Category: Visit

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Knole National Trust House, Sevenoaks, Kent has deer close at hand

Knole is a magnificent former bishop’s palace with its origins dating back 600 years. It became the property of very wealthy, leading aristocrats, the Sackville family. The family still has private apartments in the vast house.

Surrounding the house are a thousand acres of parkland with 350 wild deer. The herds are very familiar with the thousands of cars and visitors arriving at Knole every year and so show little fear of humans, although it is dangerous to go near these animals. My tiny pocket Sony camera has a good zoom facility so I was able to take this picture from about 60 yards away.

There in the rutting season

When we were there on 26 October we visited the house and then walked in the park. When we were about to leave at about 4 o’clock there were about half a dozen stags only about 100 yards from the car park.

 A warden told us that earlier in the day there had been quite a lot of activity but that the stags were all exhausted by the time we first noticed them, mostly lying down. Apparently they had been “at it” for nearly a month (the rutting season) and were now beginning to calm down. Late September the stags are very fat ready to start rutting, but then they don’t eat for a month and do a lot of fighting and mating so no wonder they are exhausted. Still, they’ll have eleven months rest before they can start the fun all over again.

Over the autumn winter season only a restricted part of the house is open to visitors.

Book ahead

You have to book in advance to take your car into the parkland. Visit the website: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/knole/lists/explore-knole-park 

Huge zoom on my tiny camera

My camera and similar are available from Amazon. Click the Amazon link for details.

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Storks and piglets at Knepp Estate 2021

Storks and piglets at Knepp Estate 2021

A pair of storks on their nest, 23 March 2021

Storks, for the second time in 600 years, are making a nest in Britain, and you can see them at the Knepp Estate in West Sussex.

The Knepp Estate is a large farm that has been “rewilded”, allowed to revert to nature with a little help  – the introduction of wild deer, cattle and wild ponies and an old breed of pigs, the Tamworth. There are 16 miles of public and permissive footpaths within the Knepp Rewilding project, which cover an area of 3,500 acres, and five tree viewing-platforms. So you can wander a long way. However, your experience will not be like going for a normal country walk. There are no “views” in the usual sense of the word. You will want to stop to watch or look out for wild animals.

We last visited on Tuesday 23rd March and there were still sections of some tracks that were very wet and boggy.

However, we found the tree with the  storks’ nest. You are not allowed to approach the tree so you need binoculars to see the storks.

And we found a Tamworth sow with a litter of piglets. The sow was happily destroying the field with her snout.

At one point the piglets ran a hundred yards away from their mother and rooted around on the far side of the field where they were watched by a family before running towards us.

Tamworth piglets on the Knepp Estate

Knepp Location

You find the estate a few miles south of Horsham, just off the A24 at Dial Post. You can also enter from the village of Shipley. No entry charge. You just use the public footpaths. See my interactive map below.

Car park

The estate information includes “We have a small car park and ask for a donation of £5/day to help manage costs and to raise funds for our project.  Payment can be made at the shop during opening hours (Saturday & Sunday, 10am till 3pm), alternatively in the honesty boxes at the carpark.

Please park here: 
Knepp Safaris, New Barn Farm, Swallows Lane, Dial Post, RH13 8NN  and nowhere else on the Estate or village roads PLEASE as it is destroying the verges and compromises road safety.”

What have you discovered at Knepp?

Let me know what you have discovered at Knepp. Please use the comment boxes. If you use facebook you can use the second comment box without further formalities. Please share.

David Roberts.  www.davidrobertsblog.com

TO MAKE THE MAP WORK click on “plotaroute” at the bottom right. 
Then you can

  • zoom in to see other paths
  • view full screen by clicking the four headed arrow,
  • view satellite or other views by clicking the down arrow next to the route type label (top right)
  • show current weather and for next days by clicking Menu, “Weather”
  • print the map by clicking Menu, “Print”
  • download the map by clicking Menu, “Download”
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Walk east from Ditchling Beacon, South Downs Way

Walk east from Ditchling Beacon, South Downs Way

The start of the walk

ABOUT
This is a walk high on the ridge of the South Downs with expansive views to the Sussex Weald to the North and across rolling countryside to Brighton and the coast in the south. You often see and hear sky larks in this area.

We walked from Ditchling Beacon to Blackcap Hill and back in early March 2021, a very cold day but a wonderful walk, a total distance of five miles. This route follows the South Downs Way until the sharp right turn turn of the South Downs Way towards Kingston just 200 or 300 yards before Blackcap hilltop. At this point we carried straight on to the summit of Blackcap Hill and and if we had chosen we could have walked on to the East Sussex market town of Lewes.

Mud? In spite of very persistent spring rains the route was remarkably dry because of the quick draining nature of the chalk Downs.

DISTANCE
As the walk is a there-and-back walk you can make it any distance you want. We walked for two and a half miles to Blackcap Hill and returned.

START/LOCATION
Start at the National Trust car park on top of Ditchling Beacon on the ridge above the village of Ditchling. This is a very popular starting point for walks along the ridge of the South Downs so at peak times you will not get into this car park. It’s best to try to go at unpopular times for walks from this point. 

ALTERNATIVE STARTING POINTS
To access the route illustrated here you could start at the very tiny car park at the bottom of the hill. There is a steep footpath from this car park to the Beacon at the top. If you use my interactive map and move it around I’m sure you would be able to find starting points in Brighton, but that could make a walk much too long for some people.

FACILITIES
The National Trust Car park is a paying car park but free to members of the National Trust.Members need to get a free ticket from the machine to display on the dashboard. The road is narrow so there is no roadside parking allowed.
Public toilet? There is no public toilet at the start of this walk. The nearest one is in the village of Ditchling about a mile and a half away.This public toilet is found beneath the Village Hall near the centre of the village on the Lewes Road. I’m not sure if it will be open when covid restrictions are in place.

National Trust could do better
I think it would be a good idea for the National Trust to provide toilet facilities at this very popular car park which must provide them with quite a substantial revenue. It would also be a good idea if the National Trust enlarged this car park to two or three times its present size.

