June Walks Giveaway: East Dean & the Birling Gap

This walk is reproduced from our popular walking book 'Guide to East Sussex Pub Walks' 

📥 To download this walk and take it with you, click here!

EAST DEAN & THE BIRLING GAP, EAST SUSSEX

Distance: 3 miles 

WALK HIGHLIGHTS

This super walk begins at the scenic village green that fronts the Tiger Inn. Soon after leaving the pub, the route makes a short climb to the top of the Seven Sisters Country Park, where the views are stunning. Descending into Birling Gap, the circuit skirts a cliff topped by Belle Tout Lighthouse to meet the turning point, where an easy stroll through rolling farmland returns you to the village. 

RECOMMENDED PUB (in case you’re reading this in the future, when pubs are open again) 

The Tiger Inn, BN20 0DA 

HOW TO GET THERE & PARKING 

East Dean is just south of the A259, 2½ miles west of Eastbourne. A couple of hundred metres after leaving the A259, turn right into Village Green Lane for the car park. There is no parking available at the pub itself. Sat nav BN20 0DL.

THE WALK

1. From the car park, walk away from the road to meet the village green and the Tiger Inn. Turn left, and with your back to the pub, go ahead  along the left side of the green to meet a lane. Go diagonally left, and continue along Went Way.

2. At the road’s end, go through a gate, and follow a path uphill through woodland to reach open downs. Press on ahead, and pass an isolated barn. Keep ahead, aiming just to the right of a house in the distance. Pass through two pedestrian gates to meet a rough track by the house.

3. Follow the track left and downhill to meet the car parks and café at Birling Gap, where the more adventurous can descend the steps to the beach. The route continues ahead through a car park beside a telephone box. Avoid the steep uphill path, and go to the end of the car park beside the road, before continuing along a well-trodden path that skirts the foot of the hill.

4. After passing through woodland, the path crosses open downland, where you should look out for the concrete drive to Cornish Farm across the road to your left. Now follow this drive until it bends right to the farm. Leave the drive here by continuing ahead alongside a couple of large fields until you meet a gate. Go ahead on a curving path lined by trees and continue along the drive of Birling Farm to join Birling Gap Road.

5. Press on ahead on a wide grassy strip beside the road; pass the village cricket pitch and some houses to return to the car park and the Tiger Inn.

PLACES OF INTEREST NEARBY

Beachy Head Countryside & Visitor Centre is located further along Beachy Head Road, and is close to the famous, dramatic clifftop that forms the eastern gateway to the South Downs National Park. The exhibits describe the flora and fauna of the downland, as well as the feat of building the Beachy Head Lighthouse below the cliffs. 

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