Walk of the month:Udimore Circular |
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We’d never been to Udimore, about 6 miles northeast of Hastings, before we did this walk but it’s a beautiful one that we’ll want to see at other times of the year, so we’ll certainly be back! At about 5 miles, with a couple of fairly gentle hills, we reckon it’s about 3½ hrs if you take it easy. It took us longer but then we did have a bit of trouble with a non-existent path that was marked on the map... even so we recommend you take along your Bexhill & Hastings 1:25,000 Ordnance Survey Explorer map Sheet 124 along for the ride. It’s usually right! |
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| You can park in a layby off the access road to St Mary’s Church, which is off the B2089 (Udimore Road). From here, walk back along the B2089 in direction of A28, and you should see a green ‘Footpath’ sign on the right, just by a tree marked ‘Farleys’ Parking’. 1. The path begins along the access drive downhill between two high banks, just next to a private postbox marked ‘Billingham’. Continue for some distance downhill, until the path forks at Swallow Cottage. Here, take the path to the left of the house, alongside the wood – it’s marked with the yellow ESCC arrow. Fenced path curves round the garden and takes you over a wobbly stile out into a field. 2. Turn left to follow left edge of field alongside woods and take the next stile ahead into another field, woods still to your left. Where the wood ends, take the path across the middle of the field (might be hard to see). You’ll see a bridge ahead – head for that. Climb over barrier and cross the bridge over the River Tillingham. On the other side keep right of the ditch and continue ahead, slightly upslope, towards a couple of houses ahead. At the top of field, over the stile and cross the lane. 3. Footpath continues on other side of lane, taking you to the brow of the hill. At stile and waymarker, continue across the flat field. Climb over the next marked fence you come to that clips the corner of the woods. Cross the next field towards right corner and over fence down the steps onto the road. (You could cut the walk shorter here and turn right onto the road, joining up with the footpath marked on the OS map.) 4. Footpath continues directly opposite. Head for far left corner of field where you’ll cross over a fence through the trees – there’s no stile, but once on the other side you’ll see at the bottom of a steep slope through the trees an ESCC marked stile. Over the stile and opposite, slightly right just below a group of conifers, is another stile where the path continues. Follow the right edge up slope, past the gardens of ‘Groves’, a private residence. As you come to the end of the fenced garden continue ahead downhill, across a field (ploughed and muddy when we were here), to the yellow marked ESCC stile just by the telegraph pole visible ahead. Down the steps on the other side and over the substantial bridge over the stream. 5. After the galvanised kissing gate, cross the next field and over the stile, then the next field too. When you come to the free-standing waymarker at tarmac access road, turn right. Continue between the trees and ahead, over the cattle grid and follow the road which curves right uphill with woods to your left, field and pond right. |
6. At the road, turn right. Follow downhill and before you get to the dip by the white fence and entrance to ‘Groves’ (from the other direction), turn left by the galvanised steel gate, over the stile, into a field. Keep to the left edge, cross over a ditch and pass through a galvanised steel gate, uphill quite steeply alongside edge of woods on your left. Pass through another galvanised steel gate and now cross the gentler slope of the field ahead. 7. In the top right corner of the field, go through the galvanised gate which isn’t marked. Continue ahead between pond on right and red brick house with green window frames on left. Now at the T-junction at the lane, turn right. Follow the road a short distance to some farm buildings where you leave the road, turning right – look out for the yellow arrow on the fence. Walk through this narrow field and again look out for yellow arrows on the left, by the first galvanised gate you come to, just past a tiny cottage. Now head for the far right corner of the field but taking the left edge, then turning right along far side in left corner (to avoid trampling the nice farmer’s crops). 8. Pass out of the field by the corner of the woods. Now head for the immediate right corner of the field (a black dotted line on the OS map, NOT the green footpath which doesn’t seem to have an exit through the field boundary). Exit through the waymarked gate and down the ridge of the slope. At the bottom you’ll see a wooden bridge ahead with a ditch on your left. Head for the bridge and cross over. Turn right to cross field boundary. In the next field, head diagonally right over the gentle hill, again following the black dotted line on the OS map. Walk towards the houses you see ahead, through another galv gate between some trees. Pass the pond on your left through a gateway and keep right – there’s another gate, marked. Go through. 9. The path cuts off the left corner of the field – you’ll see a gap in the hedge ahead. Pass through and the path takes you around the right edge of the field, between a cottage and oast house. The path now continues on a rough track, uphill, winding back past the cottages on the right to meet the access drive you started on from the B2089. Up hill past Swallow Cottage, and back to where you started.
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