Brownbread Street circular
By Ben Perkins
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This week I can offer
a relatively long and
fairly strenuous walk
on the thinly populated
southern slopes of the
High Weald. Starting and finishing
at the picturesquely named hamlet
of Brown Bread Street with its
walker-friendly pub, the circuit
of almost nine miles follows
an up-and-down route across low
hills, dipping through a series
of remote valleys cut by tiny
streams draining southwards
towards Pevensey Levels.
The last two miles of the walk follow
quiet, relatively traffic-free lanes,
passing the isolated and delightful
settlement of Penhurst, which
comprises little more than a farm,
a 17th century manor house and
a picturesque duck pond, clustered next
to the carefully restored 14th Century
church. It takes quite a stretch of the
imagination to realise that this quiet
backwater was once at the centre of the
19th century iron-smelting industry.
1.From the Ash Tree pub,
turn left along the lane. After
about 250 yards, past a house
called Suttons on the right, turn left
over a hidden stile from which a path
tunnels through scrub to a second stile.
Descend across rough pasture,
go through a gap in the trees at the
bottom of the hill and then slant, half
left, obliquely up an undulating slope
to find a stile in the fence on your right.
From this stile, head very slightly left
across a field, dropping down to the
bottom left corner and a path which
crosses a stream in a wooded dip.
Ascend steps, leave the wood over
two stiles and climb, heading slightly
right across the field to go through
a gateway in the top right corner.
Keep to the left of the next field then
loop to the right of an isolated cottage,
marked as Winter’s Farm on the
Explorer map, and bear right along the
gravel drive from the cottage.
2.After about 100 yards, turn
left through two gates in quick
succession to enter a wide
hedged track which descends to cross a
stream, rises within a fine
hollow way and then crosses high
ground beside a right hand fence.
Through the next gate an enclosed
track, much eroded by four-wheel-drive
vehicles, takes you out to a lane where
you should turn left.
Distance/time: Eight and a half miles
taking four hours
By car: Start from Brown Bread Street
which can be reached along narrow
lanes either southwards from the
Heathfield-to-Battle road at Wood’s
Corner or northwards from the A271
road between Herstmonceux and
Battle. You may park in the car park of
the Ash Tree Inn at GR 676149 without
obligation to patronise the pub, though
you will be made very welcome.
By public transport:None convenient
What's underfoot: Field and
woodland paths, mostly in good order.
One byway heavily eroded by vehicles
and muddy in places. A little over two
miles along a quiet country lane in the
final stages of the walk.
Thirsty work: Ash Tree Inn
at Brownbread Street
So you don't get lost: OS Explorer 124 and a compass.
3.After a few yards, go right
along the access drive to Water
Mill Farm. At the bottom of the
hill, a few yards beyond a stream
crossing, turn right on a well-trodden
path along the valley floor, eventually
skirting to the right of a large pond
not yet marked on OS maps.
At the far end of this pond, turn right
across a brick bridge and immediately
turn right again along a track. A few
yards beyond a gate, follow the track,
now unfenced as it curves left and
climbs across a field.
Join and follow the right edge of two
fields, then pass to the right of the
buildings at Redpale Farm to join a lane
opposite a road junction.
4.Turn left, signed to Wood’s
Corner. After a few yards, turn
right along a track to a gate,
downhill along a right field edge
to go through another gate, then left
and right along a left field edge.
From the bottom field corner, a path
crosses a stream in a wooded dip and
climbs to leave the trees. Follow minor
power lines across a field and then
a track which passes between the
buildings at Lattenden Farm.
At a T-junction, turn left and, after
a few yards, go right over two stiles and
climb steeply along a left field edge.
In the field corner, soon after the
ground levels out, go left over a stile and
half right across a field to another
stile in the far right corner.
Follow the direction of an arrow
squarely across the next field to join
the left edge at a protruding corner.
Continue along the left field edge for
30 yards only, then go left on a narrow,
path through scrub to a stile.
Cross a field to a gate to the right
of farm buildings at Thorndale Farm
and turn right along the farm drive
out to a lane. Turn right.
5.After 30 yards, go left over a
stile and downhill across a paddock
to find and cross two stiles
on the right towards the bottom corner.
Follow the direction of a white arrow
across the next field, go through a wide
gap and follow an unfenced grass strip
across the next field to a gate. Maintain
direction across the middle of a field
and downhill along the left edge of two
more fields with a wood on your left.
Towards the bottom of the hill
go through a gate to a T-junction with
a track where you should turn right.
Follow the track as it bears right, past
Middle End Cottage and then left.
6.After less than 100 yards,
where the main track bears
right, turn left along a wide path
which, beyond a stream bridge, runs
within a hollow way. Follow this clear
path steadily uphill for about a mile.
After passing through a wood, turn
right to follow a wide headland
path round two sides of a field. About
halfway along the field, turn right
on a track which passes through
a gap in the hedge.
From here the track ahead provides
an unofficial short cut to the road, but
the legal route goes left round two sides
of a field to reach the road further north.
Either way turn right and head southwards
along this quiet lane.
7.After a mile you will reach
the tiny settlement of Penhurst,
a delightful spot. At a road
junction, turn right signposted
to Ashburnham.
At another road junction, turn left
and, after a few yards, go right through
a gate to follow the right edge
of two fields through to another lane.
Turn left for a little over a quarter
of a mile back to the start.
