Maresfield

Maresfield spent most of its history belonging to somebody: first the ironmasters casting cannon for Henry VIII, then a count from Hanover who lost the whole estate to the War Office in 1914. It still has the air of a place waiting to be told what to do. These days the orders come from the A22, whose bypass took the traffic away and left the village with Ashdown Forest on one side, Uckfield on the other, and two cars on most drives, because nothing here gets done without one. It suits people who wanted the forest postcode and the quiet that comes with it, and who are slowly working out that the quiet was the entire offer.