Gallery

Viewing galleries from June, 2025

Rogate walk on 11th June 2025

We started on Tim and Jane's walk from the layby on the A272 at Terwick. We welcomed Jo, a guest walker from New Zealand - who must have started out MUCH earlier than the rest of us!  Heading north up a gulley between fields we eventually reached Terwick Common where we crossed the road to continue our northwards route. Eventually reaching Dangstein Road, we turned west and took the road past the Fyning Hill Estate, before eventually turning down into Fyning Common. After walking through the trees, our route eventually took us through fields of intensively grown sweetcorn. We spent some time wondering how they removed the miles of polythene no longer required by the plants, but failed to arrive at any conclusion. The nearby Rogate Village Recreation area provided an excellent spot to rest our legs and have a drink and also to celebrate a birthday. Once revived we walked into Rogate and took a path through Parsonage Estate and then through fields to reach a bridge over the somewhat murky River Rother. Some more lane walking until we reached Habin Bridge, thought to have been built in the 15th or 16th Century by monks from the nearby Durford Abbey, perhaps a hundred years before any European found New  Zealand. We then walked alongside the Rother before making for the church of St Peter in Terwick.

There we found the Lupin Field,  click here :- LUPINS. 

The weather this year has been not particularly good for lupins but there was still a good display. New plants had been protected from the slugs by sheeps wool which is an interesting alternative to all the other remedies that never seem to work very well.  Crossing the road we found our cars and heading to The Elsted Inn, where we all enjoyed an excellent lunch, promptly served!

Fernhurst walk on 4th June 2025

Starting from the recreation ground car park we walked across the Midhurst to Haslemere road onto Vann Road and took the footpath towards Hawksfold Farm.  On to Lower Hawksfold, across fields and into Amon’s Copse and more fields until the footpath crossroad near Lower North Park Farm where we turned north.  On entering Furnace Woods we stopped at the Fernhurst Iron Works and Gun Foundry remains for our coffee break. This  is one of the best preserved sites of its type in south-east England.

The Pond was the source of water to power the water wheel which worked the bellows to heat the furnace sufficiently to melt iron ore. Iron making was taking place from the 16th to the 18th Century throughout the Weald and it is said that this was the start of the Industrial Revolution. Iron manufacture in southern England only stopped when coke was developed as a much hotter fuel in the north of England.

The whole area has many hard chips of slag in the ground, a by-product of the furnace process. Reaching Vann Road again we turned west before taking the footpath to the right into Oakreads Wood and then east towards Greenhill House and back to Fernhurst.  Lunch was at The Red Lion on the Fernhurst Green.

There is to be an open weekend in September at the site of the Fernhurst iron works.:- Open day at the furnace site