Hi there,
Depends what you’re looking for really. Fletching, mayfield and Waldron are all villages off the main road with centres, church, shop, pub etc. mayfield being the biggest with a local school primary school and mayfield school for girls ( secondary) . Fletching has a local school too which I hear is small but good and Cumnor House prep school is near there which is highly thought of. Waldron is the smallest with no school but a pub with attached shop. It is a lovely village , and has a local cricket club and fab playground and village hall. Harlow down is on the main road but has a small pub and good small primary school. It has a very active village community and lots goes on there. Buxted is bigger with school, pubs, playground, shops and doctors surgery which supplies the local area and is excellent. It also has a mainline station with trains to London. Great place to live is the bit between buxted and blackboys- etchingwood lane, rural but near the villages. Blackboys has a good local school, fab shop and pub but is also on a main road. Uckfield has good cinema, waitrose, telco, wine bar and regular shops. Heathfield is more country and has local shops ( butcher, veg, library, charity shops ) including sainsbury, co op etc. in general there are lots of families around the area and a good social network. Lots of people live in the country roads between the villages, the houses tend to be bigger with more land. Independent prep schools that are good in the area – skippers, Cumnor, brambletye, bricklehurst, great walstead, bedes, St. Andrews. Secondary school – Eastbourne college, ardingly, bedes, worth, Brighton college, Claremont , tunbridge wells schools.
Hope that helps. Let me know if you need any more info. I have lived in the area for 7 years and love it.
Best wishes