Bodle Street Green

By Ben Parsons

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This is a fairly short but enjoyable and mildly challenging walk in the depths of the southern High Weald, taking you well off the beaten track in an area where some of the paths are little used, often poorly signed and occasionally difficult to follow.

The countryside, a mixture of rich grass meadows and patchy woodland is, however, a delight, and well worth seeking out.

Be sure to follow the instructions with care and have the Explorer map to hand, though even this is fallible before and after point 6 where several new ponds have been constructed and are not yet shown on any OS map.

1.From the road junction next to the White Horse‚ at Bodle Street Green, start the walk along the road signposted to Rushlake Green, leaving the pub on your right. After about 300 yards, just past the entrance to Pebsham Hall Farm on the left, go left through a gate with a “toll ride” notice on it. (The public path starts over a stile next to the gate but this is completely buried in undergrowth and unusable).

Pass to the left of a barn and then veer half-right across a field. On the other side, you have a choice of two gates. Go through the one on the right, unhinged at the time of writing, and maintain direction across a field to join a road over a stile at the bottom of a wooded bank about 60 yards to the right of the far field corner. Turn left along this sunken lane.

2.At the bottom of the hill, a few yards after the lane crosses a stream, go right over a stile and head squarely across two fields with a stile between them. Go over a stile beside a gate next to a massive oak tree and forward along a right field edge with a wooded slope dropping away to your right.

In the field corner go over a stile and bear half-right down across a field to find a footbridge over the Trolliloes Stream in the field corner. Bear half-right across a low-lying meadow, go through a gate and turn right to follow an enclosed path out to join a drive. Turn left, soon ignoring a signed path to the left.

3.Where the drive divides, just short of the gateway to Hole Farm, turn right passing a converted oast on your right and a pond on your left. Enter a farmyard and immediately go left, leaving a barn to the right and the farmhouse and garden to your left.

Shortly, go over a stile beside a gate and forward along the left edge of pasture to a second stile. Now bear slightly left across a grass meadow to a gate, continue along the left edge of the field beyond and over a stile without a step next to a gate in the corner.

Maintain direction across another field to a gate from which a hard track continues through a shady dip.

Where you have a choice of two gates, yours is the one on the right. Now go ahead diverging to the left of the obvious track at an angle of about 40 degrees.

Cross a stile in a hedge and continue in the same direction across a second field to join a lane where you should turn right, ignoring the lane ahead.

4.After about 350 yards, turn left along the drive to Stonelands Farm.

When opposite a farm cottage on your left, turn right to follow minor power lines and a right field edge. In the field corner, turn right through a gateway and head diagonally across the next field.

In the far corner cross two stiles and two sleeper bridges. After five yards, side-step to the right over a third stile and continue across an earth dam at the head of a nicely renovated pond. Out into a field, bear left to follow a left field edge round to the right, approaching Summertree Farm.

The legal route through the farm is unmarked and unclear. The one described here is a good compromise. Just past a shed on your left, join a drive through a gate, turn left and, after 30 yards, where the drive curves right, go ahead through a gate and follow a right hand fence as it turns right and skirts to the left of the whole farm area.

Beyond another gate, go forward for 20 yards, then right through a second gate and along a concrete drive between buildings. Shortly, turn left along the main tarmac access from the farm out to a road.

5.Turn left and immediately fork right, signposted to Woods Corner.

After 400 yards, go right through the gate with an encouraging yellow arrow on it. The path squeezes to the left of a house, Bartletts Farm, and garden to reach a swing gate.

Veer half-right across a field to a farm gate, follow the left edge of the next field to go through a gateway in the corner and veer slightly right across the middle of the field beyond.

Cross a broken stile in the corner, go over a dam at the head of a new pond and ahead within a wide grassy strip along the right edge of a landscaped area with another large pond at the bottom of the slope to your left.

6.Just short of the buildings at Great Buckstepe Farm, turn left along a concrete drive, passing between two ponds and, immediately go right on a wide path which follows the left edge of a large pond which, like the others just passed, is unmarked on the Explorer map. On reaching the drive from a large house, turn left and follow it uphill for 400 yards to join a road. Turn right and follow the road, which carries little traffic, for a mile back into Bodle Street Green.