remains of a late pre-Roman Iron Age and Romano-British iron-working settlement of the first, second and early third centuries AD. This included pre-Roman round houses, a rectangular second-century Roman timber villa to which the bath building was attached, and an almost complete pane of Roman window-glass that was later acquired by the British Museum. Both iron-making (ore roasting and smelting) and iron-working (forging) were conducted, but this is likely to have been small in scale. Later the industrial workings were levelled and replaced by the villa and other buildings of a non-industrial character, suggesting that the settlement may have operated through the 2nd century more as a managerial centre for other iron-working sites nearby, such as the small early 1st century bloomeries at Pippingford Park and Cow Park before probably becoming abandoned by the mid 3rd century[64]. Garden Hill lies within the Ministry of Defence's Pippingford Park military training area and is not open to the public.
The London to Lewes Way, one of three Roman roads that connected London with the important Wealden iron industry, crosses Ashdown Forest in a north-south direction. The road ran in a direct line from its junction with Watling Street at Peckham in London to the South Downs on the east side of Lewes, from where it connected with routes to the densely-populated corn-growing areas of the South Downs and coastal plain, and possibly to ports trading with Roman-occupied Gaul. The main purpose of the road, apart from linking the corn-growing areas with London, was to open up Ashdown Forest and neighbouring iron-producing areas for the export of iron products to London and Gaul. Given the great importance of the iron industry to the Romans, it is likely that the road was built soon after the Roman occupation, not long after AD 100 or possibly earlier.[65]
After crossing the Greensand Ridge the road runs virtually straight from Marlpit Hill southwards for 11 miles, entering Ashdown Forest near Chuck Hatch, reaching the top of the forest at Camp Hill, and then leaving the Forest via Duddleswell and Fairwarp. The agger varies in width (at Camp Hill it is 14 feet (4.3 m) wide, at Five Hundred Acre Wood, 17 feet (5.2 m) wide[66]) and is metalled with compacted sandstone lumps and iron slag from local bloomeries. Unusually, side ditches 62 feet apart run continuously for two miles through the forest.[67] The remains of the road in the Forest were partly obliterated by tanks undertaking training exercises in World War II, but part of it is clearly marked out at Roman Road car park.
A secondary Roman road which passed through Wych Cross and Colemans Hatch reached the London-Lewes trunk road at Gallypot Street, Hartfield, and would probably have served to link the Romano-British iron-working complex at Garden Hill to the main road.[64].
The north-south London-Lewes Roman road superseded an older trackway that ran from Titsey, at the foot of the Greensand Ridge, through the iron-age hillfort at Dry Hill, Forest Row, Danehill and Wivelsfield to Westmeston, at the foot of the South Downs. Across the Weald ran many old, broadly east-west trackways that followed the relatively lightly-wooded high sandy ridges. Some of these, particularly in iron-producing areas, would have formed part of the road network used by the Romans.[68] Among the important trackways that crossed Ashdown Forest were ridgeways from Crowborough and Nutley that clearly followed the high ridges of the Forest to Chelwood Gate and Wych Cross, and which then continued westwards to West Hoathly, Selsfield, Turners Hill and beyond.[69]
Ashdown Forest, narrowly defined as the common land set aside in 1693 (representing less than half of the forest's extent at that time) plus recent land acquisitions, is managed by an independent Board of Conservators. The Board has sixteen members: nine are appointed by East Sussex County Council (one of whom represents the Lord of the Manor, Ashdown Forest Trust), two by Wealden District Council, and the remaining five are elected by the Commoners, of whom four must be Commoners. Day to day running is carried out by the Forest Superintendent and a team of rangers. The Conservators are required to act in accordance with Parliamentary Acts. The last of these, the Ashdown Forest Act 1974, states (Section 16):
"It shall be the duty of the the Conservators at all times and as far possible to regulate and manage the Forest as an amenity and place of resort subject to the existing rights of common upon the forest and to protect such rights of common, to protect the forest from encroachments, and to conserve it as a quiet and natural area of outstanding beauty."
A number of byelaws have been made by the Conservators under the 1974 Act to protect the forest. These include prohibitions on off-roading driving, mountain-biking, horse-riding (except by permit), camping, the lighting of fires, digging and the dumping of rubbish[70].
Large numbers of volunteers support the work of the Conservators by undertaking conservation work in the forest. Many of these are recruited by the Friends of the Ashdown Forest[71]. Fundraising by the Friends has helped towards the purchase of capital equipment for forest management and enabled the Conservators to buy back parcels of land for reincorporation into the forest. In 1994 the Conservators purchased 28 ha (69 acres) of woodland at Chelwood Vachery (an estate that dates back to at least 1229), including an early 20th century garden and lake system, after the estate was divided up and offered for sale by its owner.
That Ashdown Forest today remains predominantly open and uncultivated heathland is largely due to the actions of its Commoners who, over many centuries, have exercised rights of common on the Forest and who have defended those rights against attempts, particularly in the 17th and 19th centuries, by the Lord of the Manor and others to limit or extinguish them. Their actions resulted in a large area of the forest being retained as common land while the grazing of livestock, which curbed the growth of trees, scrub and bracken, tree clearance and burning helped to maintain the heathland.
