The South Downs Way runs along the length of the chalk downs of Hampshire and Sussex from the historic little city of Winchester to the dazzling white cliffs of Beachy Head overlooking the seaside town of Eastbourne. For much of its length this delightful National Trail meanders along the crest of the Downs, with far-reaching views northwards over the patchwork fields, woods and villages of the Weald and southwards to the sea, but the route also dips into the beautiful river valleys cutting through the Downs and visits some very pretty villages with their friendly old pubs, thatched cottages and gardens bursting with flowers.

History is an ever-present companion to the South Downs Way. The route follows ancient tracks established some 5000 years ago when Stone Age man began to cultivate the Downs and mine for the flint from which he made tools. Later settlers all left their marks on the land in the shape of Bronze Age barrows; Iron Age hill forts; Roman tracks; Saxon churches; Norman churches, cathedrals and castles; deserted medieval villages; and the dew ponds created as watering holes for the great flocks of sheep that grazed on the Downs in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Highlights of the trail include the beautiful cathedral city of Winchester, the Capital of Saxon England; the downland viewpoints of Beacon Hill, Butser Hill, Bignor Hill, Ditchling Beacon and Firle Beacon; the ‘Jack and Jill’ windmills; the Devil’s Dyke, a vast dry valley said to have been carved by Satan to let the sea flood the Weald and destroy all the churches; the picturesque villages of Exton, East Meon, Buriton, South Harting, Amberley and Alfriston; the exhilarating sense of space on top of the Downs; Alfriston’s parish church, the ‘Cathedral of the Downs’; the ‘smallest church in England’ at Lullington; the marvellous variety of wildflowers and butterflies found on the sheep-grazed pastures of the Downs; the huge Bronze Age barrows known as the Devil’s Jumps; and the spectacular clifftop walk over the Seven Sisters and Beachy Head.