The 1066 Country Walk Bexhill Link runs from Bexhill to Battle in East Sussex. From Bexhill station, the full walk is about 11.5 km. It is one of two link routes off the main 1066 Country Walk, which goes from Pevensey via Battle to Rye.
Walk at a glance
- Distance: 11.5 km from Bexhill station; about 13 km (8.1 miles) from the seafront
- Time: Around 2 hours 45 minutes; allow longer for stops
- Difficulty: Medium to hard. The first half is mostly flat, followed by undulating countryside and woodland paths
- Terrain: Urban streets, marshland paths, fields, woodland trails and gravel tracks
- Start and finish: Bexhill station to Battle Abbey. Starting in Bexhill’s Old Town also avoids some of the urban stretch
- Facilities: Cafés and shops in Bexhill and Battle; a pub and railway station in Crowhurst, roughly midway
- Wayfinding: Signposting can be patchy, particularly through Combe Valley. A map app is useful
- Best in: Spring and autumn. The Combe Valley section may be boggy in winter
- One-way walk: Check train times from Crowhurst or Battle before setting off
Walk details
The walk officially starts in Bexhill Old Town, although strangely, it’s about a kilometre from there before you get the first waymark. I actually started at the seafront, which made it a 13 km walk, taking around 2 hours 45 minutes.
Bexhill and Combe Valley
It’s a walk of two halves. The first part is flat, taking you through the edge of Bexhill and across the marshes and waterways of Combe Valley Countryside Park.
On my walk from the seafront, the first 2.35 km was urban. The route winds through built-up streets before crossing the A259 after which the houses gradually thin out. After that, from around 2.35 km to 5.63 km, you cross Combe Valley Countryside Park. The park covers about 2.3 square miles between Bexhill and Hastings and the central valley is relatively flat and marshy, and can flood in winter. Crossing its waterways and marshes, with rushes and old houses in the distance, felt like stepping into a scene from a hundred years ago.
Wayfinding was trickiest around the new development on Bexhill’s edge, where some markers seemed to have been moved or lost. In Combe Valley, the path was marshy and overgrown in places, and didn’t always follow the line shown on my map. Just before you cross under the A2690, I crossed two small bridges while wondering if I was going the wrong way. Keep going: the path eventually brings you out in the right place. Overall, a map app and a degree of common sense should see you through.
After going under the main road, you pass a beautiful lake and from there, the landscape begins to change, with open fields and woodland appearing ahead.
Crowhurst to Powdermills
Combe Valley Countryside Park delivers you to the village of Crowhurst and by this point the route starts to feel much more like the High Weald, with its wooded, rolling countryside. Crowhurst itself straddles the southern boundary of the High Weald National Landscape. Crowhurst has a pub (The Plough, which is dog-friendly) and a train station, so you could split the walk into two shorter sections but if you do, check train times before setting off.
The path crosses fields towards the church, which sits on a hillside across the fields. The landscape feels quite timeless here and it’s worth making a small detour to see the remarkable old tree associated with both Harold and William in the churchyard.
Beyond Crowhurst, the route enters Fore Wood Nature Reserve, a peaceful stretch of ancient woodland dotted with ghylls. The woodland is a mix of hornbeam, oak, birch and sweet chestnut, and in spring, lots of bluebells. It is wonderfully quiet and I met no one.
Powdermills to Battle
The walk continues through Stumblets Wood and emerges at Powdermill Cottage. You’ll be feeling the Weald’s undulations by now. As you begin the final section, Powdermills Cottage and Crafted at Powdermills hotel are reminders of the area’s gunpowder-making history, while an oast house recalls its brewing past. The route follows a track past the hotel before joining the main 1066 route towards Battle Abbey.
You pass just one of the 1066 sculptures on the Bexhill Link, set back in the woodland, so keep an eye out for it.
The final approach brings you out next to a car park, which can feel like an odd place to arrive. Keep going because you’ll because you soon see the impressive main gates at Battle Abbey.
Eating and travelling
For a full day out, you could start with a coffee at Crafty Norman Brasserie in Bexhill, have lunch in Crowhurst and finish with a pause at the Battle Abbey coffee shop. From Battle Abbey, it is just under a kilometre’s walk to the train station (most of which is happily downhill).
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