St Leonard’s Forest and Crabtree

St Leonard's Forest is an ancient High Weald woodland east of Horsham that covers several thousand acres of oak and birch on Wealden sandstone, and it is considerably less visited than Ashdown Forest to the east. The 8.4 km circuit from the Mick Mills car park follows the main forest track south through the core of the woodland, loops around the hammer ponds at Crabtree — former iron industry water features now dense with wildlife — and returns via a quieter bridleway through younger growth.

The hammer ponds are the defining feature: the cold iron tang of the water, the heavy canopy above, and the way the ponds sit in their damp hollows gives the forest a character that is entirely specific to the High Weald clay. Dogs can range off-lead on the quieter bridleways and the ponds offer water access at several safe entry points. The ground is genuinely muddy from November through March — Wealden clay holds water tenaciously — and boots are essential in the wet season. Deer are present in good numbers.