West Stoke to Stoughton

By Eddie Start

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Kingley Vale includes one of the most ancient yew forests in Western Europe, perhaps planted in pre-Christian times

This walk, through some of the most ancient Sussex landscape, takes in evidence of the area's pagan past and goes through one of the oldest, most gnarled woods anywhere in the UK.

The route of the seven-and-a-half-mile walk leads around Kingley Vale and across Bow Hill to the downland village of Stoughton and comes into its own this time of year as the northern hemisphere plunges into its deepest and darkest days. During the walk, especially among the yews, long-departed ancestors suddenly seem far less so.

1. Leave the Kingley Vale National Nature Reserve (NNR) car park at West Stoke, go through the gate, (at the top left of the car park) and follow the wide, well-kept path ahead.

After about half a mile, it leaves the trees for open country before reaching the entrance to Kingley Vale. Pass through the gate and you are immediately greeted by The Spirit Of Kingley Vale, a sculpture carved by Walter Bailey from a single piece of yew blown down in the storms of 1987. The adjacent unmanned information centre has the full story of this ancient and internationally-recognised site.

Kingley Vale is one of the most ancient yew forests in Western Europe. The trees are some of the oldest living things in the UK and are thought to have been planted in pre-Christian times.

Marvel at the serpentine, shapes of the wizened branches as they dip to the ground and take root. Walk through an early morning mist as I did or in the twilight and the stories of hauntings and the enveloping aura of age make it a captivating place.

When you're done, return to the main path and walk ahead, leaving the woods for fields. This welcoming coombe is the site of settlements dating back to the Bronze Age.

2. Follow the path as it rises up the steep hill and eventually passes into trees where, especially after wet weather, there is a slippery climb.

Behind you is a view across the Vale. The path threads its way up through the trees and comes out at a grassy plateau - turn right here.

Continue for about 50 yards to the hill to the left, where there is a large sarsen stone, a memorial to Sir Arthur George Tansley who was responsible for this area being declared a NNR in the Fifties.

Return to the balcony path, head left (east) and where the nature trail drops right, continue on the left track through a tunnel of yew trees. This path, with views across the Downs, brings you to a wider bridle path with a sign for Kingley Vale.

3. Turn left and climb the rising path between the trees.

In about 500 yards, there is a fork near the top of Bow Hill, said to be the location of burial mounds of ancient warrior kings. Continue straight ahead, on the signed bridle path, still among trees.

After 300 yards, there is a path junction. Rather than take the left turn, have a look among the trees where you might be able to make out ditches and embankments, the remnants of pre-modern boundary ditches and dykes. Continue for 400 yards, until you descend with trees on the right and a sweeping meadow on the left.

In 200 yards, at a path junction and as the main track re-enters woodland, take the signed path left. This glorious sweeping path, part of The Monarch's Way, leads in about one-and-a-half-miles, to the ancient village of Stoughton. On coming to the farm buildings, follow the path between them on to the road, with Old Bartons on your right.

4. Turn left and walk along the road, past the Hare and Hounds.

At the village green, a sign points right for St Mary's Church, which is definitely worth detouring for. If Kingley Vale failed to energise your historic appreciation, this 11th Century Saxon building, with high walls and a squat tower, surely will. Built before the Norman invasion in 1066, the remote site has been host to the spiritual needs of countless generations since and still provides the same function today.

Return to the village green and at the road, turn right (south-west) for 100 yards. Go left at Tythe Barn House and Jeremy's, on a riding, sign-posted bridle path.

5. Climb the path between banks and in 300 yards, you come to a memorial stone on the left bank, inscribed to the memory of a young Polish pilot who was killed in 1940 when his Hurricane fighter plane crashed after a dog fight with a Nazi Messerschmitt.

Continue upwards through increasing tree cover, as the path weaves left then right and becomes steeper. Once you emerge from the trees, the path levels off and you will see a field on the right.

At a junction in the path, stay on the right and keep the trees on your left. Bear right at the next junction when the path begins to drop and enter a dense covering of yew trees.

On leaving the tree canopy, the path opens out and descends, offering glorious views all the way to the Coast. Take the left fork at the next path junction and in 150 yards, you should have returned to the entrance of Kingley Vale.

Take the right turn, which leads down the track and back to the car park at West Stoke.