Mile Oak and Portslade are the furthest west boroughs of Brighton. Right on the boundary of East and West Sussex. There is a trail that goes all the way from the Docks to East Grinstead called The Mid Sussex link. Other notable paths include Monarch’s Way which also goes from the docks all the way to Worcester. It’s also one of the closets areas to the South Downs Way.
Mile Oak has the urban core with Easthill Park and Southwick Hill Recreation Ground being the main parks near the area. Though it is surrounded by The Downs on three sides, so you are never far from nature.
It is hilly round Mile Oak with the Mile Oak Farm to the north being in a bit of a dip before continuing uphill. To the west is the A27 tunnel that takes the road, and it’s noise, under the hill. This is also the place most of the trails converge and a lot of them go via the farm. There is a shop and customer toilets at the farm and apart from the main route north, all the paths go up steep hills.
The hills around Mile Oak include Southwick Hill, Thundersbarrow Hill, Cockroost Hill and Benfield Hill. Towards the east is Foredown Tower and there are quite a few tunnels and bridges over the A27. You are also under the flight path of both Gatwick and Brighton City Airport in Shoreham, so plenty of planes in all sizes. Also in the air you can often see gliders over The Downs and a range of birds.
From Mile Oak you can walk to the River to the west, The South Downs Way to the north, Devils Dyke to the east or the sea to the south. Another quite distinct feature of this area is the power lines connecting the power station in Shoreham to Gatwick and London. Which means it’s hard to avoid them.
There are a few Dew Ponds on some of the hills and mostly they have a mix of livestock, agriculture and horses as well as some open public spaces. To the south of Mile Oak there are a lot of allotments and the Other places of note are Emmaus Brighton & Hove and Mayberry Garden Centre on the Old Shoreham Road. Both have cafes and toilets.
To the north there is a path that goes around the top of the urban area and A27. One in-between the motorway and the houses and the other on the outside of both. You often see lots of butterflies over the summer.
