Just over the road from Broadfield is a place called Whalebone Plantation. I think thats what its called anyway.

Tucked away in the angle between the A23 into town and the M23 it looks from the outside as if its a tiny triangle of land, but its a real Tardis of a place. Accessible on foot by crossing the A23 racetrack, or by car if you can pull over into an almost hidden little gap in the trees with just about room for a second car to block a first one in, it looks like there is not much here.

However you can go right along a path which winds around, close to the M23, or take the road less travelled and go down through the trees to the left. Either way, you can soon find yourself lost in the forest, which seems to go on for ever.

The place is a popular dog-walking location, but you can spend an hour or two wandering round without encountering another soul, even though the paths are reasonably well-trodden. The trees are mostly oak, chestnut and birch (I think. Im not David Bellamy!) with a few evergreens here and there, and the place is what you could call ‘slightly managed’.

Trees which have fallen stay where they fell, unless it was across a path, and provide plenty of climbing opportunities for those younger than I am, and there are some extremely large mature trees in there.

The place is only spoiled by the constant noise of traffic from the motorway while you are near the Eastern edge.

As you walk through the woods you pass into Tilgate Forest, but the more natural, less ornamental and less frequented end of it. The reason why this is important is that Tilgate Forest is, in the minds of most people in town, sacrosanct whereas the Whalebone Plantation part of it is not. I think it is designated as an area suitable for major development, so its a place we make the most of while we can, as it is living on borrowed time.

In theory, anything could be built here. I’m sure I saw some old plans for an application to build a lot of houses amongst the trees, which came to nothing. In reality, the place seems to have been kept back for something special, and that looks like being a university campus. Obviously a university would really be worth having, but if it does happen I do hope it is built in a forest setting, keeping as many of the trees as possible, with a decent route through to Tilgate Forest for us.

There are deer living in the forest. Although I have seen no sign of them, I still harbour the hope of spotting one amongst the trees.

There is plenty of evidence of rabbits and in the clearings there is some unfortunate evidence of humans, in the form of the scorched remnants of campfires, complete with empty Stella cans.

But for all that, even the discarded rubbish can seem to get claimed by the land until it almost looks as if it grew there.

Sounds a bit like poetic nonsense? I suppose it is, but just have a look at this example:

The whole place reminds me a lot of Langdon Hills in Essex where I spent a lot of time as a child – a place I don’t dare to visit in case I find it has been swallowed by Basildon new town. Possibly the lack of access and parking for cars is what makes Whalebone Plantation a place to go to avoid the madding crowd, but like Pease Pottage thats just a bonus for us up Tollgate Hill.