Ashdown Forest is free to walk but every car park now charges up to £5 a day. Eleven places within half an hour of Crowborough, with prices checked this week.

Crowborough’s best day out is on its doorstep and costs nothing to walk on, though it now costs something to park at. Ashdown Forest is the heath and woodland that starts at the edge of the town, and it is the reason most people come here. Around it sit two preserved railways, a science centre in an old observatory, a moated priory and the only working open-trestle post mill left in the country.

Every price and opening time below was checked against the venue’s own website on 9 August 2026. Prices at some attractions are temporarily reduced under the government’s summer VAT cut and go back up on 2 September, and where that applies it is flagged.

Free, or nearly

Ashdown Forest

Free to walk, always open, 75 miles of paths and rides. The heath is at its best right now: August is when the heather flowers and turns the open ground purple.

The catch is the parking. The Conservators have introduced paid parking at all 45 car parks across the Forest. The tariff is £2 for up to an hour, £2.50 for up to two hours, £4 for up to four hours and £5 all day. Every car park shares the same location code, 661122, so one ticket moves with you between them. Pay by app (Horizon Spaces, RingGo, JustPark, PayByPhone or YourParkingSpace), by phone on 0330 333 8446, by card at the machines at the Forest Centre, or in cash at the visitor centre during opening hours. Blue badge holders are exempt, displayed in the windscreen. Annual and winter passes are sold through the Horizon portal, with concessionary rates for people on Universal Credit or Pension Credit.

The Ashdown Forest Centre at Wych Cross, Forest Row, RH18 5JP has the shop, toilets and picnic site. It opens weekdays 9am to 4.30pm and weekends 11am to 5pm or dusk, though the Conservators are honest that weekend staffing depends on volunteers. ashdownforest.org

The Pooh walks from Gills Lap

Ashdown Forest is the wood A. A. Milne wrote about, and the Conservators publish a walk that links the places in the books. There are two versions from the Gills Lap car park, a 1km short walk and a 3.25km long walk. The downloadable map costs 50p from the Forest’s own shop. The walking is free; the car park is not.

Walking out from the town

Crowborough sits high on the ridge at the eastern edge of the Forest, so the walking starts where the houses stop. No ticket and no car needed, which makes it the cheapest thing on this page.

Under £20

Nutley Windmill

The only surviving working open-trestle post mill in the country. The main post is over 300 years old and the design goes back to the 12th century. It is run by volunteers from Uckfield Heritage, on Crowborough Road, Nutley, TN22 3HY, sitting on the Forest itself.

Open days run 2.30pm to 5.30pm, or dusk if earlier. The remaining 2026 dates are Sunday 30 and Monday 31 August, Sunday 20 September, Sunday 27 September and Sunday 11 October. It also opens most Wednesdays 11am to 3pm for maintenance, volunteers permitting. Entry is by voluntary donation of £5 per person. uckfieldheritage.co.uk

Wilderness Wood, Hadlow Down

Working woodland run as a place to walk, picnic and let children loose. £4 per person or £15 per household, free for members, paid at The Hatch by card or cash. Open Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 4pm, with extra Mondays over Easter, the May bank holidays and autumn half-term. Hours change over December and January, when the woods close for walks on the Christmas Fayre weekends, so check before setting off in winter. Dogs on leads welcome. Main Road, Hadlow Down, TN22 4HJ. wildernesswood.org

The Observatory Science Centre, Herstmonceux

The old Royal Greenwich Observatory domes, now a hands-on science centre built around the historic telescopes, with an earthquake exhibit, an orrery and the Isaac Newton telescope. Adults and children pay the same £13, which is unusual and makes this a relatively dear one for families. Under-4s and carers go free. Gift Aid adds 10% to make it £14.30 and turns the ticket into a donation, worth doing if you are paying anyway. It opens weekends and school holidays only, so check the dates before driving over. the-observatory.org

The Lavender Line, Isfield

A short preserved railway from Isfield station, with a Day Rover at £17 adult, £12 child (3 to 15) and £37 for a family of two adults and up to three children. Under-3s free, carers free with a paying passenger. Isfield Station, near Uckfield, TN22 5XB. lavender-line.com

£20 and up

Michelham Priory House and Gardens, Upper Dicker

An Augustinian priory on a moated island, with seven acres of grounds, an Elizabethan great barn, a medieval gatehouse and physic and herb gardens. The Blue Door Cafe needs no ticket.

