Midhurst Footpath Companions
Walking in Sussex, Hampshire and Surrey.

Eartham walk on 13th May 2026

Isabel's walk started out from the car park between The Rough and Eartham Wood, about a mile north of Eartham Village. After about 1.5 miles, walking through woods and fields we turned north towards Warren Barn where we had a brief rest and a chance to admire the huge tiled roof of Warren Barn. Another 1/2 a mile further on we reached Gumber Farm. On the  way we had a short sharp shower which made us appreciate our wet weather gear but it was whilst sheltering for our drink stop, the clouds opened and we huddled in the very dry roofed barn. Gumber Barn is a simple campsite and bothy for the weary traveller owned by the National Trust, especially useful for anyone travelling the South Downs Way. More info here:-  Gumber Barn                                                                               Once the rain had stopped we went a little further north and found ourselves on a path called South Downs Way, or Monarch's Way, but more historically called Stane Street. Built by the Romans probably around 40 to 50AD, it is in an almost straight line between London and Chichester, only swerving by no more than 6 miles to avoid large hills. This path was the route we took for the rest of our walk, providing some amazingly distant views in almost all directions and some suprisingly colourful fields on either side. These turned out to be huge plantings of crimson clover with some  phacelia thrown in for good measure. If you are wondering why they are planted, they are grown to be ploughed back in to enrich the soil and are also sometimes used as cattle feed.  Our straight path led us to our parked cars and from there we found ourselves in the nearby George Inn to enjoy a very pleasant lunch.

All ready to walk

Heading for` Warren Barn

Warren Barn

Warren Barn, a truly massive amount of clay tiles

Let's walk both ways, one must be correct!

Lichen a mix of funghi and algae - a sign of good clean air

Perhaps we'll head north from here

and then the rain came

Gumber Bar . Hillaire Beloc spent much of his childhood in nearby Slindon

A pleasant coffee stop

and very good when there is a downpour!

Heading towards Stane Street, the sheep are either sheltering from the sun or the recent rain

Stane Street in the background

Keep an eye out for potholes

Is it raining or sunning?

and suddenly we have red on the fields

Crimson clover

and Phacelia

Stane Street - don't suppose the Romans had plastic covers on their rucksacks - or even had rucksacks 2000 years ago. Halnaker Hill windmill on the horizon.

The George - fed us well

Our route - about 4.9 miles

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