Marking the Marvel of May amid Heath, Hedgerow and Holt

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Come queen of months in company / Wi' all thy merry minstrelsy / The restless cuckoo absent long / And twittering swallows chimney song / And hedge row crickets notes that run / From every bank that fronts the sun / And swathy bees about the grass / That stop wi' every bloom they pass (John Clare: 'The Shepherd's Calendar - May')

Starting a walk at a busy railway station means that the convenience of the trains is offset by the drag of walking along suburban streets before getting to the countryside. Twenty percent of the walk will be through the suburbs of Haywards Heath and not in the marvellous Maytime Wealden countryside, but eighty percent will be. The suburbs do, however, lead to the village of Lindfield 'without any doubt the finest village street in East Sussex'. Beyond Lindfield is Danefield (burial place of 'Carry On' actor Peter Butterworth and his wife, the actor and impressionist Janet Brown), a tea shop at a farm, and handsome houses linked by the hedgerow-lined tracks and trails evoked in the poem above.

The sights:

Haywards Heath: A Victorian new town started on the site of a Civil War battle in 1642 when the railway arrived in 1841. A dormitory town for commuters to London and Brighton with pleasant housing estates stretching out. 

Lindfield: Adjoining Haywards Heath but with its own character. 'Without any doubt the finest village street in East Sussex' (Pevsner: The Buildings of England: Sussex). (In 1974 relocated to West Sussex.) Around 40 ancient buildings line the high street, around half of medieval origin. 'The alternation of timber-framing and stately Georgian brick is the leitmotif' (Pevsner). Some buildings of note: Church Cottage and Thatched Cottage (C15); Old Place (1590); Lindfield House (C18); Lindfield Place (early C18)...you get the idea. St John Baptist Church is mainly c1300 with shingled broach spire and decorated gothic windows and porch. East Mascalls is a Grade II* listed manor from 1578.

Danehill: Not much of a definite village centre, but a small green near the church where we can have our packed lunches. All Saints Church is 1892, by Bodley and Garner, and is serious and imposing, unlike two of its graveyard's occupants; actors Peter Butterworh (1913-1979) who appeared in most of the Carry On films from 1965 (Carry On Cowboy) to 1978 (Carry On Emmanuelle) and his wife Janet Brown (1923-2011) known for impersonating Margaret Thatcher, including in the James Bond film For Your Eyes Only (1981). We'll have tea and cake at Heaven Farm, just outside of the village.

The route (clock the link to see it):

Sydney Road, West Common and Lindfield High Street will take us northeast out of town. We'll then pick up the Sussex Diamond Trail (SDT) which will take us all the way to Danehill, barring a short stretch along Church Lane. After lunch, we'll head south along Church Lane again and then the A275 to Heaven's Farm for tea and cake. The SDT and the Sussex Ouse Valley Way will take us almost back to Haywards Heath but we'll have to use Snowdrop Lane, Lyoth Lane, Gravelye Lane, Westlands Road, Hanbury Lane, Washington Road and Oatlands Avenue generally heading west, then a walk through the park, then Perrymount Road going north to get back fully.

Dogs: 

I love having dogs on my walks and this one is quite suitable for them despite it having considerable lane walking, a few stiles, and some fields with livestock. A dog off the lead must be responsive.

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(Image credits: On the High Weald Landscape Trail near Goudhurst: Photo © Marathon (cc-by-sa/2.0); Road Junction: Photo © Nigel Freeman (cc-by-sa/2.0); High Street, Lindfield, Sussex: Photo © Peter Trimming (cc-by-sa/2.0); High Street, Lindfield, Sussex: Photo © Peter Trimming (cc-by-sa/2.0); Field east of Lindfield: Photo © Shazz (cc-by-sa/2.0); East Mascalls: Photo © Shazz (cc-by-sa/2.0); Farmland at Cockhaise: Photo © Roger Cornfoot (cc-by-sa/2.0); Farmland below Latchetts, near Danehill, East Sussex: Photo © Pete Chapman (cc-by-sa/2.0); Wood anemones and stream by the Sussex Diamond Way: Photo © Ian Hawfinch (cc-by-sa/2.0); Church of All Saints: Photo © N Chadwick (cc-by-sa/2.0). All images are copyrighted but are here credited to their copyright holders and are licensed for reuse under Creative Commons CC-BY-SA/2.0.)