Paul S's Forest Row Amy and Amiability

Forest Row draws its name from its proximity to the Ashdown Forest, a royal hunting park first enclosed in the 13th century. Forest Row has grown, first with the establishment of a turnpike road and later with the opening of the railway line between East Grinstead and Tunbridge Wells in 1866, which closed on the 2nd of January 1967 as a result of the report” The Reshaping of British Railways “in 1963 by East Grinstead resident and British Railways Board Chairman Dr Richard Beeching. The line is now a footpath called the Forest Way.

 We head out of Forest Row along the Vanguard Way, passing the site of the railway station and walking along a short section of the Forest Way then northwards uphill to Cansiron Lane an ancient ridgeway tracks at least 5000 years old. Heading Eastwards along it then the High Weald Landscape Trail, there are splendid views towards Hartfield. After Collingsbush Wood, we turn southwards passing Ashdown House a former prep school, which is grade II * listed building designed in 1793 by Benjamin Latrobe. We head Westwards along the Medway Valley passing Tablehurst Farm on our way back to Forest Row.

Since this is my third Forest Row Walk, I have named it after an episode in Blackadder the Third which was co- written by Ben Elton who lives in Forest Row,

Optional drinks in one of the local pubs afterwards.