Beckley, East Sussex
Beckley is a village and civil parish in the Rother district of East Sussex, England. It is located on the B2088 minor road above the Rother Levels five miles northwest of Rye and ten miles from Hastings.
A little to the south of the village is the large expanse of Beckley Woods. Comprising two hundred and fifty acres of mixed woodland and spreading over three miles from north to south, it is just over a mile wide. Managed by the Woodland Trust for public use, it has an array of wildlife which includes wild boar. These undulating woods form a hump between the valleys of the rivers Rother and Tillingham. A mile long cutting through the woods leads to the neighbouring village of Peasmarsh. Again this is a village which moved nearly a mile away from its original location, close to the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, following the devastating plague in the fourteenth century. The survivors and newcomers preferring to build along the road which lead eventually to London. The road is lined with a pleasing mixture of weather boarded cottages, some of them thatched, copses of trees and some grander Georgian houses, one of the largest of which, is the Flackley Ash Hotel and Spa.
The village of Beckley, is surrounded by undulating countryside in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The village has an ancient parish church and numerous Grade II Listed buildings, a public house, a primary school and a petrol station and repair garage. Within two miles is the village of Northiam with local village stores, public house, church, sub post office, doctors' surgery, optician, primary school and veterinary surgery. The neighbouring village of Peasmarsh is an independent superstore. To the north is the Wealden town of Tenterden with tree-lined high street, Waitrose supermarket and leisure centre. 7 miles to the south is the Ancient Town and Cinque Port of Rye, famed for its historical associations, period architecture, medieval fortifications and cobbled ways. The town offers a range of local shops, restaurants and train services on the Brighton to Ashford branch line with fast connections to London St Pancras (37 minutes) and the Continent. Further train services are available from Etchingham (14 miles) or Robertsbridge (9 miles) stations with connections for London, Charing Cross and Cannon Street (I hour 16 mins).