South Chailey circular

By Ben Perkins

Balneath Lane is well drained and runs roughly east-west, to the south of South Chailey

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This week, I can offer a walk along a field path and through the woodland around South Chailey. For most of its length, it uses good tracks and well-drained paths and is particularly suitable for winter walking.

The final stage, along Balneath Lane and across the wooded Markstakes Common, is especially delightful and is so in all seasons.

Should time permit, The Common, criss-crossed by a tangle of paths, is worth exploring more thoroughly than on the direct route described here.

The only challenge to your smooth progress comes in the form of an overgrown path between points four and five, though this can be avoided by using an alternative bridleway, shown on the Explorer Map but not described here.

1. Start by walking back along Markstakes Lane to the A275 where you should turn left. After about 200 yards, turn right along a signed but not obvious footpath which passes through woodland and then along the left edge of rough pasture to join and follow a gravel drive.

Soon after, this drive curves round to the right. Turn sharply back to the left, still on a hardsurfaced track which eventually leaves the wood. After about half a mile, at a T-junction, turn left for 100 yards or so, out to a road where you should turn sharply back to the right.

2. After about 300 yards, just before the road curves round to the right, turn left along a concrete drive, leaving the village surgery on your left. Shortly after passing the entrance to Yokehurst Farm on your right, continue ahead, ignoring the first signed path to the left.

After another 100 yards, just before the drive bends right, fork left on a trodden path across a low bank – not through the gate on the left.

Follow a headland path along a left field edge with a good view to your right, towards the wooded Downs, crowned by the clump of trees on Blackcap.

In the field corner, cross a stile and follow the left edge of the next field. In its corner, go over a stile and footbridge and follow the metalled drive from a large house out to the A275. Cross the road and turn left along the opposite pavement.

3. When you are opposite the gateway to the old Swan Inn which, despite its prominent sign, no longer functions as a pub, turn right along a tarmacked drive, which passes between rows of ornamental horse-chestnut trees.

4. After about 400 yards, on reaching the white gate into Balneath Manor on your left, go ahead over a stile and along a narrow fenced path, overgrown in places but probably at its best during the winter months.

Have a stick handy to beat down the encroaching brambles and nettles and you shouldn’t have too much trouble. A bridleway, shown on the Explorer Map but not described here, provides an alternative route via Balneath Barn.

Back on the narrower path, continue until, beyond a footbridge, it may be necessary to walk along the top of a low wall for a few yards before crossing a wider bridge at the site of an old weir. Shortly, join and bear right along a wider track.

5. The alternative bridleway route joins from the right and, after a few more yards, you should go ahead along a left field edge.

In the field corner, go through a gate and half-left across the corner of the next field. Enter an enclosed path which follows the left field edge and continues out to a road, then turn left.

6. After slightly more than a quarter of a mile, at the top of a rise, turn left through a gate and along a clear path, labelled Balneath Lane on the Explorer Map. This was once a road but is now a delightful shady track.

After about two-thirds of a mile, where you have a choice of paths, fork right, and, after a few yards, at a waypost, fork right again, so you are heading roughly northwards across the well-wooded Markstakes Common. After some time, there should be a fence nearby on your right for a while.

Follow this well-trodden path, which eventually leaves the more heavily-wooded area, and winds through an area of bracken.

Where this narrower path divides, fork right and continue for about 100 yards to join Markstakes Lane over a stile.

Turn left back to the start.