Ditchling Common
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Ditchling Common once the King's land as part of the Saxon Manor, is now a Country Park (designated as such in 1974) north of Ditchling and lies between Haywards Heath and Lewes to the east of Burgess Hill in West Sussex. It covers an area of 188 acres and can be found at map reference TQ337181. The common is very popular with dog walkers and there is a sizeable car park that can get rather rutted in poor weather. The country park trail is a mile long, (0.5 km) and passes through oak trees, grassland and an area of scrub. There are some willow trees in the scrubland, a lake and a stream. Birdlife in the park includes stonechats, linnets, woodpeckers, chiffchaffs, blackcaps and tits.
The trail is marked by purple arrows on posts and takes about 40 minutes to complete. In wet weather stout footwear is recommended as the Weald clay in the area gets very waterlogged. The lake is well used by local fishermen who fish for carp, perch and roach. To fish here, an Environment Agency rod licence and a permit is needed.