The rights of common have varied over time. Today those that remain are pasturage - the grazing on the forest of livestock such as cattle; estovers - the collection of birch, willow and alder as firewood for the "ancestral hearth" and for other uses such as house repairs and fencing and hedging; and litter - the cutting of bracken or heather for thatching and bedding of livestock. Other historical rights: of pannage - feeding pigs on acorns, beech mast or other nuts, and turbary - the cutting of turf for fuel, have been lost; the former died out by 1500 while the latter was outlawed in the 19th century because of the damage it was causing to the forest floor.
The Commoners' rights of common allowed them to practise a simple pastoral system. During the summer they would turn out their livestock onto the forest to graze; this would allow them to use the fields close to their smallholdings (the in-bye land) to produce hay for winter fodder or to grow cereals. In the winter, they would bring their animals indoors and bed them down on bracken litter. In the spring they would cover the in-bye land with the manure-laden litter to improve its fertility.
The 20th century saw a sharp decline in the exploitation of the forest by the Commoners, particularly after World War II. As their smallholdings increasingly became unable to compete with cheaper agricultural produce from elsewhere, many Commoners decided to give up their onerous work and moved to jobs in nearby towns and cities or else retired, in some cases selling up to commuters looking for an attractive country retreat. In 1965, an Act of Parliament, the Commons Registration Act, which required commoners across the country to register to preserve their rights, resulted in a large drop in the number of Ashdown Forest Commoners: more than half the 1,300 Commoners failed to register, losing the rights of common that were attached to their land for ever. Today, 730 properties in and around the forest retain commonable rights, but very few owners exercise their rights of common. This has affected the forest's ecology. Heath has tended to become old and woody, bracken has spread and scrubby birch and other trees have invaded, leading to the substantial losses of open heathland and of the plants and animals that rely on it.
All Commoners are obliged to pay a Forest Rate to contribute towards the upkeep of the Forest, which is based on the acreage of their land-holding. All are entitled to vote for five representatives on the Board of Conservators of Ashdown Forest.
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Ashdown Forest is in East Sussex.
Ashdown Forest covers 14,000 acres of lowland heathland which has never been under the plough and so provides a unique habitat for many species of flora and fauna.
There are several hundred deer, mainly Roe and Fallow and including small numbers of Muntjac and Sika, living happily in the woodland areas. Nightjar and Stonechat, Skylark and Meadow Pipit, Dartford Warbler and Woodcock are among the birds which enjoy the gorse and heather habitat. Many rare species of butterfly, moth and dragonfly are also to be seen, as are adders and a small number of grass snakes.
The whole area is designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (OANB)
Summer is the warmest time and best for walking cycling etc; winter months can be cold and a little damp. It is advisable to take a light coat if the weather looks a bit iffy, just to keep you dry if anything; when the wind blows it can get quite cold on the ridges, however most of the valleys and copses provide enough shelter
Man has lived and worked in Ashdown Forest for 5,000 years, with Iron working during the Roman Period and Saxon Farming, however the forest took on its role as an area of enjoyment in the 11th century, when it was set up as a hunting ground for the Crown (remnants of this can still be seen) and used for Rabbit farming (many localities are known as 'Warren's' - indicating their past usage). Ashdown Forest has, throughout history had an important part in the Nations economy, in 1496 French ironmasters were employed to operate the first water powered blast furnace in Britain, at Newbridge near Coleman’s Hatch and in 1505 a water powered steel forge was established at Pippingford. However by the 18th century most iron working had stopped.
From London:
From Kent/Medway Area:
Roads allow full access to all attractions in Ashdown Forest, although it is worth getting a map (AA or RAC for driving) if you are planning to go walking, horse riding or cycling (cycling is very limited on Ashdown Forest land to the few public bridleways, although there are several groups petitioning for more open access for off road cycling) however is fully allowed on roads; it is worth getting an OS (Ordnance Survey) map; Royal Tunbridge Wells, East Grinstead, Haywards Heath & Crowborough. Scale 1:25 000 (4 cm to 1 km, 2½ inches to 1 mile) would be fine, costing usually under £8.00
As for public transport it is fairly limited, buses go from East Grinstead to Uckfield, East Grinstead to Tunbrige wells and beyond. From Uckfield there are regular buses to Tunbridge Wells, via Crowborough. Uckfield, Crowborough, Tunbridge Wells and East Grinstead all have routes to London (as do smaller stations, ask at the desk) journeys vary from 1hr 20 to 50 minutes.
The area in and around Ashdown Forest is rich in the diversity of places to visit, from East Grinstead in the north to Uckfield in the south, Crowborough in the east and Haywards Heath in the west, and the whole of Ashdown Forest itself in between. The four towns themselves, although very different in character, each offers a wide range of shopping, cafes, restaurants and pubs, and each has a leisure centre with swimming pool.
Just off the A22 are two of the foremost attractions of the area - the Ashdown Forest Centre, where you can learn everything about the Forest, and the Ashdown Forest Llama Park. The A275, which forks off the A22 just south of Wych Cross, will take you to three more treats – Heaven Farm, with its farm museum, craft shop and tearoom, Sheffield Park Garden (National Trust) and the Bluebell Railway.
