Wealden District Council
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Wealden Walks Blog

Group of people walking through a field with clear blue skies and green grass and trees surrounding them.

Wealden Walks are a collection of self-guided walks available throughout the district. They have recently been tried, tested and improved to help explorers of every age discover Wealden’s hidden gems.

This page will provide anecdotes of individual previous walks, along with pictures and a quick synopsis. It will also provide updates for the next planned walk with any important details.

For the routes and details on the history behind the walks, check out our Self-Led walks.

April 2023

Our next walk will start at Broadwater Warren Nature Reserve, Groombridge on Thursday 20th April 2023 (2pm).

While walking around the RSPB and admiring the peace and beautiful birdsong, we will hear stories of the military training ground that this place used to be not so long ago.

March 2023

After an unfortunate bout of cancelled walks due to the weather, we were able to hold our first walk of 2023 – and what a turn out!

A group of 51 of us walked the incredibly muddy tracks between Wilmington to Folkington, slipping and sliding the whole way.

While it was a little hard to stay on your feet and there was quite a bit of uphill climbing involved, the views were definitely worth it.

Large group of people walking in a line along the edge of a farmer's field.
Image of wild ponies on a grassy hill
Group of people walking up a muddy track with large tree trunk in the middle
Two people walking away from the camera along the top of a hill. with sun shining.
Large group of people on the edge of a hill all looking out at the view.
Long Man of Wilmington in the edge of the hill side with sun coming over the back of the hill

December 2022

With the unexpected snowy / icy conditions, we have sadly had to postpone this month’s walk (we’ve never lost two on the trot before). We have been asked not to encourage people to drive out in such conditions for a WDC event.

Do not fret however, as this walk will be re-visited in the Spring of 2023, so keep an eye out.

November 2022

Regrettably we have had to postpone today’s guided walk. A quick reconnaissance this morning reveals the expected mud but also standing water across parts of the route and some of the approach roads also flooded.

October 2022

After torrential rain in the morning, it turned out to be a surprisingly sunny afternoon with an amazing turnout – unlike we’ve seen since Birling Gap in February this year!

This walk took us around the edges of Arlington Reservoir and the fields surrounding it, whilst we learnt about the newly found archaeological discoveries of the Roman villages. Among the highlights, were finding out where the abbreviations ‘s’ and ‘d’ for shillings and pence came from, why you find so many mussel shells inland and getting to test a wobbly bridge.

two people walking through a grassy field with cows and a blue sky
Sun low in the blue sky with no clouds and a field
Silhouette of somebody taking a photo of Arlington reservoir
Low sun over a graveyard with trees all around
Crowd of people stood outside a church made of flint with trees surrounding them

September - Rushlake Green

The walk around Rushlake Green was wet at times, but still 21 hardy souls turned up and endured. We learnt of the local iron works and the life, escape and turbulent end of a colourful local character; all while following in his footsteps.

Small village church on a hill at the top of a grassy bank and brick path.
Muddy path leading away from the camera down towards a small wooden bridge with tall trees either side of the path.

August 2022

There will be no walk this month, but fear not as we are preparing two walks for September as part of the High Weald Walking Festival.

You can find the programme and book your chosen walks 

See you there!

June 2022 - Isfield

We had a lovely walk around Isfield this afternoon. It began at the church and involved going through sheep and horse fields, along the River Ouse and winding through the village itself and past the old train station.

Despite the blistering heat, we had an amazing turn-out of 19 people and we made sure to keep a more leisurely pace with plenty of water breaks in the shade, even if the shade meant huddling under a bridge.

Isfield church shaded by large tree
group of people walking through a field with long grass either side.
Group of people huddled under an iron bridge in the shade next to a river.
Man walking through a gap in the hedge
Isfield station with a large 20 sign in the forefront of the picture and two old fashioned steam trains next to the platform behind it.
Group of people walking along a road with high green hedgerows either side of the road.

June 2022 - Alciston

One of the sunniest days we’ve had so far made for an amazing turn-out at Alciston this afternoon. When looking across the fields ahead, all you could see was us!

Whilst we were learning about the result of the Black Death on the village, we were walking through old crop fields, old farm animal penitentiary and a cow field.

Line of walkers all spread out across two fields
Small group of people walking along small track along the edge of a field with high grass.
Line of walkers walking past a cow in a large grass field.
Cow stood in a field looking at the camera.
Group of people walking along a chalky path with farmer's crop fields on both sides of the path.
Group of people all listening to one main speaker with downs and blue sky in the background.

May 2022 - Hartfield

As we headed off from the quaint village of Hartfield across the large open fields, we soon discovered the dappled shade of the forest and the old railway line.

Whilst this railway line is out of use by trains, it is widely used by walkers and cyclist and reflected this whilst we were using it. We even spotted the original hidden railway station sign!

Group of people stood around talking in an empty grassy field.
Graham Keane with group of people around him whilst he's talking. Hedgerows in the background.
Group of people walking through a forest with dappled shade on the floor.
Group of people talking on the other side of a bridge with sun beams coming through.
Woman and her dog walking away from camera long straight path with trees tall growing either side of the path.

April 2022 - Buxted Park

We arrived at a very quiet area at the back of Uckfield called Buxted Park, where we discovered WWII pill boxes, bluebell forests and goslings.

What a lovely time of year it was to wander around this park full of young wildlife amongst the flowers and trees blooming.

Bluebells cover a forest in a thick carpet.
Group of people all huddled around one main speaker with a manor house on a hill in the background.
English goose floating on a pond
Canadian goose floating through lily pads on a pond with a line of goslings behind her.
Canadian goose surrounded by her goslings on a pond.
Shaggy haired ram with large curled horns lying in a field next to a large oak tree.

March 2022 - Birling Gap

A beautiful sunny day walking all around Birling Gap and the surrounding hillside. We had a large group today, which was lovely to see as we learnt about the smuggling roots of this part of the coast.

Although it was a little bit chilly and windy, the sun was out and we had a few hills to keep us warm. The views were incredible with the clear skies and a low sun which made all the shadows long.

Large group of people stood on the grassy cliff edge with deep blue sky behind them.
Group of people listening to speaker with concrete lighthouse behind them on the top of the hill.
Line of people walking past a lighthouse
Beachy head lighthouse in a deep blue sea with cliff face next to it
Small group of people walking across the grassy area with a cliff edge on the left of them.
Large group of people stood on a cliff listening to a single speaker with the sea and deep blue sky in the background.

February 2022 - Forest Row

This walk took us from the main high street in Forest Row very quickly off-piste to discover the various versions of Brambletye and its remains.

Although the weather threatened to rain, it turned out to be a lovely brisk day in the low afternoon sun – we even found a beautiful manor house façade, as seen in the photos below.

Man walking away from camera along a fence-line in autumn.
Group of people stood on a path listening to a main speaker
People wearing hats walking away down a muddy path