Definitely Mayfield (Maybe)

Next year, if I’m spared, I will have lived in Tonbridge for 40 years, with 30 of them spent in the same property. That's quite a record in this day and age, especially given that people are far more mobile than they would have been three or four generations ago. When you've lived in the same town for four decades, you ought to know pretty much everything there is to know about your adopted home town, as well as the surrounding area. Despite this, your local habitat can still throw up the odd surprise, no matter how comfortable and knowledgeable you happen to be in your particular Wohnung, and this is what happened to me the other day, but fortunately in a nice sort of way.

There's a triangular-shaped section of rural Sussex, to the south of Tunbridge Wells, that is something of a mystery to me. It remains unexplored, primarily because I’ve never had any real reason to go there, until the other day that is. I’d been racking my brains for somewhere to visit for “Pub Friday” especially as I hadn’t enjoyed an end of week outing for some time, when this particular area of Sussex suddenly sprung to mind. It is home to two charming villages which, because of their tucked away location, remain unexplored – at least by me. Those villages are Mayfield and Rotherfield, with the former being the larger of the two.

Mayfield is close to the A267 Tunbridge Wells to Eastbourne road, whilst Rotherfield is roughly half-way between this road, and the suburb of Crowborough, known as Jarvis Brook. Both villages have a couple of pubs each, but working on the premise that it would be a rush to visit both villages in a single day, I decided to go to Mayfield first, and save Rotherfield for another day. After all, I haven't got the stamina of Retired Martin, or BRAPA! For some reason I thought these settlements were further away than they actually are, but a look on the map, plus a quick Google search of the bus routes,  revealed they're just over 20 minutes away from Tunbridge Wells by bus. Stagecoach No. 51 bus operates a half hourly service to Mayfield, and every hour the same bus makes a detour to Rotherfield, which makes sense given the relative size of these two villages.

I had been to Mayfield once before, which was back in the day when Mrs PBT's was trying to trace her family tree. It had come to light that some of her ancestors had lived either in the village or close to it, so we spent the morning looking around the churchyard for clues. It then transpired that it was Maresfield, close to Uckfield that her forebears came from.  I also recall driving through the village although I can't remember now where I was going to. Perhaps I was just doing a bit of exploration?

The other reason why these two settlements entered my consciousness, is CAMRA – related, and dates from my move from Maidstone to Tonbridge during the mid-80’s. I’d been asked by the regional organiser to assist with the revival of the then moribund, Tonbridge & Tunbridge Wells branch; a task I undertook with the help of a couple of Tonbridge-based CAMRA members. In those days the branch area included a chunk of North East Sussex, that included Eridge and Crowborough, as well as Mayfield and Rotherfield.

My new buddies and I had enough on our plates dealing with the Kent area of the branch, so ignored Sussex to begin with, until we received an instruction to conduct up to date pub surveys for all the pubs in the branch area. None of us knew anything about the chunk of Sussex, we’d been lumbered with, but despite this lack of knowledge, we had to roll up our sleeves and get on with it. We had an old Sussex CAMRA pub guide to go by, but much of this area seemed like a foreign country to us.

Using a bit of initiative, I managed to persuade a Sussex-based work colleague to conduct some of these surveys. This was when I employed at Crown Chemicals, a pharmaceutical company based at Lamberhurst, close to the border between Kent and Sussex. My colleague undertook the task with relish, and out of interest, I’ve dug out that 1987 Sussex CAMRA guide, and discovered that both Rotherfield and Mayfield had five pubs apiece, compared with just two each left today. Eventually my CAMRA colleagues and I were able to ditch the Sussex section of the branch, and after adopting Sevenoaks, another branch which had disbanded, the current West Kent CAMRA branch came into being.

I’ve digressed somewhat, but sometimes it’s good to look back, especially when there’s a connection to the present day. “Pub Friday” saw me catching the 11.56 Stagecoach bus in the direction of Heathfield (another Sussex settlement I am unfamiliar with). 

This was the direct service, which bypasses Rotherfield. I left the bus in Mayfield High Street, almost directly outside the imposing 16^th Century, Middle House Hotel. Rather than dive straight in though, I decided first to have a look around this picturesque, Sussex village. Full of character and olde world charm and blessed with plenty of independent shops – including the perennial but obligatory coffee shops, Mayfield’s narrow High Street mercifully, now, carries relatively light, mainly local traffic.

This wasn’t always the case, as until the early 90’s it formed part of the traffic chocked, main A267 Tunbridge Wells – Eastbourne highway. Relief came in 1991 when the redundant track bed of the former Tunbridge Wells – Eastbourne railway, the so-called "Cuckoo Line," was converted into a bypass for the village. The railway itself closed in 1968, another victim of the notorious “Beeching cuts” which closed and tore up many allegedly, under-performing routes across the nation’s rail network. However, some good did come of this process in Mayfield’s case.

