Chelwood Gate: an Ashdown Forest village with political and literary echoes

Chelwood Gate is a small village in the Wealden district of East Sussex, within the civil parish of Danehill and near the West Sussex border. Its name reflects its historic role as one of the entrances into Ashdown Forest. The village later gained wider recognition through its association with Harold Macmillan, whose family home Birch Grove stood nearby, and through John F. Kennedy's visit to the area in 1963.
Distance: about 6.6 miles south-east of Uckfield, close to the A22.
Traditions and culture: village life centres on its hall, market and church, while the surrounding forest landscape gives it a strong local identity.
Highlights: the edge of Ashdown Forest, the Red Lion, the memorial linked to Kennedy's 1963 visit, Chelwood Gate Church, and the nearby Cats Protection National Cat Centre.