The winding and undulating parish lanes between banks, old hedge rows, trees, flowery verges and ditches are popular with cyclists and give good views of the Downs.

It lies just off the A275 which runs between Lewes and Forest Row, although the road passes through Hamsey parish at Offham and Cooksbridge.

The fine medieval ex-parish Church of Old St. Peter's (now a Chapel of Ease) sits on a promontory amongst the meadows of the River Ouse.

Internal shifts in population and in the central focus of the then largest estate (Coombe Place) drove a decision (1859) to build a new replacement church in the hamlet of Offham (this one was also dedicated to St. Peter).

The managed chalk pits were a place of rich biodiversity with many rare species and were used by local people for recreation and wild camping.

The northern chalk pit has signs threatening £20,000 fines to be issued by Natural England for wild camping on the site.

[3] However, in folklore the village got its name from the cooks who fed the soldiers of Simon de Montfort from the bridge on their way to the Battle of Lewes in 1264.

However, there are still small areas of archaic meadow, such as the banks of the Hamsey Loop, which can host the rare corky-fruited water dropwort (recorded in 2012) and other colourful flowers.

A proposal to reinstate services between the two stations intends to use the Hamsey Loop, but much of the natural beauty of the water land corridor created by the Ouse would be under threat from such a development.

It is a gill wood along the western-side of the Bevern stream with wild service, sessile oak and crab apple trees.

[5] Folly Wood (TQ 399 153) has many Bluebells under hazel coppice, with some Hornbeam and much scots pine at the east and west end.

After the collapse of the navigation in 1870 Salmon recolonised the Ouse until the hot summer of 1976 and the new weir at Buxted eliminated the last breeding group.

It is last parish (or first) of the Clayton to Offham Escarpment which is a ten kilometre stretch of north-facing scarp that has been designed a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Most of the chalk pits are pre-industrial in origin and fine sheep fescue sward has grown over them, giving them distinct qualities and richness.

The Offham Road, outside the Inn, goes over a steep chute which took chalk from the Pit down to barges moored on the Chalkpit Cut.

In the past they were grazed as part of those Down pastures and bee, pyramidal, spotted and even musk orchids can be found there, with viper’s bugloss, devil’s-bit and small-flowered sweet-briar.

The thin open sward enables blue fleabane and autumn gentian to thrive and many chalkland butterflies benefit.

Seas of cotoneaster, privet, sycamore, ash, and other scrub species are already over the whole of the river cliffs and the brow of Offham Hill, which were open turf before the second world war.

When this process finishes this area that is enjoyed by so many for its beautiful views over the Ouse valley and special wildlife will be gone, yet if it were just grazed, it could be saved.

The covered reservoir, like so many, had a good Down pasture flora with rockrose, cistus forester moth, and old anthills.

It is thought that after marching from Fletching, the London troops under Simon De Montfort walked up this bostal on the dawn of the day of the Battle of Lewes.

Although it is part of an SSSI, in 1997 the farmer wished to plough much of the tractor accessible ground to grow flax, which was then attracting hefty European Union subsidies even on such protected sites.

The struggle then escalated and conservationists demonstrated, set up camp on the land and started to organize its ‘unploughing’ by turning over and refitting the sods.

The plantation has a cool and lofty interior of tall ash, sycamore, surviving beech and occasional horse chestnut.

The fallen beech carcasses are home to many fungi including green stain, turkey tail, lemon disco, jelly rot, porcelain fungus and dryad's saddle.

[18] Lewes Council bought 110 acres of ex-arable in the Bottom, principally to stop soil erosion from irresponsible winter ploughing.

[19] The landfilled quarry has a large pond which is home to tufted duck and great crested grebe, with many mayflies in summer dancing above it - and feeding the swallows that skim the water to eat them.