Admission is £13.12 adult, £6.56 child (5 to 17) and £36.75 for a family of two adults and up to four children until 1 September 2026, under the summer VAT reduction. From 2 September the same tickets are £15.00, £7.50 and £42.00. Seniors £12.25, rising to £14.00. Essential carers free, and they must come with a paying visitor. One thing to check first: the site closes for private events on some Saturdays, including 15 August and 5, 12 and 19 September, and the cafe shuts with it. Michelham Priory, Upper Dicker, Hailsham, BN27 3QS. sussexpast.co.uk

The Bluebell Railway, Sheffield Park

Preserved main line from Sheffield Park to East Grinstead, calling at Horsted Keynes and Kingscote. An All Day Rover is £27 adult in advance or £30 on the day, with a £1.95 booking fee on advance tickets. Children aged 3 to 15 are £1 at weekends and in school holidays, which makes it one of the cheapest family days out on this page, or £13.50 in advance midweek. A family of two adults and three children is £63 in advance. Carers travel free with a registered disabled passenger.

One current caveat: since 30 July the railway has been running diesels on an alternative timetable as a fire-risk precaution, so if you are going for the steam, check the day’s service first. bluebell-railway.com

Knockhatch Adventure Park, Hailsham

Zoo, owl sanctuary, water slides, boating lake, go-karts, climbing wall and indoor play. Pricing is by day type, and through August every day is an Orange day, when everything is open: £20.46 per person booked online or £22.74 at the gate, under the same summer VAT saving. Entry after 3.30pm is half price at £11.37. Disabled visitors pay £17.31 online. Under-2s free.

Two dates worth knowing. From 2 September the Orange day price goes back up to £23.39 online and £25.99 at the gate, and Green days start on 7 September, when some attractions are closed and the price drops to £17.09 online, £18.99 at the gate. Booking has to be made before 23:59 the day before to get the online rate. Open 10am to 5.30pm. Hailsham Bypass, Hailsham, BN27 3GD. knockhatch.com

Drusillas Park, Alfriston

The biggest family attraction in the district: a small zoo wrapped in rides, a splash pad and play areas. Drusillas has taken the government’s summer VAT cut and doubled it on online tickets, so for visits from 25 June to 1 September 2026 anyone aged 2 or over pays £23.95 online against a £39.95 gate price. That is a £16 saving per head, and it is the single biggest discount on this page, but it only applies if you book by midnight the day before. Turn up and pay at the gate in August and you pay the full £39.95.

After 1 September it reverts to a seasonal calendar: school holidays £31.95 online, peak £31.25, standard £29.40 and off-peak £26.75, with gate prices £6.75 to £8 higher again. Under-2s free. Open 10am to 5pm, extended to 6pm in the summer holidays, last admission an hour before. Alfriston, BN26 5QS. drusillas.co.uk

Crowborough Leisure Centre

For a wet afternoon without a drive. Run by Freedom Leisure on Eridge Road, TN6 2TN, with pools, a gym, classes, a sauna and steam suite, courts and a cafe. Adult swim £7.15, junior or student £5.00, gym session £8.70, group exercise class £8.70. Memberships are non-contract. freedom-leisure.co.uk

What a day out actually costs

Adult admission prices for eleven days out near Crowborough, August 2026 Ranked by adult price. Ashdown Forest walking is free, though parking is 5 pounds all day. Pooh walk map 50 pence. Nutley Windmill 5 pounds voluntary donation. Wilderness Wood 4 pounds. Crowborough Leisure Centre adult swim 7 pounds 15. The Observatory Science Centre 13 pounds. Michelham Priory 13 pounds 12 until 1 September, then 15 pounds. The Lavender Line day rover 17 pounds. Knockhatch orange day online 20 pounds 46 until 1 September. Drusillas Park online 23 pounds 95 until 1 September, against a 39 pounds 95 gate price. Bluebell Railway all day rover 27 pounds in advance. Eleven days out, cheapest first Adult admission, checked against each venue's own site on 9 August 2026. Child and family rates differ, sometimes sharply. Ashdown Forest Free (parking £5) Pooh walk map £0.50 Wilderness Wood £4.00 Nutley Windmill £5 donation Crowborough swim £7.15 Michelham Priory * £13.12 Observatory Centre £13.00 Lavender Line £17.00 Knockhatch * £20.46 Drusillas Park * £23.95 Bluebell Railway £27.00 * Reduced under the summer VAT saving, which ends on 1 September 2026. From 2 September: Michelham £15.00, Knockhatch £23.39 online, Drusillas £26.75 to £31.95 online by season. Drusillas' gate price is £39.95 either way.

Two things stand out from that ladder. The first is that the child price, not the adult price, decides which of these is a cheap family day: the Bluebell is the dearest adult ticket on the list and charges £1 for a child at weekends, while Knockhatch and Drusillas charge everyone over two the same. Two adults and three children do the Bluebell for £63 and Drusillas for nearly double that.

The second is that three of these go up on 2 September, when the summer VAT saving ends. Michelham goes from £13.12 to £15.00, Knockhatch from £20.46 to £23.39 online, and Drusillas loses the doubled online discount that currently saves £16 a head. If you have been meaning to do any of them, August is measurably cheaper.

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