Location
Emerson College is situated on the South Downs near Ashdown Forest – the largest forest in the south of England – on the outskirts of the village of Forest Row in East Sussex. Nearby is Winnie the Pooh country with the village of Hartfield and the thousand-acre wood (in Ashdown Forest). London is 30 miles to the North and Brighton and the South Coast are about 50 minutes drive to the South. London Gatwick airport is 30 minutes drive in a westerly direction and Royal Tunbridge Wells is 20 minutes drive to the east.
Local Community
The nearest village to Emerson College is Forest Row, only a 20 minute walk away. The walk leads through Tablehurst Farm; a community owned biodynamic farm of 250 acres that includes beef cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry. The farm mills wheat for 2 local bakeries, grows field vegetables and oats for animal feed. They have a butcher and a farm shop that are open three days per week. On the other side of Forest Row is Plawhatch Farm, a biodynamic dairy farm with and a vegetable garden and its own farm shop.
Forest Row has an HSBC bank (with an automatic cash machine), post office, clothing store, pharmacy, beauty and hairdressing salons, gardening/kitchen/camping store, craft shop, bakery and two small grocery stores. The Seasons sells wholefoods, biodynamic dairy produce and vegetables, toys, toiletries and a selection of anthroposophical books. The National Health Service and the local anthroposophical doctors all have their practices in Forest Row. The local Waldorf School, Michael Hall has kindergarten through upper school and there is a local Christian Community Church.
Most students here get around Forest Row by foot or by bicycle. If you have children it is difficult to manage without a car. Although it is fine for adults to ride bicycles to Emerson, it is not recommended that young children ride bicycles to school, as the roads are very narrow. Bus services to East Grinstead and Tunbridge Wells run a few times daily. British Rail runs a twice-hourly service to and from East Grinstead to London. There is also a National Express coach service operating three times daily from Eastbourne to London, via Forest Row.
The Campus
To view an image of the campus map please click here.
Google Map – Forest Row
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