Lord's Wood

Lord's Wood is a proper Sussex woodland that sits just outside Petworth, offering the kind of forest walk that feels genuinely tucked away without requiring a map and compass to find it. Ancient trees, leaf-litter paths, and that particular quiet you only get when tall oaks block out most of the sky - this is the place if you want to stretch your legs without the crowds that descend on more famous South Downs spots.

The woodland itself is straightforward: it's a walking destination, pure and simple. There are no facilities, no visitor centre, no cafe. You arrive, you walk amongst the trees, you breathe in what passes for fresh air in Sussex, and you leave. The paths are manageable for families with older kids and walkers of average fitness, though the ground can be boggy after rain.

This works brilliantly as part of a broader holiday if you're based at one of the nearby caravan parks - Graffham Camping and Caravanning Club Site is less than four miles away, and Winchelsea Sands Holiday Park only slightly further. The walks aren't long enough to eat up a full afternoon, but they're ideal for a morning or early evening outing before heading back to cook dinner. Petworth itself has enough going on (the house, the market town itself, decent pubs) to round out a proper break.

Allot an hour to ninety minutes depending on how slowly you wander. There's no entrance fee that we can find - it appears to be one of those open-access woodlands that still exist in rural corners of England. Spring and autumn are finest, when the light comes through at angles that actually make you want to take photographs.