Chailey Common and the windmill
2 km (1.2 miles) · 40 m of climb · Circular
- Starts
- Red House Common car park, Warrs Hill Lane
- Time
- 40 minutes
Our own short loop on Red House Common, the northern part of Chailey Common's heath: from the car park on Warrs Hill Lane across the heather to Chailey Windmill, a Grade II smock mill beside the yew 'said to mark the centre of Sussex', and back round the other side of the common, where Exmoor ponies, sheep and cattle graze in turn.
The ground
Lowland heath of heather and gorse, with many small ponds; horses share the paths, and there's no cycling on the commons. Ground and gradients have not been checked on the ground.
Livestock
'The site is grazed by Hebridean sheep, Exmoor ponies and cattle,' says the county council, which keeps at least one of the commons free of cattle. Red House Common was being grazed when we read its page.
The line on the map
Our own loop on Red House Common's mapped paths: out by the north-west of the common to the windmill, back by the east. Not paced out on the ground.
The route is from Lewes Dogs. The rules are East Sussex County Council's: read it at the source before you go (Rules from East Sussex County Council's Chailey Common page and the mill from the Chailey Commons Society, read 27 Oct 2026. The line from OpenStreetMap, read 27 Oct 2026.). The line on the map is drawn by Lewes Dogs on OpenStreetMap data (ODbL). With a dog? Lewes Dogs has this walk, with the rules and the livestock.