Saturday Walk - Scenic steep chalk downlands around the Upper Lavant Valley, the Goodwood Estate, and unrivalled views from St. Roche's Hill, now again with a sculpture park option: Halnaker to Chichester

The Roche Sculpture Park has come back in much improved form as the Goodwood Art Foundation's Sculpture Park 

 

Length: 22.9 km (14.2 mi) [shorter and longer options available, see below] 

Ascent/Descent: 475/501m 

Net Walking Time: ca. 5 ½ hours 

Toughness: 6 out of 10 (with several steep ascents around lunch, so may feel tougher than that)

 

09.05 Portsmouth Harbour train from Victoria (CJ 09.12, EC 09.23), arrives Chichester 10.37 [train splits at Horsham]. Then take the Number 55 bus at 10.50 at the Bus Station (direction Tangmere, usually from Stand 6), arrives Halnaker Crossroads 11.10.

Return trains are on xx.09 and xx.39 (96 minutes journey time). Buy a Chichester return.

This West Sussex walk involves a bus connection on the way out. Its purpose is to explore the scenic steep chalk downlands well north of Chichester around the Upper Lavant Valley, between St. Roche’s Hill and the South Downs chain, while passing through the Goodwood estate as well as through Chichester’s Old Town at the end.

The lonely grassy or wooded hillsides of the beautiful Lavant Valley are dissected by quiet flat-bottomed valleys, and feature several pretty villages, as well as providing for stunning views. Most of the climbing is done between the lunch pubs, but the longest ascent comes straight after the late lunch option, up to St. Roche’s Hill, from whose treeless summit you have some of the best views in the southeast.

 

Walk Options:

Out-and-backs at the start to Halnaker Hill (and its windmill) or Boxgrove Priory add 5.1 and 2.6 km respectively. 

An Extension Loop to the Goodwood Art Foundation’s sculpture park (and galleries and café/restaurant) near the start adds up to 4.7 km. Ticketed entry, with walkers paying a discounted price. A suggested route through the grounds, passing all of the (2025) sculptures is shown on the route map.

A shortcut around lunch reduces the length of the walk by 3.6 km and the ascent by 167m (rated 4/10).

Another shortcut around lunch reduces the length of the walk by 800m and the ascent by 93m (rated 5/10).

An Alternative Ending in West Dean cuts out 6.5 km (rated 6/10). Connect to bus line 60 (see below).

An infrequent bus service (line 99 Flex) runs past the early lunch stops in East Dean and Charlton (at about 13.30 and 15.00 hours). You need to phone ahead to book a stop though (01243-858 854)! 

A half-hourly bus service (line 60) runs from Singleton, West Dean and Lavant to Chichester.

An hourly bus service (line 50) from the fringes of Chichester cuts 2.5 km at the end.

 

Lunch:  

On the full walk the scheduled lunch stop is The Partridge Inn in Singleton (11.4 km/7.1 mi, food to 15.00), just before the ascent to the highest point of the walk: St. Roche’s Hill. There’s also the Star and Garter in East Dean, but that comes a bit early (5.6 km/3.6 mi, food to 14.30).

On the short walks the lunch stops are the Star and Garter in East Dean or The Fox Goes Free in Charlton (9.4 km/5.9 mi) [Shortcut II only].

On the Goodwood Art Foundation loop, there is the very commendable Restaurant 24. 

 

Tea: Chichester has lots of commendable drinkeries and eateries. For details check page 2 of the pdf.

 

For summary, route map, height profile, walk directions, photos and gpx/kml files click here. T=swc.239 #2026-06-06T09:05