Hadlow Down circular

By Ben Perkins

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Starting high on a Wealden ridge at Hadlow Down, this walk heads north before dropping down into and along the valley of the River Uck. En route it visits two areas which are open to the public but not marked as such on the Explorer Map, a licensed woodland path after point 2 and, between points 4 and 5, a walk through an area of woodland and pasture where environmentally sensitive management is encouraging the growth and protection of wild flowers.

The walk also passes through an area of recently created woodland managed by The Woodland Trust and open to the public.

1. Walk back along School Lane to its junction with the A272.

Turn left beside the main road and, after 20 yards, go left again along a fenced path. At a T-junction with another path, turn right for 30 yards, then turn left over a stile.

Go straight ahead, along a left field edge at first, then between a fence and a line of trees. In the field corner go over a stile, forward for ten yards, and then right over a second stile in the right-hand hedge.

The path now follows the right edge of two fields with a gate between them. In the second field corner, go over a stile, forward along a left field edge to join a lane, and then turn left. Ignore the first signed path to the right.

2. After another 200 yards or so, turn right along a wide woodland path which starts by squeezing to the left of a locked gate.

After a few yards, go ahead, disregarding a left fork.

Follow this licensed footpath, not marked on the Explorer map but clearly indicated by a series of way-posts for about half a mile, to reach a T-junction with a track – this is legally a byway but is badly eroded by four-wheel drive vehicles. Turn left, following this track out to a lane and turn left.

3. At a T-junction turn right along Criers Lane. This dips into a valley to cross the infant River Uck then climbs again. After about a quarter of a mile turn left along the drive to Broad Reed Farm.

On reaching the farm, go ahead between the buildings, passing to the right of the converted oast house and feed into a grassy track between a fence and a hedge.

Where this path opens out through a gate into a field, turn right along the right field edge, staying beside it as it curves left and drops downhill, skirting to the left of a small pond.

4. In the bottom field corner, go over a stile and bear left to contour along a grassy slope – you are now within a Countryside Stewardship public access area not indicated on the Explorer map.

At the far end of this grassy area, ignoring a kissing gate on your left, go ahead through a farm gate, over a wide wooden bridge and on through a second gate. Now bear slightly right, going uphill across the middle of an area of pasture.

5. Go through a gate with two blue-coloured rungs, forward for five yards and then turn right along a clear path which climbs four steps and continues through woodland.

Beyond a stile, go ahead within a Woodland Trust area of relatively new tree planting, maintaining direction across a dip and out to a road where you should turn left, signposted to Hadlow Down.

6. After about 200 yards, fork right along the access drive to Huggett’s Furnace – a name that reminds us this area was once at the centre of the Wealden ironsmelting industry.

Follow the drive between the buildings at Huggett’s Furnace Mill Farm.

Just short of a cattle grid, turn left over a stile and follow a stiled path along a valley with a fence on your right at first and the River Uck nearby on your left.

Eventually, you join a hard-surfaced track which continues, parallel to the stream, out to a road.

7. Turn left for 20 yards, then go right over a stile beside a gate and head squarely out across a meadow. After 150 yards, side-step left through a gap in a hedge, and maintain direction, keeping this hedge on your right.

In the field corner, go through another wide hedge gap and bear slightly left up to a gate on the skyline.

Through this gate, which has an iron stile built into it, go along a right field edge.

In the next field corner, go through a gap and left across a culvert before bearing right beside a right-hand hedge, passing well to the right of a converted barn. Just past the barn, veer slightly left across a field.

In the field corner, cross a stile beside a gate, go ahead for a few yards to join a drive, and immediately turn left over another stile beside a gate. Now follow the right field edge, passing to the left of a bungalow and onwards with a wood on your right.

In the field corner, go right along a short but wide path through into the next field and keep to the right of this field.

From the field corner, follow a path which skirts to the right of a large house at Smallberry Hill. Join and follow the drive from the house out to a road and turn left.

8. At a road junction, go ahead along Stockland Lane. After 350 yards, when opposite a brick and tile-hung house on your left (Stockland Farm), turn right along a tree-lined hollow with high banks, following it through to a road where you should turn left to go back to the start.