Lottery cash has been set aside to restore treasured ancient areas of Sussex countryside.

Weald Forest Ridge, which stretches from Tonbridge to Horsham, is due to benefit from a £5.5 million package from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The area, in the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, includes Ashdown Forest, near East Grinstead - the setting for AA Milne's Winnie The Pooh stories - and St Leonard's Forest, near Horsham.

A conservation partnership applied for about £2 million to improve the area's natural habitats and restore fragments of four medieval forests.

Aerial mapping will be used to identify the area's archaeology, while landowners will be helped to produce and sell wood products such as charcoal.

Broadwater Warren, a lost forest dating back to the Middle Ages, is due to become the largest heathland restoration project in the South East under the scheme.

The Weald Forest Ridge Landscape Partnership, including district and county councils in Sussex, the Countryside Agency, the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs and English Heritage, has already contributed £1,327,093 to the scheme.

It aims to make the area accessible to 350,000 people living in Horsham, Crawley, Haywards Heath, East Grinstead, Crowborough, Uckfield, Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge.

Wealden District Councillor Keith Whitehead told The Argus: "I am very pleased at this news.

"The area is very much an asset to the Wealden area and we have got to make sure when people use it they use it properly and it is maintained."

Charles Lant, the council's chief executive, said: "Forest Ridge is a vital part of our landscape heritage.

"If we have been given the full grant, it will make a substantial contribution to improving access to the area and maintaining and preserving some important habitats."

Weald Forest Ridge, which in Roman and Tudor times was a heartland for the iron industry, contains some of Britain's oldest woodland.

The lilies growing in St Leonard's Forest are traditionally said to mark where the spots where French hermit St Leonard shed his blood during a legendary fight with a dragon.

Apart from Winnie The Pooh fans and naturalists, rock climbers are also attracted to the Weald Forest Ridge to practise on its sandrock outcrops.

The Heritage Lottery Fund money is being shared with similar projects at Wyre Forest in Worcestershire and Sandstone Ridge in Cheshire.

Barry Gardiner, the Government minister for biodiversity, landscape and rural affairs, said: "Our landscapes are vital for lots of reasons - for our countryside, for people, for wildlife, for the economy and for the environment.

"The money awarded today by the Heritage Lottery Fund will help people and communities to work together to create tomorrow's living landscapes, protecting and enhancing habitats and local environments for the benefit of all."