The reason for the gap between the two parts of the village is unclear but it is generally thought to be a consequence of plague in the 17th century which necessitated the temporary abandonment of the main settlement and its church.

Some have noted that if the estate had entered public ownership it would have been at the heart of the South Downs National Park and could have been driving forward sustainable farming and landscape restoration.

There are a number of tracks up to the summit including paths from Crabtree Bottom, Danny House, Clayton and Pycombe.

There are old anthills, wild marjoram, knapweed, betony and Devil's bit scabious and the blue butterflies that thrive on them.

[16] Pyecombe Golf Course (TQ 303 123) was built on an exhilarating area of ancient Down pasture and chalk heath in 1894.

The area includes Rag Bottom, which was remote enough to be a cockfighting venue before the golf course's construction[17] and the windy Middle Brow.

Golfers and nature conservationists are not always good bed fellows, but in this case, the golf course saved the Downs' archaic chalk grassland from being ploughed out as most of it has.

On Middle Brow one can find heath bedstraw, heath speedwell, slender St John's-wort, tormentil, dyers greenweed and even ling heather a and other calcifuge plants, alongside fragrant orchis, rockrose, harebell, betony, eyebright and yellow rattle.

The deep coombes to the west and east of Pangdean Farm have rich biodiversity and the din of the road quietens.

The west slope (TQ 293 113) has lots of rockrose, pride of Sussex, orchids, tormentil and autumn gentian.

[16] Pangdean Holt (TQ 300 112), north west of the Chattri, up and east from the farmstead and south of the golf club is an ancient woodland.

The scrub at the head of the valley is old and diverse, with wayfaring tree, old man's beard, honeysuckle, hazel, and gorse.

[16] In July 2021 the Sussex-based 'Landscapes of Freedom' group, together with Nick Hayes and Guy Shrubsole of the 'Right to Roam' network, organised a mass trespass in protest against the lack of public access to this valley and its management for game bird shooting, which has badly affected its chalk grassland wildlife.

[20] The public are actively discouraged from walking in the area and scrub has been allowed to grow on the pristine downland, whilst other parts have been ploughed out.