Editing Ashdown Forest (section)

===Recreational, sports and leisure activities===
Ashdown Forest is very popular with walkers. Two long-distance footpaths, the [[Vanguard Way]] and [[Wealdway]] cross the forest and meet near Old Lodge. The Wealdway passes through Five Hundred Acre Wood, the [[Hundred Acre Wood]] of the Winnie-the-Pooh stories. The ''Ashdown Forest Centre'' produces a series of leaflets detailing walks in various parts of the forest, which may also be downloaded from its website.<ref>
{{cite web
 |url=http://www.ashdownforest.org/downloads/downloads_all.php 
 |title=Ashdown Forest, home of the Conservators and Pooh Bear 
 |access-date=17 March 2010 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100223050629/http://www.ashdownforest.org/downloads/downloads_all.php 
 |archive-date=23 February 2010 
}} Source of Ashdown Forest walks leaflets</ref>

There are {{convert|82|mi|km}} of tracks on the forest that may be ridden by horse once an annual permit has been obtained from the conservators. The main horse-riding organisation is the ''Ashdown Forest Riding Association'', which has around 200 members.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.afranews.org.uk|title=Ashdown Forest Riding Association|website=Afranews.org.uk|access-date=16 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170921120500/http://afranews.org.uk/|archive-date=21 September 2017|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

The forest, with its attractive landscapes, vistas and hills, is a popular destination for road cyclists, races and cyclosportives such as the ''Hell of the Ashdown''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hell.gb.com/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100111032119/http://hell.gb.com/|url-status=dead|archive-date=11 January 2010|title=The Hell of Ashdown - Welcome|date=11 January 2010|access-date=16 December 2017}}</ref> Former Tour de France rider [[Sean Yates]] lives at [[Forest Row]] and has taken [[Lance Armstrong]] training here. Off-road cycling and mountain biking is prohibited for environmental reasons, except along public bridleways. A local pressure group is campaigning for this ban to be lifted.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ashdowncc.org |title=Ashdown Cycling Campaign |access-date=16 March 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090804085340/http://www.ashdowncc.org/ |archive-date=4 August 2009 }} Ashdown Cycling Campaign website</ref>

The ''Royal Ashdown Forest Golf Club'' occupies a large area of leasehold land in the northern part of the forest near Forest Row. It is a traditional members' club founded in 1888 at the instigation of Earl De La Warr, lord of the manor, who became its first president. Its two 18-hole heathland courses are notable for the absence of bunkers (at the insistence of the conservators). As elsewhere in Ashdown Forest, trees and bracken scrub have invaded following the cessation of grazing and decreased wood cutting by the commoners, and the club is working with the conservators to restore the golf courses to their original heathland character.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.royalashdown.co.uk|title=Home|website=Royalashdown.co.uk|access-date=16 December 2017}}</ref>

The principal hotel within the forest is the ''Ashdown Park Hotel & Country Club'', a listed 19th-century mansion house set in {{convert|186|acre|km2}}.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ashdownpark.com|title=Hotels in Sussex - Ashdown Park Luxury Spa Hotel East Grinstead, Sussex|website=Ashdownpark.com|access-date=16 December 2017}}</ref>