For an area that is essentially one giant UK beauty spot, it can be hard to figure out where on the South Downs to actually stop and enjoy it. Halnaker Windmill is a great choice for a day out around the Roman city of Chichester for two reasons:
- It’s off the beaten path so there aren’t tonnes of other people
- There is an interesting and historic windmill waiting for you at the top of the hill
- You get a good bit of exercise getting up there, which will wear out little (and big) legs
- The views descend all the way down to the hazy glint of the English Channel
I appreciate this is more than two reasons. I thought of two extra while I was writing, but I wanted to remain true to my original intentions.
We parked at the bottom of the hill. It was crowded when we arrived and there wasn’t space for many cars. I am bad at dealing with parking not being available. It makes me feel as though I have missed out on a cosmic lottery – doomed to drive in circles like an automotive Ulysses. But nothing was going to stop us getting to the Chichester windmill.
We snuck into a space by a hawthorn hedge and a Volvo and got our things ready. The walk to the top of the hill takes 20 minutes or so if you are striding, but a lot longer if you have small people with you. The path started off flat. We walked over twisted tree roots that packed the hard, dry earth of the July summer day. Archways of shady boughs provided welcome relief from the heat. My son, keen-eyed, pointed at the adjacent field: a kestrel hovered and then dived onto the pasture, then returned to the sky empty-beaked.
The metallic, emerald glint of dragonflies danced around us, though we never figured out where the watercourse was that they must have been coming from. Sweat began to roll down my back, and I started to wonder if we had brought enough water. A pretty bank of dog-rose led us to the turning for the hill and the windmill. From there, we walked upwards along a steep incline, the windmill growing closer until we stopped for a well-earned picnic.
It is a good place for a windmill as it was quite windy. We ducked down in a hollow to eat, while the dandelions and clover were pulled and tugged by the brisk, but cooling wind above us. The windmill building is well preserved and plated-up with tourist information by the door, which seems funny somehow for something which is a bit hard to get to.
Fields sloped away from us to meadow and pasture. Agricultural canopies blazed harshly in the sun, looking a little like water from our vantage point. In the far distance, Bognor Regis, and Littlehampton sat hazily by the ocean. To the West, the spire of Chichester Cathedral rose above the hills.
Around the site, you can follow the dog walkers further round the hill. There are a couple of concrete gun emplacements to explore, relics of WWII. People would have been stationed here to look for German planes flying towards London. Chichester was an RAF operations centre for Sussex so there would have been airfields nearby from which angry Spitfires and Hurricanes would have buzzed into the sky on daring intercept courses.
Getting to Halnaker Windmill from Chichester
Halnaker Windmill is about 5 miles from Chichester and a couple of miles from Goodwood. Ideally, you will get there by car, but if you don’t mind village bus services, you can get a bus from Chichester which will take you to Boxgrove. From there you can walk the rest of the way, which might be quite pleasant – depending on who you are with.
Parking is quite specific for the driving, short version of this route. You need to come off of the A285 where it meets Denge Lane. There you’ll see the entrance to a farm, and there are some parking spaces outside on the grass verges. There aren’t that many, so it’s better to arrive early. If you find it is full, you can drive to Eartham Woods and park there, though it’s a fair bit further. There may be other places on the roads around too, but these are the places I have explored.