I wandered along to the far west of the High Street, admiring the plentiful old buildings, whilst thinking that the village has a slight “alternative” feel to it. This was nowhere near as strong as say Hebden Bridge, or Hay-on-Wye, as there appears to be plenty of money abounding in Mayfield, but the alternative vibe appeared again when I reached Mayfield’s other remaining pub.

I’d initially been heading in the wrong direction, whilst looking for the Rose & Crown, a situation confirmed by Google Maps. I retraced my step back along the High Street, passing the church whose tombstones Mrs PBT’s and I had scrambled round some 30 years previously. I also passed the front entrance to Mayfield School, a prestigious boarding school for girls. Just past the school is where the road from Tunbridge Wells comes into the village, and it is also where Fletching Street – the road I was looking for, comes in as well.

Fletching Street was quite narrow, and also drops away quite sharply, as it continues down towards lower ground. There are plenty of attractive houses and cottages on either side of this road, all looking their summer best with floral displays, flowering shrubs and other delightful seasonal blooms that look so good at this time of year. I passed the former Carpenter's Arms, about halfway down on the left, sadly closed but still displaying its name on the outside of the building. The Carpenter's was one of three Mayfield pubs that have closed sine that 1987 CAMRA guide appeared, and I also passed another – the former Royal Oak in the High Street, earlier in the day.

Eventually the Rose & Crown came into view. It is a delightful, white weather-boarded country pub set on a bank, overlooking a fork in the road. Internally the pub is divided into four areas, some for food, others with sofas, for lounging about on, but being such a fine day, I opted to take my drink, plus packet of Piper’s crisps, onto the terraced area at the front. There was a choice of two cask ales, Leveson Buck, a 3.7% Session IPA from Titsey Brewery, plus Pells Pale, a new-look beer from Harvey’s. Titsey seem to be getting around quite a bit of late, and I enjoyed a pint of their beer in Folkestone, a few weeks ago, but my loyalty to Harvey’s remained undiminished as I enjoyed a cool and refreshing pint of this fruity, hoppy and slightly dry pale ale.

A couple of tables away, two cyclist who had recently arrived, were sharing what sounded like a post mortem on a recent family wedding. I’m not sure how enthralled their audience was, but it appeared they had been overcharged for the prosecco. What else could it have been in Mayfield’s obvious monied community? 

Later on, I popped back inside to return my empty glass, thank the girl behind the bar and take a few photos. Before leaving though, I had a conversation which I fortunately manged to cut short, with a chap sitting at the bar. The alternative feel surrounding Mayfield was fair enough, but when the talk moved towards dodgy Russian money being laundered in the village (on flash-looking properties, presumably), it was time for me to leave.

I made my way back up the hill, thinking that despite the conspiracy theorist sat at the bar, the Rose & Crown would be a nice pub to return to, and take Eileen with me, as well. I was aiming for the Middle House Hotel, but first I needed something to eat, but not at posh-pub prices. Fortunately, the local and well-stocked Londis, opposite the posh school, came to my rescue, in the form of a chilled, but still tasty, Ginsters Cornish Pasty. I sat in the conveniently sited bus shelter, where I enjoyed this cheap and cheerful snack – Cooking Lager will no doubt soon be taking the piss, but what the hell.

I then crossed to the prestigious looking Middle House, a double-fronted building dating from 1575, with lots of intricate looking, black painted timbering, set against a white background. It has only functioned as a pub since 1927 and has a predictable and cosy old world feel to it. Internally there is a large bar area, with two large fireplaces at either end, plus there is a separate restaurant to the right of the main bar. There are one or two other rooms as well, but my initial thought upon walking in, were where is everybody?

That question was answered later, after I’d ordered myself a pint of Long Man Best Bitter. Cool, smooth and immaculately kept, which made the £5.10 price tag rather more acceptable. I asked the barman about sitting outside, and he directed me through the archway at the side of the pub, where I instantly discovered where everyone was! Moat were sat out on a large terrace area, overlooking an equally spacious garden, and as I wrote in my notes, this was where Mayfield’s beautiful people hang out. There seemed to be lots of family reunions/get-togethers taking place – A level result celebrations, possibly, taking place, but as well as various meals being consumed, the garden still seemed to welcome casual drinkers like me.

I hung my pint out a bit, as I wanted to catch the slower of the two buses back, in order to catch a glimpse of neighbouring Rotherfield. Unfortunately, the view from a single deck bus wasn’t quite the same as the double-deck bus I’d arrived on, but I still managed to clock the locations of Rotherfield’s two pubs, the King's Arms and the Catt’s Inn. Both looked appealing, and definitely worthy of a further trip, on the No.51 bus, next “Pub Friday.”