Free ice skating returns to Burgess Hill on 28 and 29 November, skates provided and no booking. Times, where it is, and the paid rink at Ardingly's Winter Fair.

Yes, there is an ice rink in Mid Sussex this Christmas, but only for one weekend. Burgess Hill Town Council is putting a free synthetic ice rink on Church Walk for the last two days of its Christmas Festival, Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 November 2026. (Burgess Hill Town Council, Christmas Festival programme)

The quick answer

  • When: Saturday 28 November, 10am to 8pm, and Sunday 29 November, 10am to 4pm.
  • Where: outside the town council’s Help Point, 96 Church Walk, Burgess Hill, RH15 9AS.
  • Price: free. Skates are provided.
  • Booking: none. The council says “no advance booking required”.
  • Real ice? No. It is a synthetic rink, as the council’s earlier ones were.

What the council has published

The festival programme describes it in a few lines: “Enjoy FREE skating for the whole family! Outside the Help Point on Church Walk. Saturday 28, 10am-8pm & Sunday 29, 10am-4pm. No advance booking required, skates provided.” It says the rink is partly funded by Burgess Hill District Lions.

That is all that has been published so far. The council has not said how many people the rink holds at once, whether sessions are timed, or whether there is a minimum age or height. With no booking, expect to queue at the busiest times: the Saturday is the festival’s fullest day, and the In Yer Face headline set runs from 5.30pm to 8pm on the stage further along Church Walk. We will add any rules the council publishes.

The rest of that weekend

The rink sits in the middle of a four-day festival. A snow globe you can climb inside runs alongside it at the same hours, free. On the Saturday there is a free Santa’s grotto (booking required that day only), The Nutcracker and the Mouse King at Cyprus Hall at 12.15pm and 2.15pm for £5, and a crafters market at The Hub until 8pm. The Christmas lights go on two days earlier, at 5pm on Thursday 26 November. The full timetable is on our Burgess Hill Christmas Festival page.

How this compares with past years

Free skating in Burgess Hill has come and gone. Mid Sussex District Council and NewRiver, the Martlets’ redevelopment partner, paid for a synthetic rink in the Martlets Marquee from 23 November to 8 December 2024, open on ten selected days. That one needed one-hour sessions booked in advance. (Mid Sussex District Council, Get your skates on for the festive season, 6 November 2024)

In 2022 the district council worked with the town council on free skating as part of its “Ho-Ho Holiday Fun” programme. (Mid Sussex District Council, 22 November 2022)

This year’s rink is shorter, two days instead of ten, but it is drop-in rather than pre-booked.

Skating at the Winter Fair, Ardingly

The South of England Winter Fair at the showground in Ardingly, on Saturday 21 November, 9am to 5pm, and Sunday 22 November, 9am to 4pm, lists ice skating among its attractions at an extra cost on top of entry, which is £9.45 for adults bought by 13 November. The fair’s own page says skating “can be booked in advance”, but on 24 October its booking link still opened the 2025 fair’s sessions, so 2026 skating times and prices are not yet published. Our Christmas markets page has the full fair details. (South of England Agricultural Society, Winter Fair)

Getting there

Church Walk is pedestrianised. District council car park charges in Burgess Hill run 8am to 6pm Monday to Saturday and 9am to 5pm on Sunday, so the Saturday evening skating after 6pm is free to park for. The Martlets multi-storey closed for good on 31 March 2026, so there are fewer town centre spaces than at the 2024 rink. Charges and car parks are on our parking page, and any town centre works that weekend will be on our roadworks and travel page.

Everything else on in the district is on our What’s On in Mid Sussex page.

Sources