Why I love…
Forest
Row
When I first told my Mum I was moving
to Forest Row, her response was
“once you move to Forest Row, you will
never move out.” I was brought up in
the market town of Horsham and first
discovered Forest Row when I had just
finished my law exams and took a job
temping for P.R. Vince solicitors which
recently merged with Mayo Wynne
Baxter. I absolutely loved it. My stint
with P.R. Vince sadly came to an end
and a couple of months later I returned
to the village. As I was driving down
the hill from East Grinstead, on a misty
October morning, Forest Row church
spire rising through the mist, I thought
“this is home”. I moved from Horsham to
Forest Row two years later.
a bank which enclosed an area of 20.5
square miles. There were a number of
gates and hatches in the pale to allow
local access and some of the names of
the surrounding villages still reflect this,
for example, Chuck Hatch, Colemans
Hatch and Chelwood Gate. Henry VIII
regularly hunted here, his hunting lodge
being at Bolebrook Castle and hence the
place name “Kingstanding”.
Nowadays the Forest is 9.5 square
miles of forest and heathland. It is an
area of Outstanding Natural Beauty,
a Site of Scientific Interest and a
Special Protection Area for Birds and
a Special Area for Conservation. It
commands spectacular views towards
both the North and South Downs and is
wonderful for walking and horse riding
(a permit is required for horse riding). It
also attracts an amazing amount of birds
and other wildlife and is noted for its
heathland plants and flowers. Cattle and
sheep also roam the Forest during the
summer months. The Ashdown Forest
Visitor’s Centre at Wych Cross is a good
information centre which explains the
history of the Forest and provides many
War Memorial
I immediately loved the fact that I
was living in a village adjacent the
countryside rather than a sprawling town.
It was great to look out the windows and
see sheep in the fields. I took advantage
of all that Forest Row has to offer. One
of the biggest appeals is of course
Ashdown Forest. Forest Row is after all
the “Gateway to the Forest”.
Originally known as “Lancaster Great
Park”, the Forest was an ancient hunting
ground and was enclosed in the 13th
Century. The original enclosure was by
medieval pale, consisting of a ditch and
78
Holy Trinity Church
Photo courtesey of Rick Comber