East Sussex and The Weald

[Roadkill]

Hartfield's a very pretty little village with a couple of decent pubs in the middle.

Yes, I've fond memories of one of the pubs there although its name escapes me offhand.

A few years ago me, my brother and some friends used to make a point of exploring the village pubs in the area. We went to some lovely ones, in some nice villages - The Maypole in high Hurstwood, The Anchor at Barcombe and The Laughing Fish in Isfield were all favourites, but there were others. The best of the lot, though, used to be the Six Bells in Chiddingly, on the road to Eastbourne. Great beer, live music and always a good atmosphere.

 

[Leafster]

Yes, I've fond memories of one of the pubs there although its name escapes me offhand.

The Anchor or the Haywagon?

 

[Roadkill]

The Anchor or the Haywagon?

The Hay Waggon, IIRC.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

We moved to St Leonards a couple of years ago, and both commute a couple of times a week to London. People do it every day, but it's a long journey for that.

Wadhurst is a small town. Etchingham is essentially a field with a train station in it. Don't know much about Stonegate. Of the three, Wadhurst is the only one all the trains stop at.

There's some fantastic countryside around there. If you're going for a village, Robertsbridge is picturesque as fuck and has some great pubs.

But I say work from home a bit and come down to St Leonards. It's v. good down here.

 

[Santino]

Don't forget to check out the local cricket team and pub.

 

[Gavin Bl]

Forest Row is nice, it has alot there for a small place, in some great countryside too.

The area round Tunbridge Wells is just exquisite, places like Edenbridge and Penshurst, which have stations.

I've been living in Haywards Heath for a while - which is a pretty dull town, but has a very good connection into London Bridge - again really nice country around there. Or maybe Balcombe, much more of a village, a station (but fewer services). These are west sussex, but very close to the border with E. Sussex. Any of the small towns and villages on the Brighton line have a good sub-1 hr run into London Bridge. Hassocks, Burgess Hill, places like that.

There's also Lewes, a nice town for such a small place, and some of the really rural train stations round there - Southease, Glynde, etc. A bit more of a pull though, over 1 hr.

Basically, if you can face the quietness of it - its a really nice part of the world to live - classic 'English' countryside - very, very pretty. I'm moving cos my wife can't face the quietness...

 

[Ms T]

Have you considered parts of Essex? I worked with someone who moved to a small village out there - bought a house with land so he could have a horse/chickens. His commute doesn't sound too bad - he drives to somewhere near the end of the Central Line (Epping, maybe), then straight in on the tube (to White City). I assume you work in the City so it would be super-convenient for you. Doesn't take much longer than my journey to Brixton!

 

[editor]

Some pics from a lovely urban walk 15 years ago:

Maggot eme

Castle, sheep, signalbox and beer – a photo walk from Robertsbridge to Bodiam fifteen years ago, April 2005 -

Virtual countryside walks are the only ones possible during the ongoing pandemic, so here's a collection of 25 photos from a 2005 walk from Robertsbridge to Bodiam Castle and back, skirting the Sussex/Kent borders. The walk was one of the many (and much-missed) urban75 walks that used to happen...

www.urban75.org

 

[Maggot]

I had completely forgotten about that walk! Looks great.