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Cocking Hill walk on 8th April 2026

Julie had certainly picked some glorious weather for her first try at leading a walk.  It was the warmest day of the year so far and reached 26 degrees in some places in the country. Luckily it wasn't quite so warm on Cocking Hill as we set off climbing slowly upwards on The South Downs Way.  A slight turn south and the gradient was much flatter and another turn south and we were passing through Venus Wood and later Westdean Woods. The area was covered in bluebells and was quite spectacular. A little further on and we found plenty of seats in the charcoal burners yard for a good stopping point to have a drink. Suitably refreshed we set off on the second part of our journey down towards Colworh Farm and beyond until we eventually found the A286 road. With a variety of final routes to the Pub, we all managed to make it back in good time for a well-earned drink and  lunch. A great walk, Julie!  After lunch we all caught the bus back up to the  top of Cocking Hill.

We had travelled in and around the West Dean Estate for much of the morning. The estate is part of the Edward James Foundation, a charity that owns and runs West Dean College as well as maintaining the surrounding woodlands. When the boilers in the college failed, biomass boilers using wood from the estate replaced the old coke boilers and have proved very successful. Click here  West Dean   to read more about this great charity.

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Burton Park walk on 1st April 2024

Jay and Lindsey had organized the walkers to convene at the Cricketers to place their food orders before heading off. 

The first stop was Duncton Mill Fishery and its 4 fishing lakes. The nursery lake was stocked with Trout and recent scrub clearance gave us a good view of the old water wheel. From the fishery we headed up to Fountain Copse and made our way to Burton Park with its 19th century Greek inspired country house and Norman church. Burton Park Estate, which dates from the 13th Century and the Grade 1 listed mansion has a chequered history. Once home to a Baronet, then an MP, it became an Army Camp, a girls school, a police dog-training centre and is now split into flats. Then it was onwards to Burton Mill and Burton Mill pond where we stopped for coffee before completing a loop of the pond and heading back via the West Sussex Literary Trail to the Cricketers where we enjoyed a nice lunch. 

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East Dean walk on 25th March 2026

Despite some rain early in the morning, no rain fell on Jennifer's walkers as they climbed up and down around the Charlton Forest and Eastdean Woods.  After gathering together at the Star and Garter and placing our food orders, we walked past All Saints Church and headed uphill towards Court Hill. After a short diversion into Wood Lea we emerged taking the footpath down North Down. It wasn't all that easy to follow as a tractor was busy chewing up the whole hillside but we found our way eventually down into North Lane and up to our coffee stop at the base of Wood Lea. When sufficiently refreshed we climbed up into Wood Lea and turned north along the West Sussex Literary Trail. This trail from Horsham to Chichester lets you walk in the footsteps of Shelley, Belloc, Blake, Keats and Galsworthy but is not guaranteed to improve your English!  After 1/2 a mile we turned sharply south and headed back to the Star and Garter for a very welcome lunch. The walk was about 5.3 miles

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Graffham walk on 18th March 2024

Sally and Robert enticed a good size group for their 4.2 mile walk in the balmy sunshine.  We made our way from the National Trust Car park across Lavington Common onto Duncton Common through woodland and heath on the Serpent Trail.  Leaving the trail to head north west on the footpath closer to the River Rother where the rainwater saturation of the soil over the past two months necessitated us making local diversions to keep our feet dry.  Skirting fields we came to the track leading to Fitzlea Farm and the bridleway into Fitzlea Wood where we stopped for our coffee break.  Crossing the Selham to Heath End road we continued the gentle climb onto Graffham Common with a steeper climb to reach the Serpent Trail again.  On reaching Gallows Hill, we thought the miscreants probably had  other things occupying their mind than the scenic views as we wandered past Bronze Age barrows (dating back to the period 2400-1500 BC), down the hill to the road at Barnett’s Bridge.  Reaching Lavington Common, the path was very muddy until we got to the sandy elevated section and back to the car park.  We drove around the corner to the Badgers pub for a lovely lunch.

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Grayshott Walk on 11th March 2026

Tim and Jane assembled us in The Fox and Pelican car park in Grayshott for our 4.5 mile walk in dry but cloudy weather.  We started towards Whitmore Vale Road passing the WWII building that housed the Air Raid Wardens and the historic Primary School before taking a footpath on the left through a housing estate and along the top of Whitmoor Bottom.  A southerly footpath took us through another estate, across Headley Road onto Ludshott Common along the old roads that formed the WWII Canadian Superior Camp.  We headed across the Common where trees have grown since the tank training had flattened them all 80 years ago, over Summerden Footbridge where we stopped for coffee beside one of the Waggoners Wells lakes.  Following the south bank of the ponds we entered the wooded valley before climbing back up Headley Road and to The Fox and Pelican where we all enjoyed an excellent lunch.

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