From 1994 to 2008 the Green Circle Friends group was called the Friends of Bedelands Farm Local Nature Reserve.  This organisation was specific to one site of 33 hectares on the northern edge of Burgess Hill.  We helped the landowners, Mid Sussex District Council, transform it from a farm to a nature reserve and received national awards for our joint efforts with a Millennium Marque in 2000 and four Green Flag awards from 2004.

In response to the needs of other sites around the town we decided to include all wildlife sites within our remit, bringing the total area to around 120 hectares.  We fully realise that conserving only one area of the town does not offer a sustainable future for wildlife.  It needs a living landscape with good connectivity, so we are not only helping to look after existing areas but also identifying potential new sites and ensuring that all of them are not built upon.  In this way we can conserve the best sites around the town with wide corridors through which the public can have good access via cycle routes suitable for pedestrians, wheelchair users and equestrians where possible.  More sites will become nature reserves in 2010 and most are already Biodiversity Opportunity Areas (No. 60 - Burgess Hill Green Crescent).

Please browse our site and discover the delights of the Mid Sussex countryside.  We have a mammoth task facing us, to identify the best areas through scientific surveys, decide on how best to enhance them through long-term management plans and then find the funds and time necessary to implement them.  Please join us in this mission and enjoy the rewards of our efforts that future generations will benefit from. 

Roy Ticehurst (Chairman)

If you would like to visit nearly all the sites then the attached file recommends a circular route around the town Click here to download (pdf 348 Kb)