On a cooler, dry Wednesday morning, a group of walkers caught the Regency Route bus from Lewes to Uckfield bus station. This was the start of a walk, which took the group to some surprising areas, so close to the centre of Uckfield.

Walking away from the town centre, we skirted the aptly named Rocks Park, across the recreation ground and through the West Park estate, on the quiet twittens, eventually arriving at the West Park Nature Reserve. Following the many footpaths, the group eventually emerged from the nature reserve, to cross the road and enter the originally named Lake Wood. What a tranquil place this is and how surprising to find the rocky outcrops, caves, and giant trees. After walking around the lake, we left the peace of the woods, to take the road over the A22. We were soon entering Butcher’s Wood and very quickly lost the traffic noise. In the damp areas it was disconcerting to see the invasive Himalayan balsam growing in abundance, although lovely to see wild cyclamen peeping out through the ground ivy.

Walking carefully around part of the Piltdown Golf Club we eventually arrived at the picturesque Peacock pub, perfectly placed for a group of hungry walkers to stop for lunch. On leaving the pub our route went down a very narrow, overgrown path between houses, through Darvel Wood, to Buckham Hill, safely negotiating a tricky stile along the way. Walking across open farmland it was delightful to find a wildflower meadow.

We eventually arrived at the A22, having to cross it again, this time without the benefit of a bridge, and then walk alongside the main road, and the B2102 for a short distance, before picking up to the twitten back into Uckfield to catch the bus to Lewes.

Anita led the walk.