The pleasures of Copyhold Lane

The Mid Sussex Times September 14 1978

There is a moment just beyond Copyhold Cottage when the lane gives way to a footpath and the field slopes down into a wooded hollow. It is a surprisingly quick change from the A272. Within a short distance of the road between Haywards Heath and Cuckfield, you are following a track among trees, looking for the signpost that will send you over a stile and down towards a brook.

Much of the pleasure of this walk lies in the way the ground rises and falls. One moment you are in an open field, the next you are down among the trees with a brook at your feet. Across the bridge, steps take you uphill into a rough field where bracken grows and the old leaflet warns that there is little sign of a path. The grassy track beyond leads past Mackerells Cottage, a name worth pausing over, before the ground drops again to another stream crossing.

The leaflet has an appealing frankness about what lies along the way. It sends you past the railings of the sewage works, then round a sharp corner with a hedge on your left and woodland ahead. There are stiles to climb, a concrete bridge to cross and a muddy hollow where the path again becomes hard to pick out. Read today, the directions have something of the character of a neighbour showing you the way, remembering exactly where to turn but taking it for granted that you’ll get your boots muddy.

Eventually the route brings you back to the hollow with the three-fingered signpost. This time, the track leads uphill past Lodge Farm and into Copyhold Lane. Having left the lane by a field, you return to it by a farm track, with a better sense of how the little valleys, hedges and patches of woodland fit together just off the main road. The brook crossings and the repeated passage from open ground into shade give this short circuit more variety than its mileage suggests. On a damp day, the sound of water from the bridges may be the thing you remember longest.

The original leaflet gives the circuit as two to three miles and allows one to two hours. It describes several stiles, steps and muddy stretches. Check a current footpath map before setting out, as paths and landmarks may have changed.