Refreshments
There are one or two shops, a tea-room and two very good old pubs in the village of Ditchling, the Bull and the White Horse. The Bull is the more expensive of the two for dining. All found near the cross roads.

Another good pub, The Half Moon, is at the foot of the Downs at Plumpton on the B2116. Zoom in on the interactive map to see where there are footpaths down to the main road.

ROUTE FINDING
Once you have found the start of the route then finding your way could not be easier. You just cross the road from the car park and head East along the track on the ridge of the Downs. You really don’t need a map if you’re only going a a couple of miles.
However, my map is interactive so you can use it to zoom in and see where other paths connect with the route (some head towards Brighton). You can also view the route from a satellite view point if you wish.

Interactive map

TO MAKE THE MAP WORK click on “plotaroute” at the bottom right. Then you can

  • zoom in to see other paths, for example to the villages of Ditchling, Westmeston and Plumpton.
  • view full screen by clicking the four headed arrow,
  • view satellite or cyclable route etc views by clicking the down arrow next to the route type label (top right)
  • show down hill sections in green, uphill in orange and steeper uphill in red by clicking DISPLAY, then “Hilliness”
  • show current weather and for next days by clicking Menu, “Weather”
  • print the map by clicking Menu, “Print”
  • download the map by clicking Menu, “Download”
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Devils Dyke walking west – walk near Brighton UK – with photos.

Walking west along the South Downs Way just above the village of Fulking which is situated down below to the right of the picture and out of sight.

TO MAKE THE MAP WORK click on “plotaroute” at the bottom right. Then you can

  • zoom in to see other paths, for example to the villages of Fulking and Poynings.
  • view full screen by clicking the four headed arrow,
  • view satellite or cyclable route etc views by clicking the down arrow next to the route type label (top right)
  • show down hill sections in green, uphill in orange and steeper uphill in red by clicking DISPLAY, then “Hilliness”
  • show current weather and for next days by clicking Menu, “Weather”
  • print the map by clicking Menu, “Print”
  • download the map by clicking Menu, “Download”

 

ABOUT THE WALK

This is a great walk with a feeling that you are walking on top of the world as you have wonderful views of the Sussex Weald to the north and views over farmland to the south towards Brighton and the sea. The view in front of you is of hills rolling away as far as the eye can see.

We walked on a chilly blue-sky Friday morning in early February. It was an exhilarating walk. Near the village of Fulking we saw two buzzards and heard one mewing. Further on we heard and saw skylarks. And near the barn at the end of our walk, looking south to the sea and the wind turbines out at sea there were  flocks of starlings wheeling around and dozens of seagulls taking a great interest in the food being given to some cows on the far side of the field by the walk route.

Mud? There has been a very rainy start to the year here in Sussex 2021, so down at lower levels there is still quite a lot of mud about making many paths very unpleasant to walk on. However, when we did our Devils Dyke walk there had been two or three dry days and the only mud we saw was just a little near the first gateway.

One of the great benefits of walking on the Downs is that they are made of chalk and drain very readily so the route was dry and firm and a pleasure to walk on.

DISTANCE
As the walk is a there-and-back walk you can make it any distance you want. We walked for two and a quarter miles and returned. The limit of our walk was the the barn and silo looking like a Byzantine church with the the aerial pylon beside it looking like a recently landed Martian spaceship. Most of the route is a section of the South Downs Way so it could be pursued West as far as Winchester.

START/LOCATION
Start by The Devil’s Dyke pub at the end of Devil’s Dyke Road which heads north from Brighton. You can get onto this road from the A281 and the Google Map at the end of this article will show you how to do this.

ALTERNATIVE STARTING POINTS
To access the route illustrated here you could start in the village of Poynings with a steep climb up to the car park for about 20 minutes to half an hour, or start at the village of Fulking by the Shepherd and Dog pub and take a track up onto the top of the Downs.

FACILITIES
At the time of writing ( March 2021) the Devil’s Dyke pub is closed because of covid restrictions.
Car park – This is owned and operated by the National Trust so it is a paying car park but free for members of the National Trust.
The public toilet at the end of the pub is also closed, no doubt claiming covid as the reason for this. ( I think the National Trust could do far more with all the money collected from motorists to provide toilet facilities and maintain them.)

About half a mile west from the Devil’s Dyke pub you could take a track down to the village of Fulking where the very popular Shepherd and Dog pub serves real ale and good food. It is extremely popular in summer. (Currently closed because of covid.)

The route map I have used here was created using software I have not used before supplied by plotaroute.com. It should be interactive so I hope you have fun playing around with it.
Please feel free to add comments about your experience of this walk and this area. Please also share this post. Happy walking!

David Roberts

Note: About walking the Dyke itself  –  see my post on walking east from Devils Dyke pub/car park.

This is a bridleway, part of the South Downs Way. View east.

View back from the barn, looking north east over the track just walked.

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Countryside walks avoiding mud

Path St Leonard's Forest

Countryside walks and rides avoiding mud

Path St Leonard's Forest

It’s the end of February 2021 and it’s been an exceptionally wet winter with an exceptional number of people desperate to get out in the countryside and enjoy some fresh air. Sadly the public footpaths are almost all now deep in mud. But there are a few exceptions!

Muddy path, January 2021

AVOID THIS

Three Mud-free Walks in Central Sussex

I’m giving details of three mud-free (hard surface) walks that I am aware of in mid Sussex together with maps. One of them is 35 miles long from the Sussex coast and into Surrey so you can choose a section to explore. 
If you would like to add details of more such footpaths in Sussex or other parts of the country please use the comment box to give details.

St Leonard’s Forest  south east of Horsham and mile or two to the west of the A23. Footpath and bridleway.

This walk starts at a small car park holding maybe 40 cars and begins with 1/2 mile gentle climb to point B on my sketch map. The path has a hard surface and is approximately 6 feet wide. At the top of the rise the path turns left and goes dead straight for a mile through quite dense woodland. The path remains wide and there is grassy space to each side before the trees begin. 

