West Sussex Literary Trail Stage 1: Spencer's Place to Sumners Ponds

We Waywards have been thinking about a new walking project since completing the Way. We were keen to embark on the King Charles III coastal route, but information is still difficult to come by and only a few stretches appear to be fully open as yet. We decided to wait until it was a bit more established.

Have guidebook, will travel

Meanwhile, I had happened upon a copy of the West Sussex Literary Trail book in our local Lions bookstore and, being a literary sort, was intrigued. Thus, we embarked on the first leg on Friday 16th February 2024. We started in Horsham where the trail begins, but in the absence of the Shelley fountain, and until the Shelley Memorial Project comes to fruition with a new memorial in the town, we avoided the town centre and commenced our walk from Spencer’s Place. 

We crossed part of Rookwood Golf Course and, after a short while, entered Warnham Deer Park where we encountered several of the red deer for which the Lucas family are famous. The Deer Park currently supports a winter herd of about 200, comprising 20 breeding stags, and approximately 85 breeding hinds and 90 young stock. Across from the park the trail enters Bailing Hill Farm, the stud deer farm, where we could get very close to these impressive creatures before climbing to the top of the fields for fine views across Horsham and Christ’s Hospital.

Near-Deer Experience

The weather was fine and clear, though the preceding days (and weeks and months) have been wet, wet, wet, resulting in what might euphemistically be described as a modicum of mud. Or, a ‘mudicum’, if you will. 

The route took us alongside the grounds of Farlington School, over which there is a public right of way, but signs request that visitors don’t take it for safeguarding reasons. The path runs parallel to the school, so we were happy to oblige. Either side of the A281 were bridges and copses and ponds and woodland which would, I have no doubt, be utterly delightful with less mud. Or snake-threat.

Sheep, we can cope with. Snakes? Less keen, tbh

We soon arrived in Slinfold where the now-traditional mid-morning granola-cake snack was taken in the pretty churchyard of St Peter’s. There was a definite hint of apricity whenever the sun peeked from behind the clouds. Places have become associated with topics of conversation, and St Peter’s Church will henceforth be associated with Strictly Lady Lloyd’s early career history.

Seeing the phonebox library in Slinfold felt suitably literary-trailish, and I also found it inexplicably pleasing that the Red Lyon was once known as Nibletts.

Slinfold's Phonebox Library

After noticing other Niblett-related house names in the village, we joined the Down’s Link albeit briefly before taking a series of short paths to bring us out at St Nicolas’ Church in Itchingfield. The path around to the church was particularly slip-slidey with mud, but did at least have a fence that you could hold on to, ‘for dear life,’ as SLL put it.
 

The church itself dates back to Norman times, but the eye-catching feature is the small 15th century Priest’s House in the grounds. Beyond the churchyard we walked by a second school, Muntham House.

The Priest House at Itchingfield Church

To be fair, there wasn’t an enormous amount of literary linkage along the way. The book discusses connections between Bernard Lintot, Alexander Pope’s publisher, and Southwater; but Southwater is adjacent to the walk, and Pope himself only has tangential connections to Sussex. I had never heard of the diarist John Baker, and it isn’t clear where in Horsham he might have lived. Field Place, early home of Percy Bysshe Shelley, isn’t accessible to the public, and is also not quite on the walk. I was interested to read that Georgette Heyer worked in Horsham, running a sports shop with her husband, and lived in Slinfold, but again, it would be interesting to know where, exactly. Charles Lamb, Edmund Blunden and Keith Douglas are referenced as having studied at Christ’s Hospital, but there are only ‘glimpses’ of the school from the trail.  In spite of this, the ever-changing scenery and terrain, as well as pretty cottages and old buildings, made up for the lack of direct literary connection.

We also enjoyed playing a nice game of 'which properties we’d live in if we won the lottery or otherwise came by an unexpected fortune' which is a pleasant way to while away time. Turns out my tastes are more modest that SLL’s, but we found a few that were comfortably within three-gins staggering distance from each other.

After 11 miles or so, we reached the Cafe by the Lake at Sumners Ponds where we enjoyed a lovely al fresco lunch and obligatory amber refreshments. It was a lovely walk overall, with very clear distances and markers in the guidebook making it easy to follow, especially with signage for most of the way. Very much looking forward to Stage 2.

Cheers!