The Enchanted Place (Ashdown Forest) National event and CSC round

Ashdown Forest, as many of you will know, is a very special place. It is managed by the Board of Conservators of Ashdown Forest, an independent body. In recognition of the ecological importance of Ashdown Forest and to ensure its protection, it is designated as a European Natura 2000 site and as a Site of Special Scientific Interest under UK legislation. Ashdown Forest is also within the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The Conservators have duties laid down by statute which include the following:

·       To regulate and manage the forest as an amenity and place of resort

·       To conserve it as a quiet and natural area of outstanding beauty

The Conservators are keen to raise the public’s (and hence our) awareness of their legal duty and, within this, their aim of balancing the interests of all users of the forest.

Please have particular regard therefore to the other users of the area, including all walkers, dog walkers and riders, all of whom are also seeking to enjoy their activities peacefully. Slow to a walk, keep especially quiet and keep a wide berth at any point where you meet horse riders.

 

What Price This Magical Place?

Imagine you were offered lifetime admission to a vast, enchanting park – a place where paths wind through woods and slopes, past streams, waterfalls, hidden gardens and magnificent views, a place whose wildlife and landscape can set your spirits soaring.

Most of us would probably be willing to pay a small admission charge for all this wouldn’t we?

In fact there’s no charge to enjoy Ashdown Forest – which at the moment offers all these things and more – and there won’t be. But if you’d like to keep the forest the way you love it the time has come to consider making a donation for its upkeep.

The reason is simple – the forest is losing public grants of £60,000 which help pay for its maintenance – from clearing up fly-tipping to cutting back dangerous roadside trees and from keeping car parks in good order to managing livestock.

So unless the guardians of the forest, the conservators, can raise this money elsewhere the forest will start to lose some of its shine.

That’s why they are now urgently appealing for donations from everyone who appreciates and enjoys the unique qualities of Ashdown Forest. Whether you are an occasional stroller or a regular dog-walker, a horse-rider or a nature-watcher, a picnicker or someone who scampers across the forest with the kids – please pause and think whether your life would be worse without it.

And if the answer to that question is yes, why not donate? Even small contributions of a few pounds will be warmly welcome.

There are a million visits to the forest each year and if each one resulted in a gift of just six pence it would close the funding gap the forest is facing.

Donating is easy – you can do it by sending a simple text (SMS) message from your mobile phone:

To do this, send:

ASHD001 to 70331 to give £3

ASHD001 to 70970 to give £5

ASHD001 to 70191 to give £10

Or you can make a donation via the fundraising web page at:

http://easydonate.org/ASHD001

Alternatively, the new 2019 Ashdown Forest car window sticker is now available on our webpage in Bronze, Silver and Gold.

www.ashdownforest.org

There’s a vast range of work the conservators and forest staff do to keep it at its best. That includes emergency help such as attending road accidents and deer collisions as well as the preservation and enhancement of the forest’s walks, rides, car parks and open spaces.

Donations have begun coming in from friends and supporters of the forest – please do take a moment to contribute if you’re able. It’s your ticket to enjoying Ashdown Forest forever.

 

Location

Nearest town: Upper Hartfield

• Grid Ref:
• Postcode: TN7 4EU
• Latitude: 51.06545
• Longitude: 0.09084
• Google Map
• Streetmap (OS 50k)
• Bing Map (OS 50k)
• OpenStreetMap

Directions / Parking

The event centre will be at the southern end of the mapped area close to the junctions of the B2026 and Kidd’s Hill Road south of Hartfield (between Forest Row and Groombridge).

We have recently been given permission to use the summer car park at Gills Lap North as our main car park, which is adjacent to the assembly area and start and finish. This car park is at TN7 4EU. Car parking will be spread across 2 car parks. Please can all competitors help by sharing cars as much as possible. The furthest car park will be at Four Counties, High Road car park at TN22 3JD from which there will be a 600m taped walk across open land (away from the road), but with one minor road crossing, to the Assembly Area and a further 200m walk to the Start. The Finish will be adjacent to the Assembly Area. A clothing dump will be provided.