At point C there is an interesting seat carved  to display elements of a dragon. This walk does not give you great views but at least the surface won’t pull your boots off at the present time with all the mud about.

The path continues to the north-east but I have not explored this extension. 
A few weeks ago I was wearing wellington boots and I ventured onto the alternative route back and that was boggy in the extreme. I would not recommend it. To get onto this alternative route you double back  to the right at the dragon seat and simply follow the wide track heading roughly South. You will come out very close to point B. 

The Downs link former train track: footpath and bridleway 

This runs for over thirty miles from Shoreham-by-Sea, with the coastal link, north into Surrey. The route runs through pleasant countryside but nothing spectacular and at times you will find yourself walking in a gully with views of bushes or trees to either side and not much more. Nevertheless you are out in the fresh air and getting some exercise.

Henfield walking north and walking south

There is a small car park next to a pub at Henfield. At a guess  I would say it holds only about 8 cars but there are streets nearby where you can park.

The path south from Henfield
view towards south downs from south downs link path
View towards South Downs from Downslink path, south of Henfield.

Downslink paths north and south from the old West Grinstead railway station just by the A272 near Cowfold

The car park here holds maybe  two dozen cars. I think the route south from here towards Partridge Green is particularly pleasant.

Other sections of the Downs link path 
I haven’t walked any of the rest of this long track but I’m sure any section of it will afford decent walking, cycling and riding conditions with little or almost no mud.

Use the hand icon to move the map up and down the length of the Downslink. Click on the green square to see the aerial view.

Buchan Country Park

This is situated to the south west of Crawley and consists of 170 acres of mainly wooded countryside. To begin with, signs of careful management of the environment in the tracks that lead away from the car park take away a sense of being in the wild. However, you are soon in more natural woodland. This area is for walking only.

This wooded area is a continuation of St Leonard’s Forest to the south.

The official website states, “This is a Green Flag Award winning Country Park. Owned and managed by West Sussex County Council, it is a haven for quiet recreation and a variety of wildlife. The waters at Buchan are designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest for the variety of dragonfly species. The park is an ideal place for walking, wildlife watching or enjoying a picnic. We have a permanent orienteering course, 2 way-marked trails and sculpture dotted around the park. The Rangers and the Friends of Buchan Country Park run a variety of events throughout the year. Lose yourself amongst the birch trees, wander around the heath and linger in the meadow.”

Many of the paths here  have a hard surface but there are tracks through  the woodlands which are left in their natural state.

Currently the park is  experiencing high numbers of visitors so you should not travel to Buchan Country Park from outside of the local area (in line with current government guidance, February 2021).

This is an extremely popular walking area so at weekends and weekday afternoons you may be disappointed, parking spaces may not always be available.

Opening hours
Monday to Sunday 8.00am – 6.00pm
The car park, and toilets (access currently limited to one in, one out), are open seven days a week, including Christmas day and bank holidays. There is no need to book a visit.

Ordnance Survey Map

The OS map that covers St Leonard’s Forest, Buchan Country Park and the Downslink disused railway track from West Grinstead to Cranleigh in Surrey is the Crawley and Horsham Explorer Map OL34 (previously 134). It’s available from Amazon. To find it quickly just click this link

Your experiences of mud-free walks

Where would you recommend? Please use the comment box to share your experiences.

David Roberts, 25 February 2021

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Walk East from Devils Dyke

Walk East from Devils Dyke

Devils Dyke is a extraordinary short valley cut into The Downs ten thousand years ago by the last ice age. It’s five miles north of Brighton. The hill top was an iron age fort.

Most people walk west from the National Trust car park (found just to the north of the Devils Dyke pub) along the ridge of the Downs. There are attractive views from this ridge. You can see the sea to the south, the North Downs to the north (on a clear day) and as far as Chanctonbury Ring (a landmark clump of trees) near Washington in the West.

This view was taken from the car park looking west on Friday 5th February 2021 and is a fairly unusual sight with cloud spilling over ridge and down to the plain and the village of Fulking. The temperature was 5 degrees and when the mist rolled away, which it did in a few minutes, there was brilliant sunshine. The dyke itself is just to the south east of this viewpoint.

Paragliding and hang-gliding are popular here.

There’s a google map at the end of this article and it’s interesting to click on the little dark green rectangle in the bottom left corner to see an aerial view of the “dyke” and the surrounding area. Devils Dyke is just north of Devils Dyke Road which is the road running past the marked Dyke Golf Club.

If you walk east from the National Trust car park by the Devils Dyke pub and onto the hill top you have views north east and south. Recently half a dozen Dartmoor ponies were released in this area. We didn’t see them but you can see a video by Richard Boyd at the end of this post  who captured the ponies running in the snow on 7th February 2021.
The view in the picture above is east towards the hamlet of Saddlescombe.

After only about 200 yards walking due east you have choices. You can walk around the hilltop on the the north or south side of the small plateau. We walked on and down this path which curves north. Ahead you can see Newtimber Hill which is to the north of Saddlescombe.

Even though there had been a long period of heavy rain in preceding weeks this path was dry and easily walked.

If we had continued along it we would have come, eventually, to the village of Poynings with its pub, the Royal Oak. The food is good here and they serve Harvey’s beer. (Currently closed because of Covid lockdown.)

About 100 yards down this path we did a u-turn to our right to descend to the floor of the Devils Dyke valley. This path was very muddy.

The path comes out at the bottom of the hill at the east end of the actual “dyke”, by a style and gate which is just below the centre of this picture. It can be seen better in the close-up in the next pictures.

By this time we were heading south and continuing round to the west, and heading gently up hill. This track is on the south side of the “dyke”. At the western end, the top of the valley, you get to the minor road that leads to the pub. A hundred yards along the road and you are back to the starting point in the car park.

An alternative route from the style is to stay in the valley bottom and then at the end of the valley take the steep climb out of it and up to the pub.

