Making the Most of Burgess Hill Living

Pubs and bars

Cosy and comfortable The Fox and Hounds in Haywards Heath is a great spot for quality pub food and quality get-togethers. With a spacious beer garden and children’s menu, you can enjoy a meal and a drink with all the family.

The Cock Inn is a friendly, family-run free house in Wivelsfield Green. There is something for everyone with a bar, restaurant and sports bar. And the recently updated sheltered seating area in the courtyard means you can enjoy al fresco dining year-round – weather permitting!

Vineyards

Burgess Hill resides in the heart of English wine-making country. So it is no surprise to find several quality vineyards in the area offering tastings and tours.

• Set amidst bluebell-strewn woods, family-run Bluebell Vineyard Estates produces only vintage wines – those that are made exclusively from grapes grown in a single year. Its range of ‘Hindleap’ sparkling wines has been awarded over 80 awards, nationally and internationally.

• For more than 25 years Ridgeview Wine Estate has been producing world-class sparkling wine and in 2018 it was the IWSC Winemaker of the Year.

• Bolney Wine Estate is one of the oldest and most beautiful vineyards in England, producing award-winning still and sparkling wines – from Pinot Noir and Estate Bacchus to classic English sparkling wine, Bolney Bubbly and Blanc de Blancs.

• Albourne Estate is a family-owned vineyard overlooking the South Downs. It won UK Wine of the Year in 2015 with a Bacchus wine from only its second-ever harvest.

Breweries

Kissingate Brewery produces its award-winning beers in a specially converted barn set in a quiet wooded valley. The team especially enjoys brewing old-style beers such as porters, stouts and milds.

Named after a song by The Grateful Dead, Dark Star Brewing Co runs tours of its brewery in Partridge Green every other Saturday.

Bedlam Brewery in Plumpton Green is a socially responsible brewery that uses solar power to brew its award-winning craft ales and lagers. Its Pilsner recently won Double Gold at Europe’s most important beer competition.

Leisure

Sport

As a golfer living in Burgess Hill, you are spoilt for choice – from picturesque Mid Sussex and Lindfield golf clubs and Singing Hills’ three combination courses to Cuckfield Golf Centre’s 9-hole course and the driving range and par-3 course at Burgess Hill Golf Centre.

Tennis and squash players are also well-catered for. The Weald Lawn Tennis and Squash Racquets Club in Hassocks boasts four clay courts, seven hard courts and four squash courts.

Fishing

Wintons Fishery is a specimen big carp and big catfish venue. It has three lakes set within 33 acres of beautiful countryside overlooking the South Downs. Its members have enjoyed countless personal-best catches of both carp and catfish.

Rapidly expanding More House Farm Fishery in Wivelsfield Green has five lakes set in tranquil surroundings, bordered almost entirely by open countryside.

Days out

Where can you find the ultimate cheese experience? At family-owned, organic High Weald Dairy in Horsted Keynes.

And what better way to travel through 11 miles of glorious Sussex scenery than behind a steam engine? With Bluebell Railway, one of the first preserved heritage lines in the country, you can do just that.

Finally, there is no shortage of beautiful parkland, gardens and estates to enjoy near Burgess Hill.

• At 33 hectares, Bedelands Farm Local Nature Reserve is the largest green site in Burgess Hill, consisting of ancient meadows, woodlands, hedgerows and ponds.

• And with rolling hills, glorious heathland, river valleys, ancient woodland and the iconic white cliffs of the Heritage Coast, the Southdowns National Park has it all.

• Sheffield Park and Garden is a horticultural work of art, influenced by the likes of Capability Brown and Humphrey Repton. The area has been transformed into a wildlife haven and is home to a diverse range of species.

• Set around a romantic house and ruins, the extensive yet intimate garden at Nymans is a garden lovers’ garden – and a garden for all seasons. 

• At Wakehurst – Kew’s wild botanical garden – you can roam across 500 acres of wild woodland or check out the world’s largest conservation project at the Millennium Seed Bank.

• Edwardian Borde Hill Garden is renowned for its rare shrubs and champion trees and is the perfect place for children to explore and let their imaginations run wild.

• And Devil’s Dyke – a legendary beauty spot on the South Downs – offers stunning panoramas, a record-breaking valley, and England’s most colourful habitat.