Midhurst Footpath Companions
Walking in Sussex, Hampshire and Surrey.

Kingley Vale on 1st July 2026

As the very hot weather that stopped the walk last week had reduced, Jay and Lindsey had a walk ready for us to explore, mostly in the shade. Starting from the car park at the bottom of Lambdown Hill we walked just over a mile, mostly uphill, to get to Chilgrove Hill. Turning south we walked along to Blackbush House where we found a very suitable coffee stop with plenty of seating amongst the yews of Kingley Vale. Suitably refreshed we headed for Bow Hill and then for the Devils Humps. The Devils Humps are examples of burial mounds (or barrows) that are  right across the Downs. Many were used for burials for centuries and were also probably places of worship. Rumour has it that each yew tree in the area marks the grave of a Viking warrior but more likely the area is just the right soil and conditions for this plant to be successful!  In contrast with the ancient burial sites, these yew trees are amongst the oldest living things in Great Britain.  After admiring the views from the hill top we turned north east to make a slow descent around Lambdown Hill to our parked cars and from there we drove to the Hare and Hounds where we had a delicious lunch.

Lovely shady walk alongside this long row of beech trees.

Some folk prefer to sit and read

Route was blocked with a fallen tree so we had a scramble to find a way around

Drinks break amongst the yew trees

Fully refreshed, let's walk on!

Aha, what's the view causing the stop?

A view towards the distant Trundle at Goodwood.

Devil's Humps on Bow Hill with two of the saxon burial mounds in the area

Beautiful views are worth the climb

View over the Solent

and if you try very hard, you might spot Chichester Cathedral

Descending the north side of the burial mound

Dark Mullein, one of many wild flowers in the area,

Campanula hiding amongst the vegetation

We saw many many butterflies but this Meadow Brown was the only one that sat still long enough to be photographed

Magnificent yews of Kingley Vale

Heading for the pub!

Final descent down to the car park

About 5.1/2 miles

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