Sussex Walks - Plumpton College circular

If you’re looking to connect your feet with the earth, experience a bit of open air, then explore through the trees and ferns and be at the foot of the undulating downs - this walk is for you.

Brighton has been crazy the past few weeks - the beach is a sea of people and the parks generating the amount of litter that is typical of a Pride weekend. I adore this city but past mid morning and before sundown it’s just not working for me at the moment so I’m suspecting others are feeling the same. And the obvious out of town spots are just as heaving - Devil’s Dyke, Stanmer Park, Ditchling Beacon. So I retreated (like what I did there?) to some of my fave peaceful walks and having seen numerous requests for suggestions of where to go on social media platforms I’m going to ramp up the blogging of some more these coming weeks.

I’ve been walking variations of this Plumpton round for years, this is a simple route but if you have some extra time to explore it’s easy to deviate from this one and find your way back - once you identify the big V planted on the side of the downs just past Blackcap you can use it as your guiding force. You can even climb up to Blackcap from this walk and back down again.

The walk stats

Duration: around 1 hour (but leave longer if you want to explore through various orchards and woodland)

Terrain: solid and fairly flat in dry weather but does get muddy/boggy in places when it’s been wet/in winter. No hills.

Parking: You can park at Plumpton Racecourse. It is approximately a 25 minute drive from Brighton.

Public transport: There is an hourly train from Lewes to Plumpton which is right next to the racecourse.. This information is for post pandemic.

Starting point

We’re starting from the Plumpton Racecourse car park. Walk away from the car park and head back to the main lane (named Streat Forge) and walk away from the road. There’s residential houses either side of the lane and when you come to the first one turn left.

You’re actually at Ashhurst Organics here and it you’ll spot all their beautiful produce growing to the right of the track. Be aware there is a one eye collie here that does like to give a warning grumble! Follow the track into a small friend and follow trodden path through to a style that will take you into some nice cool woodland (wild garlic grows in abundance here - just sayin’).

Follow the track though the wood and over two wooden bridges and you’ll emerge into a vast field. Turn right to scale the perimeter and you’ll find yourself to the left of a hedge. When the hedge ends you’ll find a fairly wide track. Straight ahead of you is Plumpton College. We’re going to go right but if you have got some time on your hands you can head straight on, take a left when you see a footpath sign and do some exploring - it is well worth it - there are orchards, meadows to walk bare footed through and streams to paddle in. You can’t really get lost if you stick to the footpaths and don’t cross a road - you’ll always loop back to the track and you’ll be able to orientate yourself by noting where the downs are.

Once you’re on the track to the right you’re looking for a footpath sign that sends you over a (usually) ploughed field to more woodland. Keep your eye out for forging opportunities! You’ll come out of the woodland into a similar field. From the style you’re taking a path (sometimes it’s not visible from being ploughed) over it at about 10’o’clock. There’s an opening into more woodland.

This bit of woodland is some kinda magic - you’ll see what I mean when you get there. It just has a beautiful feeling to it and you can find a log to sit on over the water - I recommend taking a flask for this bit.

Once you’ve given yourself some time here take the wooden bridge and steps up and you’re passing a field on your left and your route eventually become a fenced path at the side of some paddocks. When you hit the track turn right and this track will take you right back to where you started. There’s an info board somewhere on the right about halfway along with some lovely views to take in. Challenge you not to imagine yourself living in one of the amazing houses to the left!

I LOVE to see you on these walks, tag @tidebloguk in to let me know these posts are useful for you!