Brede High Woods

Brede High Woods is situated six miles north of Hastings in the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It’s full of history and there’s some incredible and rare wildlife. No wonder it has become a magnet for professional naturalists as well as ordinary visitors enjoying the inspiring landscapes in this 262-hectare (647 acre) site. Visitors to Brede have said it’s like walking through 10 different woods on one site. It’s special for its rare green hellebores and wild service trees, but also for hobby, woodcock, nightingales and buzzards, glowworms, great crested newts, lampreys, dormouse, badgers and fallow deer. There’s a downloadable map here: http://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/en/our-woods/brede-high-woods/Documents/brede-map.pdf and local ecologist Patrick Roper and landscape archaeologist Nicola Bannister have provided detailed reports. Brede’s woodland is so undisturbed that a beetle thought to be extinct elsewhere in the UK lives here. Some parts of Brede are ancient woodland; other parts were farmed, coppiced or planted with conifers, which are gradually being removed. Some coppicing will be continued, and Brede’s paths and bridges will be maintained to allow everyone to come and enjoy this wonderful site. The B2089 Broad Oak to Cripps Corner road runs along the northern edge of Brede, and there are two car parks marked by brown tourist signs. Surrounding lanes have other entrances. Paths can get waterlogged and some are very rutted, and it’s a moderate hill down to Powdermill Reservoir. Buses stop at Cripps Corner, 400m from one entrance. • Complex mosaic of ancient and secondary woodland, heathland and grassland • Wonderful array of wildlife