A tree-lined avenue leads from the village green while a few yards away sit a row of medieval cottages. Except ... they're not.

In Bolnore Village, history is made up. Only a few months ago the 150-acre site was nothing but a field.

The new estate of 800 houses being built by developers Crest Nicholson will be the biggest housing development in Haywards Heath for decades.

The developers' vision is of an imaginary village from days of old, in which several hundred houses will appear during the next few years, giving the impression that the settlement has developed in an historical context.

But opponents have likened the development - where prices for homes will range from £164,000 to £525,000 - to Disneyland.

Brochures describe Bolnore as a traditional English village in the making. Architects scoured the county for inspiration to create the feel of a settlement founded more than 300 years ago.

Project director Andrew Yeardley said: "We want it to have a sense of place, a sense that it's a real place with its own identity, not just another housing estate.

"It's not easy to create that feel if it hasn't evolved naturally but we hope we have put everything in place to at least kick-start that process."

Based around the 19th Century Bolnore House, which overlooks the site, the new village centre will comprise two areas, Upper and Lower Bolnore.

Upper Bolnore will have a network of streets, lanes, a primary school and a church tower as a focal point.

The next phase of building will be towards the railway, from which the development may take on a Victorian theme.

However, the plan has not won universal approval.

Gladys Bunn, chairwoman of the Haywards Heath Society, said: "This is a Peter Pan Never Never Land sort of thing.

"The land and the setting has a history but to try to pretend this is a village with a history is stupid. It's a Disney-like village."