Last summer we were looking for some new places to go exploring outdoors and Lee remembered going to High Rocks in Tunbridge Wells when he was a teenager, so we decided to head to that area and take a look around.
We parked in the car park opposite the hotel on High Rocks Lane and started walking towards a wooded area near the back end of the car park, but the woodland was fenced off. In this area we did find lots of wildflowers, caterpillars and Shannon found a Holly Blue butterfly.
We checked out the prices for High Rocks and it would have cost £24 for us all to get in, so we kept walking and arrived at the entrance to Friezland Wood.
Friezland Wood, like HIgh Rocks, has unusual rock formations, the Ardingly Sandstone rocks are so unusual they have earned part of the site SSSI status and nurtured a rich mixture of lichens and ferns.
Wear tough shoes as the walk is quite steep and the rocks are pretty damp and mossy. The woodland also runs behind the Spa Valley Railway, so you may be lucky enough to see a steam train coming through. We all managed to climb up to the top and squeeze through a gap in two huge rocks and on the other side we found a tree with lots of ribbons hanging from it, we're guessing it's a wishing tree. Further on still we found a tree swing, which was pretty epic swinging over a huge slope.
Right at the top we reached a barley field and had a little walk about, again the edges of the field were fenced off, so that must be the boundaries of High Rocks.
Walking back to the car park along the front path of the woods next to the railway line, we found wild raspberries growing and blackberries starting to ripen.
The rock formations in Friezland are really cool, I've not seen anything like it before, possibly not the same as High Rocks, but at least we didn't have to pay anything for our day out.
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