South Downs Way - Amberley

After the beautiful Queen Elizabeth Country Park, I was delighted to walk through more woodland. This time I wandered through Coulters Dean Nature Reserve, where pretty wood anemones, violets, and primrose line the trail’s edges in spring. Half a mile further and I entered the county of West Sussex. As the trail continued, narrowing once again, in the distance up on Tower Hill was the ruined folly of Uppark House. The house is more than 300 years old and has been remodelled many times over successive generations. As part of its fine interiors and collectible items, the most significant is a large 18th century doll’s house, one of few surviving from that era. Three storeys high, the interiors are intricate, containing silk-covered mahogany chairs, Flemish-style oil paintings, porcelains, and a fully decked-out kitchen. The dolls illustrating the upper class are dressed in fashionable clothes and made of wax, whereas the servants are made of wood and wear simple clothing. The house is in excellent condition, leading curators to believe it was bought as a curiosity and display item instead of for play. The National Trust’s Harting Down, a large area of ancient chalk downland, was south of the village. A little further was Beacon Hill, developed as an Iron Age fort around 500 BC. It was a fairly steep climb to the top, but the effort was worthwhile for the stunning 360 degree views. Two miles (3.2km) later, the trail skirted around a series of large Bronze Age burial mounds collectively called the Devil’s Jumps. Thought to be nearly 4,000 years old, they are very well preserved, measuring between 85-112ft (26-34m) in diameter and up to 16ft (4.5m) high. The name, though, is part of folklore. Apparently, the god Thor used to sit on a hill. One day the Devil, seeing the mounds, decided to jump from one to the next to alleviate his boredom. Thor wasn’t happy about it and threw a stone at the Devil, who subsequently fled. Tucked away in a corner amongst the trees was a small, well-tended memorial for a 25-year-old German pilot called Hauptmann Joseph Oestermann. He was shot down by a British pilot at the start of WWII while two airmen parachuted to safety. Ironically, the British pilot was shot down later in the day over the English Channel. He survived but sustained injuries to his legs. The walk over Bignor Hill follows an old Roman road. In the village of Bignor, north of the Way, is a prominent 3rd century Roman Villa full of exceptionally well-preserved and highly detailed mosaics. I passed through the northern end of the Slindon Estate, a National Trust property focused on conserving the 1,400 hectares in its care. One of its major restoration projects was reconnecting the disjointed woodland called Northwood. Much of the ancient timber was cut down and used during WWI, and the land was converted to farmland. Over the last decade, the Trust planted more than 13,000 trees to fill the gaps and help restore the wildlife corridors. It’s regarded as the biggest man-made forest to date. The trail led me down into the picturesque Arun Valley, where cowslips bloom in spring, carpeting the valley in a sea of yellow. Crossing the Arun River, I arrived in the small village of Amberley, where a 900-year-old castle was converted into a luxurious hotel - a splendid place to finish my day.

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