Natalie Leal explores two tucked away seaside villages and a hidden sandy beach as she follows a route between Elmer and Climping in West Sussex. Two villages and a church have been lost to the sea along this largely undiscovered and interesting stretch of the Sussex coastline.

This walk is best done at low tide so please check the tide timetables on page 2 before setting off:

1. Park up in the free car park by Shrubbs playing field in Middleton-on-Sea then head towards St. Nicholas church, the start point of the walk. At the church cross the road and follow the signed footpath along the narrow alleyway (be warned this path can get very muddy after periods of wet weather). Keep straight ahead and ignore the signed footpath off to the right about halfway down. At the end of the footpath turn right onto the road and follow the quiet lane with open fields to your left. This road is noticeably lower than the neighbouring fields and is thought to be a hollow-way, a path worn down by the feet of people who have travelled along it for thousands of years. When you reach Ancton House, an old sixteenth century farmhouse on the corner, follow the road straight ahead ignoring the signed footpath off to the right. The road will lead you into a modern housing estate. Keep left through the residential estate and when you reach Kingsmead Road walk straight ahead and follow the signed footpath between the fences. Take the next road right and follow it through the private estate until you reach the gated entrance. At the road, cross over and take the footpath opposite along the alley. This leads you out onto the beach.

2. At the beach, turn left. The first thing you will probably notice when you arrive on Elmer Sands beach at low tide is the impressive wall of boulders in front of you. These rocks were out up as sea defences in an attempt to halt the erosion that impacts the area. Low tide is also the best time to explore the beach as a large expanse of sand is revealed as the tide goes out. Elmer Sands is the sort of beach tourists would flock to if it was situated somewhere more accessible, but a lack of nearby parking ensures it stays relatively private and secluded throughout the year.

Continue along the beach and the coastal path for just over a mile leaving the private estates of Elmer behind you. The grand houses are soon replaced by fields of bright yellow rapeseed at this time of year. The unspoilt coastline between Elmer, Climping and Littlehampton is the only coastal stretch all the way between Bognor Regis and Brighton that has not been built upon.

3. After approximately a mile you will reach Climping beach and will see a concrete wall to your left. Take the path through the gap in the wall and follow it round into the large grassy car park. Walk across the car park and out onto Climping Street then turn left. Follow the lane past the houses and Bailiffs Court Hotel and Spa and then a short distance beyond the Black Horse Inn take the footpath to the right which leads past some old cottages and into a field. Cross the field and when you reach a wide farm track turn right. Follow this track through the farmland for approximately a quarter of a mile. Just beyond some horse paddocks you will arrive at the beach again.

4. Turn right at the beach and re-trace your steps in the opposite direction back towards Elmer. Climping used to neighbour two other small coastal villages names Atherington and Cudlow. There are still a few houses left at Atherington, a short distance away, but the majority of the village was lost to the sea some time during the sixteenth century. The village of Cudlow no longer exists at all and is also believed to have succumbed to coastal erosion in the same period.

When you arrive back at the boulders at Elmer beach continue straight ahead past the footpath you originally took from Elmer village. Instead, keep straight ahead for a further half a mile along the beach.

5. Turn off when you reach a signed footpath to the right which leads through a housing estate and back to St Nicholas Church, the start and end point of the walk. This church was built in 1849 after the original St Nicholas Church was washed away by the sea. There is no sign of the old eleventh century church now but during the eighteenth and early nineteenth century it was well-known for its precarious position sitting on the very edge of a cliff. A high tide in 1837 destroyed most of the building and by 1849 the remaining ruins disappeared under the water.