The River Ouse and Andrew's Stream, one of its tributaries and popular for fishing, flow through the area and Barcombe Reservoir is adjacent.

[1] Although the original mills were destroyed by fire in 1939, several pillboxes from the Second World War, a beautiful large brick bridge and many weirs remain.

This public house, however, is situated about a kilometre to the north of the main hamlet and cannot be accessed directly by road from Barcombe Mills.

It can also be reached by car by driving into the village of Barcombe Cross and turning right; it is then signposted down the dead-end Anchor Lane.

Many more houses were also present at one time when the oil mills and the button factory still existed on the banks of the Ouse.

The tributaries, weirs and millstreams cut to feed this are still obvious today – this is why the river takes such a bizarre course at Barcombe Mills.

The fields around Barcombe Mills sometimes flood in winter, occasionally closing the road which bypasses the hamlet.

A few of the hamlet's lower-lying houses were damaged by water when the Ouse in Lewes flooded in October 2000, described as a "once in a hundred years" event.

The area is extremely popular with visitors in the summer who come to enjoy the beautiful riverside scenery on foot or by bicycle.

The campaign has featured much prominence at national level [citation needed], however a study by Network Rail considered the reopening technically but not economically feasible.