Registration & Start Times

Registration/enquiries/SI card hire pick-up will be at assembly adjacent to the Gills Lap car park.

EOD registration from 10.30-12.00

Start times for CS Cup and Trophy will be preallocated. If you miss your start time you may have a long wait before you can be slotted in.

Start times for colour coded EOD courses 11.00-12.30 

There will be two starts; one for CS Cup and Trophy competitors and one for colour coded courses. Both starts are c 200m from assembly and close together. The finish is adjcent to assembly. 

Start procedure:

CS Cup and Trophy:

At -4: Callup & enter start lane for your course

-3: Loose control descriptions available

-2: Blank map to view

-1: Start announcements

 

A Start official will carry out an SI dibber Check – this is important to ensure SIAC cards are switched on.

Please arrive in time for your allocated Start – to have a start time changed you will need to visit Enquiries to get a card showing your revised time, for presentation at the Start. Start times will not be re-allocated by the Start officials.

 

Other courses (White, Yellow & Light Green) 

The Non-CompassSport courses (White, Yellow & Light Green) will have a separate Start, adjacent to the main Start.

 

Amended start times

Course Information

‘The Enchanted Place’ is the eastern part of Ashdown Forest; named by association with the fictional teddy bear, Winnie-the-Pooh; created by A.A. Milne, the British author and playwright; and the adventures Pooh and his friends had on this part of the forest. We hope you enjoy your ‘adventures’ here!

The area has been professionally resurveyed and redrawn by Dave Peel in Spring 2018. Minor planning updates early 2019. It is A3, 1:10,000 scale, 5 metre contours, ISOM2017, overprinted and waterproof.

This part of Ashdown Forest has lots (lots) of ‘lumps and bumps’. The mapper has, fortunately, not attempted to map everything, but to concentrate on the larger features and ‘use contours to show how land forms are not isolated features but are inter-connected, giving a clearer picture of the terrain’. There is one non-IOF symbol used on the map - a small brown triangle to represent a platform.

 

Compass Sport Cup/Trophy courses all subject to final controlling

No.	C.S. class	Age class	Length km	Climb m	Controls
1	Brown men	Open	9.4	340	27
2	Short brown	M20- M40+	7.6	280	25
3	Blue women	Women open	6.1	245	19
4	Blue men	M50+	6.2	250	18
5	Green women	W20- W45+	4.1	185	15
6 8A	Green men Junior men green	M60+ M18-	4.2	165	14
7	Short Green	M70+ W60+	3.5	145	11
8B 10	Junior women / Super vets short green	W18- M80+ w70+	3.5	140	11
9A/9B	Orange	M14- W14-	2.3	90	10

Courses 1-4 have two road crossings (with controls close to each side), which will be timed out for up to two minutes on each occasion. These crossing points will not be manned. Please cross carefully. Courses 3 and 4 use the same
road crossing twice.

Other courses

No.	Name	Length km	Climb m	Controls
11	Light green	3.5	100	13
12	Yellow	2.3	90	8
13	White	1.3	65	7

The White course uses the same control as both no.1 and later as no.6. Please ensure that competitors on this course are aware of this.

Roads: all roads and grass verges along roads are out of bounds (except at crossing points) and are marked so on the map by a purple X.

 

Fences/forest management: over recent months, the Conservators have erected electric fences around three large areas of heathland, to provide cattle grazing as part of their forest management. Some courses run along side this fencing, but no courses require entry into these areas. On no account should these fences be crossed or touched! Within the fenced areas (and elsewhere) there has been some forest management resulting in clearance of gorse. The fenced areas have not been re-mapped, but elsewhere, in the location of control sites, the map has been updated. Forestry management is ongoing and any issues relevant to courses will be displayed at the start.

