Just a few minutes’ walk from the bustle of Lewes town centre in East Sussex, is a quietly remarkable landscape and nature reserve. The Railway Land Nature Reserve is on the site of the former railway marshalling yard reclaimed, inch by inch, by nature. The railway yard operations gradually shut down throughout the 1960s to 1980s and the Trust that now manages the reserve was formed in 1988. The area became a nature reserve in 1995. It covers almost 40 hectares and is situated in the South Downs National Park and the Brighton and Lewes Downs UNESCO World Biosphere Region.
Reclamation by nature
Left largely alone, nature began to take advantage of the space. Seeds settled where ballast once lay. Water pooled in old cuttings. Grasses, reeds and shrubs slowly took root and different habitats emerged: wetland, grassland, scrub and open water, with numerous little footpaths, cliffs in the background and the gentle sound of the River Ouse flowing south.
Wildlife
The nature reserve now has four different water habitats, namely, wet woodland, reed bed, ponds and floodplain grasslands. These are fed by Winterbourne stream, which is a chalk stream. Among the plantlife, you might spot two slightly exotic specimens, namely a fantastic Holm Oak and a Swamp Cyprus which came from planting at a large Victorian house that once stood in the woods with formal and landscaped gardens. The nature reserve also has its Linklater Pavilion, which hosts a number of workshops, talks and events and is a centre of learning.
Railway walking
When you walk in the nature reserve, you’re quickly seduced by the calm and quiet, broken only by birdsong. You can just meander a bit in and around the many paths, or you can follow the footpath along the banks of the River Ouse before crossing the railway and doubling back to town via the Lewes Priory ruins (a walk of just under 5 km).
Other walks include:
- Tingle’s Way. This takes you from Blackcap through Lewes via the Railway Land Nature Reserve, to join Egret’s Way and reconnect with the South Downs Way. It is about 6 km and is waymarked.
- Egrets Way. This is a circular 19 km walk from Newhaven to Lewes Station, along the banks of the River Ouse with a loop around some of the villages such as Kingston and Rodmell before you rejoin the river path. This is also waymarked.
- Sussex Ouse Valley Way. A 68 km waymarked walk on permissive paths through the river valley. It starts in Lower Beeding near Horsham and ends at Seaford Bay.
Lewes Railway Land Nature Reserve is a rare and precious space. A pocket of calm and an opportunity for quiet reflection and gentle exercise.
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