Mark Cross circular

By Ben Perkins

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Looking through the trees back towards Mark Cross from the footpath, south of Renhurst Farm, at the beginning of this walk

This is a short but delightful walk through a rich and remote landscape, deep in the High Weald, to the north of the village of Mayfield.

Starting high on a ridge at Mark Cross, it drops down to explore the valleys formed by the Tide Brook and its minor tributary streams which gather to flow eastwards into the Eastern Rother River.

It is a relatively short walk but allow plenty of time as it involves several ups and downs.

As on the last walk I wrote (Weekend, August 27), this one also benefits from East Sussex County Council’s Paths to Prosperity initiative which has resulted in new signposts, as well as the opening up of a woodland path which was previously obstructed and unusable for many years.

1. From the entrance to the car park, turn right for ten yards, then go left through a gate where there is a new footpath sign.

Drop gently downhill beside a left-hand hedge to a stile in a dip and then climb with a hedge on your right.

In the field corner, go over a stile and turn left along a path within the edge of woodland, passing to the left of a pond and continuing within a wooded strip.

Go through a gate, leaving the trees behind, and turn right to pass between the buildings at Renhurst Farm.

Beyond the farm complex, go through a gate, follow a left-hand hedge down through another shallow dip and climb, again with woodland on your right, to join a road, where you turn left.

Across the valley to your right, you get a good view to the hilltop village of Mayfield.

2. Soon after going past a house called Little Trodgers, on your left, turn left along the drive to Little Trodgers Oast, which leads to a tree-lined path.

Nearing the far end of the wood, go left through a wide gap and immediately turn right, dropping down between banks.

At the edge of the wood, go through a gateway and immediately turn right, through a second gate and follow a righthand field edge along the side of a valley, initially with a wooded bank rising on your right.

Continue along the right edge of two more fields and maintain this direction gently downhill, then along a left field edge.

Where the field narrows to a corner, go over a stile and turn right, along a track, soon going between hedged banks.

3. Where the track bends left, down to a stream, go ahead, through a bridle gate, and continue with a fence on your right.

After about 100 yards, bear half-left down to a gap and then ahead, along the valley floor, with the Tide Brook to your left.

After another 100 yards, go right, through a bridle gate, and follow a fenced bridleway, which soon turns left, passing above and to the right of two ponds, which are a carefully-managed wildlife conservation area.

Follow the bridleway as it bends left to cross the Tide Brook and then turns right, along the valley. Join a drive and turn left, past a white, weatherboarded cottage.

4. After about 60 yards, at a waypost, turn left along a path, enclosed at first, then go uphill, along the right edge of two fields, skirting to the left of the house and garden at Towngate Farm.

In the field corner, go over a stile and then ahead, along a roughly-metalled drive, and follow it gently uphill, past several more houses.

Where the drive divides, keep right, almost straight ahead, still gradually gaining height. Where you have a choice of two gates ahead, take the one on the right.

Continue gently uphill, soon beside a left-hand hedge. Carry on through two more fields, walking parallel to the meandering left edge. Go through a gate at the top of the slope and carry on in the same direction, across a field.

Join a concrete drive through a gate, bear right for ten yards and then turn sharp right to drop downhill along a waymarked path, partly enclosed and partly field headland.

5. At the bottom of the hill, turn right, through a gate, and shortly, left over a stile and footbridge.

Then climb to follow the right edge of two fields until, about 60 yards short of a small, brick building, you can go right, over a stile, and right again, along an enclosed bridleway.

Soon, go ahead along a gravel drive, passing to the right of a converted oast. At a junction, go ahead, still along the drive. Then, where waymarks show a choice of routes, fork right, along a woodland path.

Beyond the wood, a clear path contours along a more open hillside, with views across the valley on the left of the out-going route.

Just after the path begins to drop down, turn right, over a stile, continuing to cross a drive.

6. Go over a footbridge and climb, soon following the right edge of a southfacing slope – which, until recently, was a vineyard but is now pasture.

Go over a stile and, at the far end of this field, continue along a woodland path. After about 250 yards, cross a track and climb along a recently reinstated path, through woodland. At another wide track, bear left and, after another 100 yards, go right, along another newly-reopened and signed path.

After crossing a stile, go ahead through trees to a second stile, ignoring a path back to the left. Carry on across a paddock to join the B2100 and turn left.

After 150 yards, go right, over a stile, and head across a field, aiming just to the right of a converted tower mill.

Go over a stile and follow a narrow path and then the drive from the converted mill, out to the A267.

Turn left, passing a garden centre on the right. Shortly, fork left into Mark Cross, passing the Mark Cross Inn, to the start.