Climbing out of the valley and looking west. The pub is just behind the trees on the ridge, right of centre.

The whole walk, which is quite short, probably less than 2 miles, at a very leisurely pace took nearly 2 hours.

Facilities

National Trust Pay car park by pub, free to NT members. Avoid trying to come here at what you may guess will be a peak time. Arrive early, arrive late. Enjoy the experience in hostile weather. 10 a.m. on a beautiful Friday in February the car park was less than half full.

There is a toilet next to the pub which is not owned or operated by the National Trust. It is currently CLOSED.

Opinion
Toilets: This is a major tourist attraction. I think The National Trust, which receives a lot of money from charging the thousands of visitors for car parking, should provide public toilet facilities here, maintain them and keep them open at all times.

Car park: The National Trust  should also prioritise  resurfacing the car park extension to get it back into use. (February 2021.)

More information from The National Trust which owns the car park and hilltop. An interesting website well worth a visit. https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/devils-dyke

Devils Dyke pub, BN1 8YJ  Phone 01273 857 256

Royal Oak pub Poynings, BN45 7AQ  Phone 01273 857 389

David Roberts 8 February 2021

Please consider sharing this post and adding your own information if you would like to add anything in the Comment box. It would be good to hear other people’s experiences.

Many thanks to Richard Boyd for this video.

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Circular Walk through Arundel Park and Back Along River Arun

Distance a little over 5 miles, or, if you start at the main car park in Arundel, a little over 6 miles.

This circular walk starts by Swanbourne Lake and Tea Rooms and progresses gently up an ever rising  and beautiful valley. It then descends to the River Arun and returns along the banks of this river passing the little Hamlet of South Stoke with its unique and petite old church and, later,  the very popular Black Rabbit Inn.

Parking

There is parking by the roadside opposite Swanbourne Lake. At peak times this parking area may be full. Alternative parking can be found along Mill Road and in the large (paying) car park not far from the bridge in Arundel at the south end of Mill Road. It is a pleasant walk up a tree-lined road from this main car park to Swanbourne Lake. 

These notes accompany the sketch map below. The map can be saved to your computer and printed by right-clicking the map (a jpeg file). 

It can be helpful to supplement my sketch map with an Ordnance Survey map, Ordnance Survey Explorer series number 121, Arundel and Pulborough.

The Route

  • A  Start by the tea rooms at the beginning of Swanbourne Lake which is popular for boating. In the first 200 yards of this walk you may encounter quite a number of other walkers but you quickly find yourself in a deserted and beautiful area which most people never seem to want to explore. 
  • B  At point B you can take the left fork which involves a steep initial climb  or take the right fork which involves a more gentle initial climb. When we were there at the end of August 2020 to take the right fork you had to climb a  padlocked gate. The locking of the gate may suggest a prohibited way,  but this is not the case. Arundel Park belongs to the Duke of Norfolk and he has given permission for everyone to  walk wherever they like in the park so long as they do not go there with a dog! 
  • D  At point D start a short walk by the side of the wood.
  • E  At point E you have views in all directions. Here begins a quite steep descent towards the river.
  • F  At point F The path turns left and for a short distance goes along by the side of a wall.
  • G  At point G go through a gate in the wall and and turn right through woodlands along a path which is quite close to the river. It is an up-and-down path for about a mile.
  • H  At H enter the tiny hamlet of South Stoke with its bijoux church. From the bridge there you have views up and down the river. Just past South Stoke the riverbank is a pleasant place to have a picnic, but beyond here, depending on the time of year, tall reeds crowd in on the bank obscuring your view of the river.
  • J   At J is the Black Rabbit pub, right by the riverside with a large number of spaced out tables for dining and drinks. We have dined there on several occasions over the years but at 2.30 pm on Bank Holiday Monday there were queues outside. So we gave it a miss. We reminded ourselves in future not to go traveling or visiting popular areas on Bank Holidays.

Black Rabbit phone number, 01903 882638

From J just follow the path back to the start.

David Roberts

31 August 2020  davidrobertsblog.com  Please share with walker friends.

Swanbourne Lake Arundel
Looking back down the Arundel Park valley from near point B
Looking down into the valley from near point B​
Towards the top of the valley, looking north
Near the top of the valley looking towards the wood at point D
View east from near point E
Entering South Stoke. The route passes left in front of these houses before turning towards the church and the river.
South Stoke church
The Arun seen from South Stoke bridge
Arundel Castle seen from Mill Road
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Three Downland walks north of Arundel, West Sussex

Three beautiful and varied walks with some gentle climbs on the Downs north of Arundel. All can be started at the car park near Whiteways roundabout on the A 29, but alternative walks might be started by parking in the villages of West Burton or Bury.

In general terms the land slopes upwards  towards the West from the Arun river at  more or less sea level. Whiteways is about 100 metres above sea level. The highest points in the walks are at C, which is at approximately 165 metres, and between D and E on the South Downs Way which is also at approximately 165 metres. 

The first walk is described in more detail in an earlier post. 

To understand the notes please see my sketch map below. The map can be saved to your computer and printed by right-clicking the map (a jpeg file). 

It can be helpful to supplement my sketch map with an Ordnance Survey map, Ordnance Survey Explorer series number 121, Arundel and Pulborough.

Walks on the Sussex Downs near Arundel

Walk One  –  about 4½  miles

Never a house to be seen, no road noise at the western end, a sense of timeless quiet (once you have left the A 29 behind).

Park in Whiteways car park by the roundabout at the junction of the A29 and the B2139. The entrance is on the north side of the roundabout on the west side. Start walk at point A then follow the route: B, C (there is a finger post at C. Don’t turn right too soon), D, E, F, A.

Seen as you emerge from Houghton Forest into the little valley, heading north towards the end of the small copse

Walk Two  –  about 6½  miles visiting West Burton

Start as Walk One but at D head north, so the route is:

Park in Whiteways car park.  Start walk at point A then follow the route: B, C (there is a finger post at C. Don’t turn right too soon), D, G, H, L, E, F, A.

