Forest Row - Leisure and Culture

Leisure and Culture

• The village hall, at the centre of the village, is quite distinctive in its style. It has an almost Germanic and British look to it. The hall was a gift for the people of Forest Row by the Alpine mountaineer Douglas Freshfield and his mother in memory of his son Henry Douglas Freshfield who died aged fourteen in 1891. The first Freshfield Hall was very short-lived, for it was burnt down on 14 February 1895, the day after the funeral of Henry Freshfield. Douglas Freshfield and his mother wasted no time in having it rebuilt and it reopened on 17 November 1895. At the reopening Freshfield expressed the wishes of his mother and himself when he hoped the hall would be used by all classes of parishioners, and that it would keep alive the memory of its original founder.

• The Forest Way, on the trackbed of the disused railway line, passes through the village from East Grinstead and continues eastwards as far as Groombridge, a total distance of 10 miles (14.5 km). Either side of the village the route is fairly level and is used by cyclists and horse riders.

• Forest Row provides many opportunities for leisure activities. In the performing arts there are: Forest Players, an amateur dramatic society; Ashdown Pantomimers; the Forest Row Film Society; The Binkell-Bing Magic Club; and the Jupiter Chamber Orchestra. In sport there are football clubs; the Cricket Club; Anderida Golfers; Weir Wood Sailing Club; and the One Planker Club ; which organises Snowboarding and Monoskiing trips to the Alps each winter. Two other groups are the Ashdown Forest Conservators and the Forest Row Modelling Club.

• The Royal Ashdown Forest Golf Club was established in 1889: there are two courses.

• The Scapegoat Society is a psychologically-based group. The village also has practising alternative therapists and two bio-dynamic organic farms. Yoga classes are available in the village.