English Garden Tour: The Village of Warninglid, Haywards Heath, Sussex

By CadyLuck Leedy on August 23, 2015

Warninglid Village bisects at two roads, Cuckfield Lane and The Street.  I loved that! Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to say you live on The Street?  At this special intersection is the Half Moon Pub. Warninglid is our next stop on the National Garden Scheme and it was a bonanza! Eight gardens on two streets! We couldn’t wait to get there and set off early.

Reaching Warninglid, I missed the turn, into the designated car park for the garden tour, and turned into the Half Moon Pub instead.

When my car was immediately surrounded by cars I knew something was up. Deciding on a drink at the pub to build up our stamina, (ha) we discovered that reservations for eating here today were non existent. Just get in line! In addition to the gardens on display the pub was hosting a “FETE!” Music, BBQ, kids running everywhere, bunting, all of it, just like we see in the Midsummer Mysteries and on Doc Martin! I was so excited, “my first fete!” And to top it off the pub was hosting a cheesecake competition!  We’ve struck gold! The residents of the village view the Half Moon Pub, as a gathering place and mainstay of village life. 

Promising to return to the Pub when things were all set up, we moved on down The Street to get pictures of the homes that were showing gardens that day and get pictures before the flocks showed up to see them. I am so glad we did. Bus loads of gardeners were dropped off at the car park. This was the place to be today!

The Street, the focus of the conservation area, reveals a number of buildings dating back to the 16th century, some of which are listed as being of special architectural and historic interest due the the variety of building’s ages and natural building materials of brick, sandstone, and the timber and clay roof tiles. A sense of enclosure is created by the homes, the bank of hedges and trees, and the village pond with the arching sandstone bridge leading to the drive of the Lyndhurst estate, creating a focal point within The Street. Now lets walk along The Street!

Turning into an inviting lane let’s see where this path takes us!

The village vegetable garden, dogwalk and footpath!

After our vegetable diversion, it’s back to The Street! So many cottages to see on The Street alone!

Next we’ll see the gardens behind these charming, rustic cottages! See you there!

PS We went back to the Half Moon Pub and had a great picnic meal! The choices of salads offered with the burgers or hotdogs were fantastic.  It was standing room only! The guests were on blankets or chairs they had brought from home, spread put everywhere! Every indoor and outdoor table was taken. The food was great; the music was great, but I never did find out who won the cheesecake competition!