 

Control descriptions: will be on the map. Loose control descriptions will be available at the start.

 

Punching: SIAC wil be enabled for this event. In the event of failure of a unit please use the pin punch attached to the unit to register your visit. There will be boxes marked on your map for this purpose.

 

Naughty numbers: there will be a free 'naughty numbers' course for juniors in the copse near the finish.

 

Courses close at 14.30. Please ensure you have downloaded before you leave the area.

 

Safety notes

Safety bearing if lost: South to road and then to Assembly Area.

All competitors must have full leg protection.

Participants will be required to carry a cagoule if weather warrants this.

Lone competitors will be able to leave car keys at Registration in Assembly.

The competition map will have an emergency phone number (for the organiser). 

 

Don't forget!!

The JK closing date is Sunday 24th March.  If you have not yet entered, don't forget to do so in the next few days.  

 

 

 

Explanation of colour courses

• White are very easy with all controls on paths. They are mainly used by 6-10 year olds and family groups.
• Yellow use simple linear features like paths, walls and streams. They are mainly used by under 12’s and family groups.
• Orange progress to basic use of the compass and route choice. They are ideal for novice adults or experienced youngsters.
• Light Green are ideal for improvers as the navigational difficulty begins to increase and uses simple contours and point features.
• Green are used mostly by experienced under 18’s and adults wanting a short but challenging course with a very hard navigational difficulty.
• Blue are a longer, more physically demanding course in comparison to the green. The distances are more varied between controls and the course attracts experienced orienteers.
• Brown & Black are very physically demanding and have a very hard navigational difficulty. They are for experienced orienteers only.
• Score means visiting as many controls as possible in any order in a specific time, like 45mins.

Entry Details

CS Cup and Trophy entries are via club captains only.

Full details have been e-mailed to club captains. There will no Entry on the Day for these courses.

For non CSC competitors there will be Light Green, Yellow and White courses available which will be Entry on the Day only.

EOD fees will be:

Seniors £12.00 (£10.00 with BO discount)

Juniors £7.00 (£5.00 with BO discount)

 

SIAC electronic punching will be enabled on all courses. For those without a SIAC card these can be hired for £2.50 each, subject to availability, but 'normal' dibbers will also work; Non SIAC dibber hire £1.00

Terrain Description

The western part of the area is on a north facing downward slope and comprises a mixture of mainly beautiful runnable woodland and rough open heathland containing a variety of features. The larger eastern part is on an east facing slope down to a river valley with an upward slope to the east and south.
The open heathland consists of gorse, heather, some bracken, tussock grass and marshy bits. Generally, runnability may be reduced in places by the tussocks, heather, marshes and gorse. The marshes are generally very slow with large tussocks. The area has extensive gorse cover and large ‘thickets’ have been well mapped with the ‘fight’ vegetation screen. The Planner has attempted to keep courses largely in the woodland and use the best parts of the heathland, though the longest courses, especially, will encounter some of the more ‘challenging’ terrain.
In the woodland, hides appear and disappear regularly. These are not mapped, save for one built by the Planner which serves as a control feature (denoted on the map by a black x). If the period leading up to the event is particularly wet, some ground features such as pits and depressions may contain water and appear as wet pits/depressions/ponds.

A previous version of the map from 2009 is available here: Enchanted place (2009)

Facilities

CLUB TENTS OR BANNERS WILL NOT BE PERMITTED BUT THERE IS A WELL DRAINED SHELTERED COPSE ADJACENT TO THE ASSEMBLY AREA WHERE COMPETITIORS MAY WISH TO SHELTER FROM ADVERSE WEATHER. 

A clothing dump will be provided in this area close to Registration

Portable toilets will be situated in Gills Lap car park.

Dogs allowed?

Dogs are allowed in the car park and on the event area, but must be kept on a lead at all times as the area is heavily used by horse riders.

Contacts / Officials

Organiser: graham thomas

Planner: Dave Kingdon

Controller: Andrew Evans