About Buttons

This enclave is mentioned in the Domesday Book and was originally known as ‘Baldees’ but was renamed after Arthur Button bought it in May 1655. 

 

Buttons is a beautiful, exclusive and secluded part of England and Buttons Barn is at the boundary of Wadhurst Park – a fifteen hundred acre privately owned estate with over 1000 deer of seven species, including the second largest herd in the world of the rare Pére David.

The ‘rut’ throughout October and November is a once in a lifetime spectacle.  There is a footpath which runs through the Wadhurst Park grounds and it is possible to observe the deer at a close but safe distance.

Buttons Barn and Buttons House were once part of the Wadhurst Park Estate - as were the other farms in the area including Scrag Oak, Snape Farm and Flattenden.  King Edward VII was a frequent visitor to Wadhurst Park and Edward VIII and Mrs Simpson frequently visited friends at Wenbans - a romantic retreat a short distance from Buttons where Edward made a heart shaped rose garden for Mrs Simpson which survives to this day. The area is little altered over the past few hundred years and it is an extremely relaxing and tranquil place.

The narrow lane to Buttons meanders through lovely countryside and is virtually traffic free with just an occasional tractor or herd of cows.  There are few properties here and it is little used.  The air is noticeably clean and unpolluted.  

A peaceful retreat and a paradise for walkers, there are a large number of rarely trod footpaths in the area and unspoilt country pubs with good food and real ale.  Lots of suggestions and local maps are provided in the information pack

Wildlife abounds and you will hear tawny, barn and little owls hooting in the late evenings and sometimes see them flying at dusk.  There are foxes, badgers, deer, rabbits, woodpeckers, kestrels and a large variety of common and rare birds. There are occasional renditions by nightingales in July and August as night falls.  The lanes are full of wild flowers, including some rare orchids and unusual species peculiar to Sussex.  In spring the hedges and woodlands are awash with bluebells and wild garlic and in autumn the rich colours on bright days in this hilly landscape are particularly glorious.  At night the stars seem incredibly numerous, bright and clear because of the absence of ambient and street lighting.

Fifty miles south of London, Wadhurst lies at the heart of the romano-saxon iron industry. The huge wealth of the iron masters of Wadhurst over many centuries can still be witnessed in their grand country houses and estates and the hand forged iron covers to their tombs set in the floor and walls of the Norman church in the village. Oak from Wadhurst was purchased by Richard II and used in the roof of Palace of Westminster, these trees being 'stronger and straighter than any other oak in the land'.