Plan your trip
WALK HERE
Turn to Walks 5 and 6. GETTING THERE
Our two suggested walks (both 10+ miles) are easily adapted, and form a figure of eight hinging on the free National Trust parking area on Bignor Hill, three miles’ drive up downland lanes from the A29. You could instead start the first day down at Amberley Station, on the Arun Valley Line, where there’s more free parking. Trains arrive from London Victoria and Bognor Regis (southernrailway.
com). An alternative start point for the second walk is the NT car park off Park Lane in Slindon. Alighting at Halnaker crossroads from the number 55 bus from Chichester
(stagecoachbus.com) adds two miles to the route, but as compensation you walk up the village’s Insta-famous Mill Lane
(see left) to Halnaker Hill.
SUSSEX END TO END
Track down a copy of the late Bob Copper’s excellent book,
Across Sussex with Belloc (Alan Sutton, 1994), for a six-day itinerary from Robertsbridge to South Harting in the footsteps of the Four Men. Like Belloc’s novel, Copper’s travelogue is currently out of print, but second-hand copies are easy to come by online.
WHERE TO EAT
In his West Sussex Drinking
Song, Belloc assures us that ‘there is a good brew in Amberley too and by the bridge also’. He’s not wrong. Amberley’s Bridge Inn
(by Houghton Bridge), where the Four Men share fireside stories, still keeps flavoursome local ales. Harvey’s Sussex Best and Long Blonde from the Long Man Brewery were on pump when we dropped in. Main dishes, ranging from pub classics, such as steak and kidney pudding, to a vegan Tunisian-style stew, start from £12.95 (01798 831619; bridgeinnamberley.com).
The Four Men also visit Houghton’s
George and Dragon, reputedly one of Sussex’s oldest pubs (01798 831559). Further along the West Sussex Literary Trail, there’s the olde-chic White Horse at Sutton. Our second walk passes the The George at Eartham (01243 814340;
thegeorgeeartham.com). It’s a rewarding detour to the brilliant café at The Forge in Slindon.
WHERE TO STAY
The Four Men spend a nofrills night in a woodman’s hut. Until recently, anyone could enjoy a similar off-grid stopover at the National Trust’s Gumber Farm camping barn, a mile’s walk from the Bignor Hill car park. Sadly, it had to close during the Covid-19 pandemic, but should reopen in 2023 (look out for news on the National Trust’s South Downs social media feeds). For plusher lodgings, closer to civilization, try the South Downs Bunkhouse in Houghton, where beds start at £28 per night (01798 831100; south downsbunkhouse.co.uk). B&B for two at Sutton’s White Horse costs from £128 per night (01798 869191; whitehorseinn-sutton.co.uk).
i MORE INFORMATION
For more places to stay, see visitarundel.co.uk or call Arundel TIC (01903 882268).