By the Bluebell Railway at Horsted Keynes

There is something wonderfully evocative about the sound of an approaching steam train. Even standing on the platform of a restored station and gazing at the livery, the bookstalls and the adverts for seaside holidays can rekindle a host of cherished memories. Horsted Keynes station is just such a place, a railway enthusiast’s dream come true. The station lies on the famous Bluebell Railway, a popular attraction since it came in to private ownership in 1960, with a section of line reopening within two years of its closure by British Rail.

Volunteers and dedicated members of its preservation society have played a crucial role in establishing, restoring and maintaining the railway. Being the first heritage railway to open in Britain, it managed to obtain an impressive number of railway-related items, including some wonderful period carriages that include a 1913 observation car, locomotives, old signs and station furnishings. The intention is to recreate a sleepy Sussex junction in the years before World War II.

Over the years the railway has featured in several television adverts, dramas and films. Its numerous appearances have included the films Room with a View and Miss Potter, as well as appearing as Downton station in the TV series Downton Abbey. The other stations on the line also have an enchanting period setting: Kingscote evokes the 1950s, while Sheffield Park, with its old station lamps and vintage enamel advertisements, recreates a country railway station of the 1880s.

For years the restorers’ dream was to link the Bluebell Railway with the main network at East Grinstead once again. In the way, however was a mountain of household rubbish dumped by the council. After much money and volunteer effort that has now been removed and the line has been reopened. In 2013, the dream became a reality.

Opposite the village sign by the Crown Inn, go down Church Lane, bearing right downhill at the next junction and turning left immediately beyond a tile hung cottage called Timbers, on a path between fences. Go through a gate and into the trees, past a pond. Beyond a kissing gate, reach a junction with a path and continue ahead up a path that immediately drops to a junction by a signpost. Go straight over, past an angling club sign, and pass along the left side of a lake.

Just after a weir keep left at the fork, over plank footbridges. Carry on in this direction past a public footpath sign, emerge into a field and carry on to reach a road. Turn right on the road for 80yds (73m), then go left opposite a house on a signposted path between fences, skirting paddocks. Emerge on grass above Horsted Keynes station, and turn left to look at the station.

With the station on your left, walk up the track, keeping the railway line on your left. Just after the track veers left, cross the footbridge, turning right on the opposite side of the track. Follow the path as it heads away from the Bluebell Railway before quickly returning to the line. Turn left and walk alongside it.

At a footpath sign, cross the track to a stile, now keeping the railway on your left. Go over a minor lane (which goes over a bridge to your left), and keep alongside the right-hand edge of two fields to a gate. Follow the path across the pasture to the next stile and follow the path beyond.

Turn left on the road for about 60yds (54m) to a signposted gate on the right. Follow the path down the field and into some woodland, crossing a narrow walkway (care needed) along the rim of a pond. Turn left on the other side, up through the trees to a field, turn left and follow the path right, around the field-edge, and down to a gap in the vegetation and trees. Descend to a footbridge and go up to a kissing gate and field. Bear left and skirt the pasture to a stile and gate. Exit to the road, turn right along it, then left at the next junction into Broadhurst Manor Road.

Bear right at the West Sussex Border Path sign and walk along to the entrance to Broadhurst Manor. Veer right at the pond, still on the waymarked trail, which bends left, and follow the signposted track past a series of ponds to Broadhurst Lake on the left. Continue into Church Lane to reach the church of St Giles. When the lane veers right into Leighton Road, go straight on to return to Horsted Keynes village centre and the green.