Walk Three  –  about 8 ½  miles visiting West Burton, Bury and the river Arun.

Start as Walk One but at D head north, so the route is:

Park in Whiteways car park. Start walk at point A then follow the route: B, C (there is a finger post at C. Don’t turn right too soon), D, G, H, I, J, K, E, F, A.

In Bury is the former home of the Nobel Prize winning novelist, John Galsworthy. He lived here for the last 7 years of his life. He died in 1933.  The house is now divided into private apartments so can only be viewed from the outside.

Refreshments

I am writing this in the middle of the second covid national lockdown. In normal times there are three pubs open near these walking routes, The Riverside Tea Rooms by the bridge over the Arun on the B 2139, and the take-away food kiosk in Whiteways car park.

  1. The Bridge Inn near the river and Amberley station at the foot of the hill. Address: Houghton Bridge, Amberley, Arundel BN18 9LR  Phone: 01798 831619
  2. Further West along the B2139 is the very old (part 13th C) George and Dragon at Houghton. Address: Houghton Bridge, Amberley, Arundel BN18 9LW Phone: 01798 831559.
  3. Near Bury Is the Squire and Horse pub close to the A29. Address: Bury Hill, Bury RH20 1NS  Phone: 01798 831343

Entering Houghton Forest, West Sussex

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Houghton Forest Downland Walk near Arundel

On a bright chilly day in mid-October, with a strong wind blowing, we enjoyed a four and a half mile walk on the Downs near Arundel.

There is a large car park just off the Whiteways roundabout at the top of the hill north of Arundel on the A29. This is where we started and finished the walk. 

At 10:30 in the morning the car park was almost full but we noticed there is an overflow area. This is a very popular stop for bikers. To the south of the car parks there are a few picnic benches and a grassy area on the edge of the forest. There is a fast food kiosk here.

Because of covid the toilets are closed. Obviously this is a big problem for such a popular stopping place. The area is operated by the West Sussex County Council and it really should fix this problem.

For nearly half of the walk we were well sheltered from the wind by the forest. 

A sketch map of the walk route follows the pictures and there is also a Google map of the area. 

The third and fourth pictures show the view as you come out of the forest heading north across the stubble field and up to the little copse on the ridge.

Just past the copse, on the northern edge of it, we found these pale blue/violet poppies which we had never seen before. Julie collect some of the fine seeds and we’ll see if we can grow some of these unusual plants.

Then there is a view across to the further ridge and the South Downs Way, marked by a hedge, which for us, heads east, going to the right of the picture, and then there is a picture of starting up this section o the South Downs Way, a gentle slope for a bit over a mile ending with extensive views, right out to sea.

David Roberts   www.davidrobertsblog.com  Please share.

Here is a link to a description provided by The Ramblers’ Association of a fourteen mile walk which starts at the Whiteways car park..

29 October 2020

Sketch map of the four and a half mile Houghton Forest walk

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Last Day of Summer 2020

We guessed it was going to be the last day of summer. We had had a late spell of hot weather in mid-September and the forecast was for the last hot day for a while on Monday  the 21st of September. 

We arrived at Shoreham Beach at about 12:30 and met up with four of our friends who had been there for an hour or so. I immediately went in the sea for a swim for about 20 minutes to half an hour and could have stayed in longer. Conditions were perfect. But I knew that Julie was going to be keen to start our picnic lunch very soon. 

We lazed in the sun and chatted till about 3:30 and then packed up to leave the beach thinking that we may not get another  such opportunity again this year. So we took a parting shot of the beach. You can see that very few people were taking advantage of the good weather.

Three days later the temperature at eight in the morning was 8 degrees centigrade and by midday the temperature had only got up to 14 degrees. 

David, davidrobertsblog.com 29 September 2020.

The almost deserted Shoreham beach with nearby Brighton on the horizon about 4pm 21 September 2020

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Shoreham-by-Sea – sea and river swimming

Here are a few basic bits of information about facilities and conditions for swimming at Shoreham and swimming in the River Adur (pronounced “Ada”) near Shoreham.

How warm is the sea?

2020 has been a great year for sea and river swimming in the UK. Water temperatures have been above average and our family and friends have taken full advantage.

You can find out the current temperature of the sea by using this website below. A temperature of 18 degrees celsius I find is very comfortable to swim in, though always better when the air temperature is high. Most people who swim in the sea are happy at lower temperatures. Website https://seatemperature.info/shoreham-by-sea-water-temperature.html

Shoreham is not a seaside resort. It is just a small town to the west of Brighton, but happens to have more than a mile of beach which merges into Lancing Beach. It’s the place we go to swim as often as we can.

Shingle

It’s a shingle beach. I can’t bear to walk on it without beach shoes. I use surfing shoes (very cheap) and wear them to swim. Beach mats beneath a towel or picnic blanket are an aid to comfort. Sand is often exposed at low tide and there are occasional patches of sand higher up the beach.

Sea quality

The sea is clean. After a storm there my be a lot of weed which can be a hazard.

Parking

There are two car parks. One near Beach Green just north of the road but easily missed, the other at Widewater Lagoon. The charges are quite modest. On hot days they fill up quickly and we have known the car parks on such occasions to be full by 11 am.

Toilets

There are toilets at Beach Green close to the beach, and at Widewater Lagoon close to the beach. Both toilets are currently in need of some modernisation and smartening up!

Kiosk

Widewater Lagoon has a small kiosk, open in summer, selling ices, chips, etc

Tides and knowing when tides will be low

There is an big rise and fall of the tide. My picture shows an early morning scene when the tide was right out. People are walking on the wet sand. To swim at this time you have to walk in shallow water for about a hundred yards away from the beach before the water is deep enough to make swimming possible. We always wait for an hour or two after low tide so that there is adequate depth not that far from the water’s edge. Tide times change every day.

