Kingley Vale (Chichester) Short Walk

4.5 miles (7.25 km) with 600 ft (180 meters) of ascent

By Car (be careful of leaving valuables on display in the car park).

Chichester bus #54 (every 2 hours) stops eabout 1km away by the Horse and Groom pub in East Ashling. Its a road walk however.

This is a lovely short but vigourous walk to Kingley Vale Nature Reserve, with its grove of ancient Harry Potter-esk yew trees set in chalk downland. Above the vale is Bow Hill, with its Devil's Humps (3 bronze age burial mounds). Its also has views over Chichester harbour. A little further along the ridge is Goosehill Camp (iron age).

Traditionally found in churchyards, Yew Trees are amongst the oldest living things in the country, they can live for over 500 years, and possibly, much longer. This is the largest remaining Yew Tree wood in the country - most were used for longbows in the middle ages. Ancient Yew Trees have a gnarled appearance - being able to spl;t without rotting, and split off new shoots even from old wood, contributes to their longevity. If you have tree allergies, note that Yew pollen, released in the spring, is very allegenic.

Its about 1km flat walk over open downland from the car park. Entering the nature reserve, you enter a Yew tree wood set in a bowel, with hills on 3 sides. You wind your way threw the trees to the top of the hill which is a little steep towards the end.

There's an optional detour north along the ridge to Goosehill Camp (about 2km returna. There's a trig point among the trees.

On top of the hill are the humps (burial mounds), and views to the north and south.

From here, You wind your way back down through the forest on the opposite side of the bowel. Almost parallel to this path, but just outside the nature reseve is a wide track if you prefer open views.

You can save 1 km by missing out the summit, you can add 2 km by continuing north to Goosehill Camp and back

The Stoughton car park ( PO18 9JG ) is closer to the summit, but not convinient for the Yew Trees which are on the other side of the hill from it

Kingley Vale (wikipedia)

Devil's Humps (wikipedia)

Kingley Vale NNR - links to the current leaflet (pdf)

Several nearby country pubs including...

• The Fox and Hounds in Funtington, PO18 9LL, on the #54 bus route. Just south of the car park. From the pub, go north (signed nature reserve) for 1km to the start of the walk
• The Horse and Groom, PO18 9AX, also on the #54 bus route
• The Barley Mow in Walderton (west of Kingley Vale)
• The Hare and Hounds in Stoughton, PO18 9JQ (north west of Kingley Vale - you drop down off the hill to it, then walk back)

After the walk, please leave a comment, it really helps. Thanks!

You can also upload photos to the SWC Group on Flickr (upload your photos) and videos to Youtube. This walk's tags are:

National Rail: 03457 48 49 50 • Traveline (bus times): 0871 200 22 33 (12p/min) • TFL (London) : 0343 222 1234

Feb-18 Andrew