Walk from Standen to Kingscote Bluebell Railway
A country walk for more experienced walkers to and from Kingscote Station and the celebrated Bluebell Steam Railway.
Total steps: 12
Total steps: 12
Start point
Standen car park, grid ref: TQ391356
Step 1
Leave the car park and walk up the hill towards the house. At the top turn left and walk along the path with the Kitchen Garden on your left and Goose Green on the right. Continue ahead on the grass path through the rhododendrons and woodland until you reach the second wooden gate into a field (do not turn into Hollybush Wood). You are now leaving Standen and using public right of way footpaths
Step 2
Go through the Standen gate and bear left to follow the path along the edge of a field, with a barbed-wire fence to your left. Go through the metal gate in front of you and keep walking ahead downhill through a sunken path. Continue ahead past the three-point finger post next to the broken stile. At the next fingerpost continue ahead to the second metal gate into a field. Turn left in the field and walk downhill to the edge of the reservoir to meet the High Weald Landscape Trail. Continue along the right-hand edge of the field to a metal gate in the bottom corner. (Remember the position of this gate – on your return, this is where you will turn left to head back up the hill towards Standen).
Step 3
Here the High Weald Landscape Trail joins the Sussex Border Path. Go through the metal gate, keeping the chain-link fence to your left until you meet a tarred lane.
Step 4
This is the old road which was submerged by the water, and blocked by a padlocked double iron gate. Turn right at this gate uphill for a few hundred yards, as it turns left and levels off. Turn right at the junction with the road. Please take care here as visibility is poor – wear hi-vis clothing if possible.
Step 5
Walk 50yd (46m) uphill to the fingerpost opposite the entrance to Stone Hill House and cross the road. Follow the path above the rocks, which soon develops into a sunken path as it goes downhill, and continue until you reach a three-way fingerpost and a metal gate at the top of the hill.
Step 6
Go through the gate and head downhill across the field in the direction of the pylon. Go through a gap in the trees at the bottom and follow the stream to a wooden footbridge. Cross the bridge and turn left in front of a pylon. Keep left until you reach two metal gates crossing a chalk track. Go through both gates into the woods. Follow the path through the woods, cross the stile and climb a steep bank to cross the Bluebell Railway line. Go down the steep bank on the other side and cross a waymarked stile into a wood.
Step 7
Follow the path through the wood to emerge onto a tarred lane. Turn right (ignoring the path to the right) for about 500yd (450m) to a large wooden gate.
Step 8
Go through the gate and continue straight ahead along the lane. Just past Brookbank and Holly Tree Cottages on the right, the lane swings around to the left and you can see the railway line again. Where the lane joins from the left continue straight ahead. The lane goes under the overhead lines, between hedgerows and through a wood. The wood on your right opens out onto a large field, with two large white houses in the bottom right-hand corner. Continue for about 100yd (90m) downhill and look for a gap in the right-hand hedge with a fingerpost. Go through the gap and follow the edge of the field around towards the houses, keeping the woodland on your left.
Step 9
At the end of the field turn left onto a track and follow it uphill through a metal gate onto Vowells Lane. Kingscote Station, part of the Bluebell Railway line, is immediately to your right.
Step 10
After visiting Kingscote Station, retrace your steps. Go left down the private road. just before the large white house (Bluebell Cottage) go right along the right hand field edge. At the lane, turn left. Where the path forks, go straight ahead (signs to Mill Place Farm) passed Brooksbank Cottage and Holly Tree Cottage on your left. Before the wooden gate turn left down the lane to Mill Place Farm/Kingscote Vineyard.
Step 11
Go under the railway bridge marked 'Kingscote estate' and continue ahead along the track through the farm and vineyeard buildings and past a small pond on your left. Continue until you reach a brick bridge. Go over the bridge and follow the track around to your right past a large pond on your left. Keep ahead following the fence and hedge on your left and a stream on your right. Continue up the sunken track around the edge of fields to the top of the fields. (This is where you originally walked down towards the bridge and railway track). Continue ahead past the rocks on the right and retrace your steps to the main road. Take care here. Turn right and go downhill for 50yd (46m) to rejoin the lane on the left which takes you back to the Sussex Border Path along the northern perimeter of Weir Wood Reservoir. Follow the Sussex Border Path until you reach the metal gate in the corner of the field where you joined the path originally. Head up the hill following the High Weald Landscape Trail, under the power lines, keeping the hedgerow and fence to your right. Go through the metal gate at the top of the field through the bracken, continuing to keep the fence and hedgerow on your right. At the fingerpost, continue uphill and follow the sunken path along the edge of the wood. After emerging from the wood, go through the metal gate and continue ahead. Here, you have two options. You can go through the wooden National Trust gate on the right to retrace your path to Standen Goose Green and the house (end of walk). Alternatively, you can continue up the hill, following the right-hand edge of the field to the top corner. If you go by the second route, continue to step 12.
Step 12
Go through the metal gate at the top of the field, and follow the path right between the woodland and barbed-wire fence (on your left) until you reach the main drive to Standen. At the drive turn right, past Standen Cottages and continue to the main entrance to Standen and the car park.
End point
Standen car park, grid ref: TQ391356
Trail map
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