To find out the the time of the tide go to https://www.tide-forecast.com/locations/Shoreham-England/tides/latest . This website can give you tide times for other UK beaches too. Tides are incoming for six hours and then outgoing for six hours approximately.

Best time to swim

I prefer to swim when the sea is at its warmest. On a hot day, if the tide is out early morning then the incoming tide is warmed by the warmed shingle and pebbles that the water flows over. That’s my theory anyway. In any case, this year (2020) the sea has been warm (enough) to swim at any time. I swam yesterday (13 September). The picture shows the beach at low tide and Brighton in the distance. The lower picture shows Southwick and Portslade in the distance. Brighton is further east.

River Swimming

Shoreham’s River Adur is fine for good swimmers. Obviously, being tidal, there is a current. In August we swam when the tide was getting high and about to turn. There is an access point on Coombes Road with a small car park. This is on the west side of the river about three quarters of a mile north of the A27. Lancing College can be seen to the west of the swimming site. It’s a beautiful place to swim. The downside is that the bank may be a bit muddy. Coombes road is very narrow indeed north of the swimming point so this is best approached from the turning on the A27 just west of the flyover junction..

 

Happy swimming!

Low tide at Shoreham, 9.30 am, August 2020
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The beaches are to the west of the river

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Pigs at Knepp Castle Estate

Our latest visit to the Knepp Estate was with family and friends, hoping to see any remaining storks and perhaps see pigs and cattle, or even deer. It was August Bank Holiday Saturday.

There were no storks to be seen. A notice informed us that the adults would winter on the estate and the youngsters would fly off to North Africa, and I had read elsewhere that a common destination for young storks is Morocco. All we could see was the giant nest, maybe a metre across, in the top of an oak tree.

Walking on for another quarter of an hour we heard some grunting and just through a gateway we could see four pigs  – a mother (sow) and four very large piglets very keen to have a feed from the mother. Very soon the mother obliged by lying on her side and allowing the piglets to suckle.

My father had about a hundred pigs and as a boy it was my Saturday job to clean out the pig sties, so I am quite familiar with these charming animals. I can say that farmed pigs would never be feeding from their mothers when they were as mature as these youngster obviously were so it is interesting to see how these animals behave “in the wild”. In my day piglets were usually weened at eight weeks.

The other thing that struck me was the smallness of the family. Litters of farmed pigs are often of a dozen piglets and and can be as large as sixteen or even one or two more than this.

Seeing only three surviving piglets suggests that nature may not be the most effective at looking after animals as compared with farmers.

In my opinion the sow looked rather thin, not particularly well nourished.

We saw about thirty long-horn cattle scattered over a wide grassy area. They were grazing or lying about looking very contented.

The free ranging animals on the Knepp Estate are not wasted or left to die of disease or old age. You can buy Knepp sausages, steaks and burgers from the free-roaming, pasture-fed, organic cattle, pigs, and red and fallow deer. Meat can be bought via the Knepp Wild Range Meat website with click and collect, or orders can be couriered to mainland UK.

Address: Knepp Castle, Horsham RH13 8LJ
Phone: 01403 741235

Access is free

There are 16 miles of public and permissive footpaths, and five viewing platforms built up in the trees.

Access is via the car park. There is a charge £5 per day for the car park but you may be able to park nearby. The car park is situated at Knepp Campsite, New Barn Farm, Swallows Lane, Dial Post, RH13 8NN UK.

There are no café or restaurant facilities.

Nearby dining

However there are two excellent pubs nearby providing food expertly prepared and sourced from local growers. See below.

Nearby pubs for food

The Crown Inn at Dial Post, and The Countryman at Shipley.

The Countryman Inn,
Countryman Lane,
Shipley,
West Sussex,
RH13 8PZ
Phone 01403 741383

Crown Inn
Worthing Road Dial Post
Horsham West Sussex RH13 8NH
Phone 01403 710902
info@crown-inn-dialpost.co.uk

https://www.facebook.com/crowninn.dialpost/

 

Wilding – the book about the project

There is a popular book about how a huge increase in varieties of plants and living creatures was achieved here on the Knepp Estate. Julie has read it and strongly recommends it. Wilding: The Return of Nature to a British Farm by Isabella Tree. Amazon links below.

Websites

The estate has four websites and you can start by accessing this one Knepp Estate Website

The Knepp Estate is just off the A24 south of the A272 and south of Horsham

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Nymans National Trust House and Gardens Story

Nymans House
Nymans HouseThe story of Nymans is very unusual

Nymans is a National Trust house and gardens situated in mid Sussex a few miles south of Crawley.
Most National Trust Houses are ancient mansions, castles and estates that have belonged to the rich and powerful of hundreds of years ago. Nymans appears to be another ancient home though on a smaller scale than most. It appears to be a medieval manor house with an extensive Gothic part that is so old it has fallen into decay.
In fact, the Nymans estate only began to be developed in 1890 when the land was purchased by a wealthy German stockbroker, Ludwig Messel. He had a great interest in trees and plants and began the development of Nymans’ tree planting and collection of shrubs and flowers. He developed the wall garden, the heather garden and the pergola walk.

Leonard

It was Ludwig’s son, Leonard, who inherited the property in 1916, who was an even more enthusiastic plantsman than his father and added greatly to the Nymans collections.

Nymans House
Nymans House

The house and family

It was Leonard who built a new house in the Tudor and Gothic style. So the house which appears to be medieval and which we see today is little over 100 years old.

Why the ruin?

In October 1947 a disastrous fire swept through most of the property creating the burnt out shell we see today at the southern end.
The house was partially re-built after the fire and became one of the homes of Anne Messel, Leonard’s daughter who married Ronald Armstrong Jones. Their son, Anthony, married the Queen’s sister, Princess Margaret, in 1960 and became Lord Snowdon in 1961. For many years he lived on the Nyman’s estate.
Anne’s brother, Oliver Messel, became a famous theatre designer.
Leonard gave Nymans to The National Trust in 1954 but the house continued to be lived in by the family.

