On Wednesday 6th August, eight members of the Lewes Footpaths Group assembled in Barcombe Cross for a 3-mile stroll. Leaving the High Street, we walked past the local school, deserted and quiet for the summer holidays. At the end of the road, a track took us across open meadows to Knowlands Farm. Turning left, we walked along the side of Knowlands Wood before entering it. This delightful spot is privately owned and run as a nature reserve, but the landowner generously allows the public to visit it during daylight hours. Visitors are asked to co-operate with a code of conduct and we obeyed the injunction to take nothing but photographs. We resisted snacking on the delicious-looking blackberries along the path!

A path out of the wood led us under the abandoned railway line, across open fields to Harelands Farm. We followed the road south for a short distance to Holman's Bridge Farm where we turned left on a track passing the farm buildings. Then we stopped for a brief rest beside a magnificent old oak tree. Some of our route was way-marked as part of the Greenwich Meridian Trail, a long-distance walking route pioneered by Graham and Hilda Heap, former members of the Lewes Group. Finally, we returned to Barcombe passing the recreation ground and allotments on our way - pausing to admire some impressively creative scarecrows. One was a mermaid with a scaly tail made from overlapping CDs. Everyone adjourned to the Royal Oak for a restorative drink in the sunny garden. The walk was led by Anne.