To the north, in East Grinstead, with fast links to London and just outside the town, Standen, an Arts and Crafts house by Philip Webb, owned by the National Trust.
On the east side of the area, just off the A26, is Barnsgate Manor Vineyard with its tearoom and restaurant, its giftshop selling Barnsgate wines and its magnificent views. A little farther south, off the A272, is Wilderness Wood, a working woodland with fascinating walks, picnic and barbecue areas and a teashop. Along with wood ‘workshops’ in the looking after of the forest. It is open most days
Just beyond the Forest boundary, in the north east of the forest, is Groombridge Place Gardens and the Enchanted Forest. A few miles away, on the outskirts of the village of Hartfield, is Bolebroke Castle.
Ashdown Forest is part of the 'High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beatuty' this area extending from Horsham (in the West) to Rye in the East caries with it outstanding countryside, beautiful buildings and an interesting past. Thare are 31 United Kingdom Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty
Pooh Bear One of the Forest's more famous inhabitants, Christopher Milne wrote that "Pooh's Forest and Ashdown Forest are identical". many of the sites described in the stories can be recognised on the Forest although their names have been altered. For example, the Five Hundred Acre Wood became the 100 Aker Wood and Gills Lap became Galleons Leap. The North Pole and the Gloomy Place are in Wrens Warren Valley while the name, Enchanted Place, is applied to a memorial to Milne and Shepard. Hartfield is 'Pooh Central' with walks and other ativities centred around Pooh Bear.
Anything required can be purchased in one of the larger towns and petrol stations are sprinkled around.
You need not travel far within the Ashdown Forest area to find excellent provision for the hungry, the thirsty and the merely peckish. Everything from the humble pint in a friendly local pub to fine cuisine in a world class restaurant can be found in Ashdown forest. Restaurants are often attached to pubs, with separate areas; food varies in quality and price, but is rarely of poor quality.
Tea Rooms are an English tradition; expect high quality food and friendly staff:
If eating out isn't what you want but you still want to get a flavour of the area, visit local farm shops and farmers markets:
Towns such as Crowborough, Uckfield, East Grinstead and Forest Row have both supermarkets and more specialist establishments.
Hotels
There are also numerous Bed and Breakfasts; these provide exactly what they say, the establishments may vary in size from a small hotel to one or two rooms.
Inn's:
Camping is not allowed inside Ashdown Forest, however there is one camping site in the local area:
Some paths may be muddy in the winter; in the summer there are some snakes (adders are the only poisonous ones, however rarely attack humans, dogs can be killed by Adder Venom)
Often there are deep pools, which can be nice to swim in (from this area's idilic industrial past), but children should always be accompanied, monsters from the deep are rare.
Car parks are generally free of crime, however it is always important as with any car park to ensure that valuables are hidden out of site or taken with you. Please remember if you do not want to take your dog with you (paths can be muddy) to give an area of shade for your animal and keep the windows open. dogs die in hot cars
Some paths may lead abruptly onto (often fast) roads; for your children's and pet's safety keep listening out for cars and if in any doubt keep more adventurous animals on a lead.
In the summer months the whole forest is at risk from wildfires, please do not smoke (for your own health and the forest's) and Do not light fires.
Please note, much of this information has been modified from the Ashdown Forest Tourism Site; however I (and Wikitravel and its users) have permission to use this information
| This is a usable article. It has information for getting in as well as some complete entries for restaurants and hotels. An adventurous person could use this article, but please plunge forward and help it grow! |
Category: Usable articles
| Ashdown Forest | |
|---|---|
| Country | England |
| County | East Sussex |
| Location | south-east England |
| Plant | Bracken, Gorse, Heather Scots Pine |
| Animal | Adder, Badger, Blackcap, Buzzard, Dartford Warbler, Fallow Deer, Nightingale, Nightjar, Willow Warbler, Woodcock |
| Managed by | East Sussex County Council |
Ashdown Forest is a forest in the county of East Sussex, in South East England.
   | The forest's website - Ashdown Forest, home of the Conservators and Pooh Bear |
| | The forest's tourist association's website - Ashdown Forest Tourism Association - Local Information, Places to Visit and News & Events from the Heart of the High Weald |
| | Photographs - Forest, Gardening and Wild life |
| | Screen Archive South East - Screen Archive South East |
| | Oh bother! Nimbies do battle with council over Pooh's forest - Oh bother! Nimbies do battle with council over Pooh's forest - This Britain, UK - The Independent |
| | Notes from 'The Ashdown Forest Dispute' - The Weald - Books, directories, magazines and pamphlets |
| | Ashdown Forest at 'The Sussex Weald' - The Weald - Town history, bibliography and topography |
| | Walking Guide:Ashdown Forest - Pooh Corner, East Sussex - Walking guide: Ashdown Forest - Pooh Corner, East Sussex | From the Guardian | The Guardian |
| | Good Old Duke - Foreign News: Good Old Duke - TIME |
| | Jefferies, John Richard - The Weald - People history and genealogy |
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