One cosy little part of West Sussex that is
worth exploring is the East Dean, West Dean, Singleton, Charlton area just
north of the Goodwood race course. This clutch of villages is strung out either on or
near the main road from Chichester to Midhurst, Old England may be slowly
disappearing but this area trumpets the old traditions in spadefuls.
West Dean is tucked into the valley running west
from East Dean (makes sense!) and is like a whole village hidden inside the
walls of an old stately home, West Dean House. The long straight main road from
Midhurst to Chichester courses down the valley alongside an old flint wall that
obviously conceals this rather unusual mix of old flint cottages, narrow lanes
and estate outbuildings. West Dean has a charm all of its own with barely a
slit in the armour as a limited number of tiny lanes dips down off the main
road into this mix. Turn left at the pub as you're heading west, towards the
end of the village, and you tumble down the hill and reach a neat little
rectangle of settlement on your left with a village shop cum cafe and wooden
table and benches outside to enjoy the views down the valley. Down the bottom
you hit a long pencil thin lane that traces the wall of the estate which itself
dates back to 1086. Go right and you are in a distinct farm building
environment, go left and after passing a number of cottages you get to St
Andrews church where you can throw a tennis ball over the church wall and hit
the windows of the stately home on the other side, now an agricultural College
but still sufficiently Downton Abbey looking to make you think a chap in plus
fours, a Burberry jacket and carrying a shotgun will suddenly appear in the churchyard and then
disappear again through the gate in the wall.
Back in the good old days this estate was the
centre of what was known as the Marlborough House Set (how many of these sets
were there?) which entertained the Prince of Wales at resident house parties.
The poor old pheasant population must have suffered serious depletion in those
days. Up the road was a very developed railway station, Singleton, which was the arrival
point for visitors to Goodwood race course until they got fed up with the
uphill route to the racecourse and preferred to use Chichester railway station.
You can still see the old station building, now presumably a private house, and
what must have been quite a posh tree lined drive up to the station from the
main road. In its pomp and prime it must have been one of the places to arrive
at for a weekend's horse racing at Goodwood, falling off a train straight onto
the edges of an ancient estate, then a short hike to one of the most beautiful
racecourses in the world.
If you walk up the track to the right of the old
station building you reach an overgrown, dilapidated flat area which was
obviously where the railway once went. There were four platforms here in the
station's prime, and you can still see an old railway building which looked
like a goods or maintenance depot. It now acts as some sort of store. I took a
look inside to find a forlorn and decrepit looking office and a gloomy interior
behind the office used for storage.
Back on the other side of the road the estate
itself has West Dean Gardens to visit with cafe, car parking spaces and a collection of
art and craft buildings, so if you want to sculpt a bust of your favourite
icon, weave a few baskets, or hand craft a metal gate this is the place to
come. Of course autumn is a good time to come for the gardens and surrounding
valley, arguably bringing out the best colour mix of the year. Is it just me
but autumn in England seems to be more glorious than normal in 2016, with a
richer palette of colour plumping out the reds and ochres which are normally
more understated. Must be something to do with coming out from under the shadow
of the EU! The weather has been on our side, with an abundance of crisp, blue
sky days to heighten the contrasts.
Whilst West Dean is not your normal English
village, being a village tucked inside the skirts of a stately home, East Dean
is much more your traditional affair with its flint cottages arranged around a
pond in the centre of the village. Handsome hilly scenery surrounds the
village, and it's easy to take a hike out of the village as I did through woods
and fields to enjoy the valley and also the gentle descents towards the English
Channel.
Between the villages of East Dean and West Dean
lie another pair of settlements. Tracing the valley west from East Dean you
first drive through Charlton, and a little further get to Singleton, which
boasts the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum, Sussex Visitor Attraction of the
Year 2015, where you can 'come and discover rescued traditional rural buildings
set in a beautiful landscape, which tell the stories of the men, women and
children who lived and worked in them over a 950 year period.' (Museum
website). Having said this, I have yet to visit! What I did do was take a walk up
over the Downs from the village. After parking up, I walked through the centre
of the village and then took a path which heads out of the churchyard south up
the hill. This is an easy on the eye stroll which eventually takes you up out
of the valley and over the downland with extensive views until you get to glimpse your first sighting of Goodwood racecourse on the top
of the South Downs. The path takes you onto a narrow lane which skirts the west
side of the racecourse, then past the 'Triangle' the convenient parking space
on the main road, and up onto St Roche's Hill, or alternatively the Trundle, an
Iron Age hill fort which gives superb 360 degree views out to sea and over the
national park. Here you can spot the Rampion Wind Farm out to the south east,
whilst Chichester glints to the south. A great way to spend an hour or two.
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