Brightling Park Sussex High Weald Walk

This is my second guided walk to this event for Outdoor Lads and I will follow a different route. Please see the itinerary below. The Horse Trials are two days of trials of high standard horses and riders who are judged on how they react to various challenging jumps on a cross country course. They also undertake dressage and show jumping tests. Zara Phillips took part in 2013 and is in a couple of my photos.

Brightling is also known for its former resident ‘Mad’ Jack Fuller. He was not mad, but a wealthy landowner who kept people employed by building various pointless constructions around the village- his follies. One of the most spectacular, the Temple, is in the middle of Brightling Park and not normally accessible to the public.

At our destination we shall be able to visit some of the follies, to observe horses galloping and jumping in a leisurely environment (not for them!) and to visit the bar, food and other tents in the visitor areas. As we are arriving on foot via public footpaths we shall hopefully not have to pay to go in. If you are bringing your dog, all dogs must be on leads at all times within the open parkland at Brightling Park.

I have a personal involvement with the Horse Trials in that some of the jumps incorporate floral displays for which I am responsible and indeed I may already have been to the estate on the morning of the walk to water these. I also work on the estate sometimes.

The two web links below are to the new Brightling Park web site and to one with more information about Jack Fuller and his follies. Please press the shift key in I.E. to open a new window to view these.
http://brightlingpark.com/ and http://johnmadjackfuller.homestead.com/

Finally, Brightling Park is to host its second weekend music festival two weeks after this event, from Friday 15th July to Sunday 17th July. It will be held in the ancient walled kitchen garden of the estate which once employed fourteen gardeners but has been in disuse for many decades. The link for this is http://walledgardenmusicfest.co.uk Artists publicised thus far include Marc Almond, Go West, Nik Kershaw, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel plus others and some prominent tribute bands.