Nymans cedar tree and ruin
Nymans House seen from the south, across the main lawn
Anne with her son Anthony. National Trust photograph
 Anne Messel

Anne’s second husband was the Earl of Rosse and Anne lived with her husband mainly in Ireland in Birr Castle, but she often came to live at Nymans. Anne was one of the founders of The Victorian Society which aimed to preserve the (then unfashionable) art and architecture of the Victorian period.
Anne was also a keen gardener and took a hand in Nymans’ continuing development. With her husband she added rhododendrons, camellias, hydrangeas, hypericums, agapanthus, hardy fuschias and more roses. In 1979, following the death of her husband she returned permanently to Nymans to spend her final years here. She was Director of the Garden until1987. She died at Nymans in July 1992 aged 90.
When the house re-opens it is her home that visitors will be able to see. Meanwhile there are the extensive gardens.

An interior view of Nymans, National Trust Photograph

Admission

Members of The National Trust – admission free
Non-member adult (aged 18+) £10.00
Non-member child (aged 5-17) £5.00
Non-member family (2 adults max 3 children)£25.00
Non-member family (1 adult max 3 children)£15.00
Booking essential till the end of August
To book call 0344 249 1895
Dogs are not allowed in the gardens but are welcome in the woods

Address

Nymans, Staplefield Lane, Handcross RH17 6EB

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Nymans National Trust House, Gardens and Woodland – Sussex UK – Partially open 2020

Nymans cedar tree and ruin

Nymans is a National Trust house and gardens situated in mid Sussex a few miles south of Crawley, just off the A23.

Now open again after the covid closure with a reduction in facilities and visitors are restricted to following a one way system. It is necessary to book your arrival time but once here you can stay till closing time if you wish. The cafe has been demolished and a new improved one will be ready for visitors in the Autumn (2020). A small refreshment/ice cream stall operates at the end of the Lime Trees Walk.

Admission

Open every day 10.00 till 17.00

Members of The National Trust – admission free

Non-member adult (aged 18+) £10.00

Non-member child (aged 5-17) £5.00

Non-member family (2 adults max 3 children)£25.00
Non-member family (1 adult max 3 children)£15.00

Booking essential till end of August
To book call 0344 249 1895
Dogs are not allowed in the gardens but are welcome in the woods.

Address

Nymans, Staplefield Lane, Handcross RH17 6EB

Map below.

We have visited Nymans many times and there is still much to enjoy here. The walk along the eastern edge offers views across the Sussex Weald. Often, when we come here, we walk down into the valley, by the lakes and through the woodlands on the public paths. In fact you can do the woodland walks without entering Nymans at all. No charge for this.

Now the house itself is closed to visitors but you can visit almost the entire area of gardens. We visited last Tuesday (18 August 2020) looking for some ideas for plants that would be flowering at this time of year as our garden is currently a bit short of colour.  I took a few photographs.

A sketch of the story of Nymans and its owners will be the subject of another post.

David Roberts davidrobertsblog.com

Nymans cedar tree and ruin
Nymans ruin and cedar tree from the south

The lime tree walk on the eastern edge of the gardens. Part of the burnt out ruin of the house. The sunk garden and the house seen from the south.

Finding your way round Nymans

Plan of Nymans Gardens

The corona virus inspired one-way system for walking round Nymans

Nymans access with covid restrictions

David Roberts, August 2020,  davidrobertsblog.com   Please share.

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Visit the Wild Life Area of Knepp Castle Estate

We visited this 3,500 acre estate, owned by the Burrell family, in West Sussex, UK in early July (2020) and roamed around it for half a day. We particularly wanted to see the storks and the storks’ nest, but we also came across the wild Exmoor ponies which may be the direct descendants of the ponies you can see in cave paintings of fifteen thousand years ago.

What we particularly didn’t see were the Tamworth pigs, the herd of Old English longhorn cattle, and the red and fallow deer – all of which roam wild and free here. What we also missed, because we lacked the knowledge to appreciate it, as the huge range of biodiversity.
Deer I actually photographed near Amberley, West Sussex in 2015, but similar to the Knepp deer.

Wilding Project

In 2001 the family decided to abandon the conventional farming of the estate and embarked on a now world-famous project to let the estate “go wild”. They have introduced some wild animals themselves (deer and Exmoor ponies) and let domestic animals (the pigs and cattle) live without control. What has been interesting is the way that rare wildlife has found this unfarmed haven and thrived here. Extremely rare species like turtle doves, nightingales, peregrine falcons and purple emperor butterflies are now breeding here. Isabella Tree’s book about the development of this wild life area is a best seller.

Knepp Wild Range Meat

These free ranging animals are not wasted. You can buy Knepp sausages, steaks and burgers from the free-roaming, pasture-fed, organic cattle, pigs, and red and fallow deer. Meat can also be bought via the Knepp Wild Range Meat website with click and collect, or orders can be couriered to mainland UK.

Knepp Camping

The estate also offers opportunities for camping and glamping and hosts wedding receptions.

The estate has belonged to the Burrel family for over 200 years and the family still lives here in the castle. The interior was completely burnt out in a fire in 1904 but has been restored.

Address: Knepp Castle, Horsham RH13 8LJ
Phone: 01403 741235

Access

There are 16 miles of public and permissive footpaths, and five viewing platforms built up in the trees. Access is via the car park, charge £5 per day. The car park is situated at Knepp Campsite, New Barn Farm, Swallows Lane, Dial Post, RH13 8NN UK.

There is no charge for admission, and no café or restaurant facilities. However there are two excellent pubs nearby providing food expertly prepared and sourced from local growers. See below.

Nearby pubs for food

The Crown Inn at Dial Post, and The Countryman at Shipley.

The Countryman Inn,
Countryman Lane,
Shipley,
West Sussex,
RH13 8PZ
Phone 01403 741383

Crown Inn
Worthing Road Dial Post
Horsham West Sussex RH13 8NH
Phone 01403 710902
info@crown-inn-dialpost.co.uk

Wilding – the book about the project

There is a popular book about how a huge increase in varieties of plants and living creatures was achieved here on the Knepp Estate. Julie has read it and strongly recommends it. Wilding: The Return of Nature to a British Farm by Isabella Tree. Amazon links below.

