Weir Wood circular

A 5.2 mile walk in the High Weald with views over the Medway valley, Weir Wood Reservoir and across to Ashdown forest.

Our meeting point is Hill Top Shaw, a free car park, just off West Hoathly Road and close to the National Trust property, Standen. Standen, has been described as “one of the most charming examples of Arts and Crafts workmanship in the UK” and is well worth a visit although at this time of the year is partially open (https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/sussex/standen-house-and-garden/index).

We walk southwards from the car park on the High Weald Landscape Trail (“HWLT”), descending circa 250 feet in the first ¾ of a mile enjoying the views over the Medway valley and Weir Wood Reservoir. The High Weald was the most important iron producing area in Roman Britain and Tudor Times and the area through which we walk contains sites dating to both periods. On arriving at Weir Wood we leave the HWLT and follow the northern edge of the reservoir. We take an early coffee break circa 1.7 miles into the walk at the Millennium Picnic area which has benches and fine views across the reservoir. Weir Wood Reservoir was built in 1952 to hold water from the River Medway and was filled by 1954. The reservoir (maximum depth of 36 feet) has a capacity of 1,237,000,000 gallons and with an extraction rate of up to 3 million gallons a day, would take a year to empty. However during the 2005 drought the reservoir emptied and a mass of birch saplings colonised the exposed reservoir floor. At the eastern end of the reservoir we turn northwards briefly on the Greenwich Meridian Trail as we ramble across fields and traverse small woods on our return with a 250tft ascent over circa 1 mile.