Websites

The estate has four websites and you can start by accessing this one Knepp Estate Website

The Knepp Estate is just off the A24 south of the A272 and south of Horsham

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First Stork Chicks Hatch in UK After 600 Years

Storks last nested in the UK in Edinburgh in 1416 until this year! Now (summer 2020) they can be seen on the Knepp Estate in West Sussex a few miles south of Horsham, near the village of Dial Post on the A24.

The huge nest was built near the top of a large oak tree. Eggs hatched in May and the large chicks could easily be seen from the ground by the hundreds of visitors that arrived to see them.

My snaps were taken on 2nd July.

 

 

  Stork arrives on nest in a storm.

 

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Ightham Mote, Medieval Manor House in Kent

When UK National Trust Houses open up again after the virus this will be definitely well worth a visit. Julie and I visited Igtham Mote in 2015 when I took the photographs.

Ightham (pronounced “item”) Mote is a house in Kent, UK, over 650 years old. It is hidden away in a wooded valley in a forested region of Kent. The house itself is surrounded by a moat. Address: Mote Road, Ivy Hatch, Sevenoaks, Kent, TN15 0NT Situated 11 miles south east of Tunbridge Wells.

For 600 years this was a family home. Now it belongs to the National Trust having been given to the National Trust by its last owner, a wealthy American, Charles Henry Robinson, in 1965.

 

 


The inner courtyard with the Great Danes kennel.

It is a remarkable and charming manor house. The oldest timbers within it date from around 1330. The first stage of the building was the east side of the quadrangle and it took about another hundred years before the four sides were completed to enclose a courtyard.


Part of a lounge.

Medieval dining.


There are pleasant gardens, large lawns, a lake and a picnic area, plus a moderately priced restaurant which all help to make the Ightham Mote an enjoyable place to visit.

Unless there are covid-19 restrictions in place it is open to the public every day of the year except Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. For full details visit www.Nationaltrust.org.uk/ighthammote

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Classic Birling Gap and Beachy Head Walks

Header image david roberts blog
davidrobertsblog header image
Cliffs, Birling Gap, Sussex UK

The cliff-top walk from Birling Gap to Cuckmere Haven is one of the best clifftop walks in Britain. It is the walk along the white chalk cliffs of a section of the “Seven Sisters” (seven white cliffs linked together) on the south coast of England, just west of Eastbourne. The full route would be Eastbourne to Seaford.

There-and-back, two miles each way with some steep slopes.
These cliffs feature in some of the most photographed scenes that “represent England”.

The popular starting point is the National Trust car park (free to members) at the tiny hamlet of Birling Gap, just over a mile seaward of the village of East Dean. Avoid peak times as the car park and facilities can be overwhelmed.

There is a visitor centre here, a National Trust cafe, and well maintained toilets.

A short row of terraced cottages remains close to the cliff edge, but since we were last there another cottage has fallen into the sea as the result of erosion.

We walked along the clifftop with wonderful views of the sea, the countryside, the sky, and the clouds. The turf here is naturally short and comfortable to walk on and walkers are not confined by fences which constrain their journey. You can walk freely, more or less choosing your own path.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As an alternative to keeping to the coast all the way you can use the paths inland towards East Dean, for example, which allow you to make a triangular walk if the idea of a there-and-back walk does not appeal to you. After rain the steep slopes become slippery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Risking the water’s edge route
If there is an outgoing tide, and only if there is an outgoing tide, it can be safe to walk along the water’s edge from Birling Gap to Cuckmere Haven, a distance of about 2 miles. It is important to check the tide tables which are on display at the head of the steps down to the beach at Birling Gap, or check here: https://www.tideschart.com/United-Kingdom/England/East-Sussex/Cuckmere-Haven-Beach/ The official recommendation is to allow three hours for this walk.

This walk should not be undertaken after heavy rains as these often precipitate rock falls which are an ever-present danger when walking under cliffs.

 

Refreshments

Nearby choices include The National Trust cafe Birling Gap, The Hikers’ Rest (next to the Tiger pub) in East Dean, or the ancient Tiger pub itself in East Dean, situated on the village green. We chose the last of these. This is a genuine old pub with a log fire in winter and low beams. They serve real ales and good pub food.
There is a cafe and pub at Exceat on the A 259.

Walkers’ Map – Ordnance Survey, Explorer Series, No 123, scale: two and a half inches to one mile.

National Trust Birling Gap website: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/birling-gap-and-the-seven-sisters/

Extending the walk

1. One we have done was to start at Exceat which is close to the Cuckmere river and just off the A259 west of Eastbourne. There is a paying car park, toilets, a cafe and a visitor centre. From here you can walk west through Friston Forest to the village of East Dean then south to Birling Gap, then along the cliff top to Cuckmere Haven. Having descended to the floor of the valley head north along the surfaced path roughly parallel to the river to Exceat. Roughly nine miles.

2. An alternative is to head west from Birling Gap, cross the river Cuckmere and walk along cliff tops to Seaford Head above the small town of Seaford.
Possibility A: cross at Exceat Bridge ( 2 mile detour).
Possibility B: at low tide paddle across the mouth of the river with no detour. Conditions vary. You may be able to cross without getting your feet wet or the river may be fast flowing and deep and unsafe to cross. You have to make a judgement but you can find tide times in advance. Check here https://www.tideschart.com/United-Kingdom/England/East-Sussex/Cuckmere-Haven-Beach/

Beachy Head walks
Beachy Head itself is just a mile and a half out of Eastbourne and two miles along the cliff top from Birling Gap. You can walk from Eastbourne to Beachy Head, to Birling Gap, to Cuckmere Haven or to Seaford.
There are several car parks close to Beachy Head on the B2103. These are extremely busy at peak times.

David Roberts, 20 July 2020