The South Downs Way
Cocking Down and Cocking
The buildings you can see in the picture are Hill Barn and are part way up the climb back up Manorfarm Down - the next obstacle to overcome.
There's a main road in the dip three hundred yards in front of Hill Barn and a car park too.
Most usefully, there's a bus stop on the A286 road here - it's a hundred metres or so south of the South Downs Way. The Chichester to Midhurst bus runs every 15 minutes during the week, waiting to whisk you away to a hot bath, delicious dinner, unlimited entertainment and (more likely) an early night.
Three to five miles south of here the villages of Singleton and West Dean are on the 60 bus route and serve decent food. The village of Charlton is not on the bus route, but can be reached by means of a short walk alond the Lavant Valley and you can get tasty food there too.
While you're on this part out of the South Downs Way look out for a large ball of chalk. This is one of a series of sculptures by Andy Goldsworthy in this corner of West Sussex.
The South Downs Way is quite rutted in places here and the flints can be large, so it's best to be a bit careful where you put your hiking boots.
Cocking village
The village of Cocking itself is actually at the foot of the hill.Walking down the steep main road can be a bit dicey, so you may prefer to cut along the side of Cocking Down towards Crypt Farm and thence on to the village itself, where a cup of tea awaits you at the Moonlight Cottage Tea Rooms. The Blue Bell pub has recently been converted into a restaurant and the village shop and Milestone Garage sell refreshments.
Places to visit close to the South Downs Way
Amberley | Arundel | Ashington | Bepton | Bignor | Bramber | Bramber Castle | Burpham | Bury | Chanctonbury Ring | Charlton | Chilgrove | Clayton | Cocking | Compton | Cootham | Devil's Dyke | The Devil's Humps | Didling | Duncton | East Dean | East Harting | Edburton | Findon | Graffham | Harting Down | Heyshott | Houghton | Hurstpierpoint | North Marden | Parham House | Poynings | Pyecombe | Rackham | Singleton | Slindon | South Harting | South Stoke | Stedham | Steyning | Storrington | Torberry Hill | Treyford | Trotton | Truleigh Hill | Uppark | Up Marden | Upwaltham | Upper Beeding | Washington | West Dean
- Butser Hill to Harting
- Harting to Cocking
- Harting Downs
- Beacon Hill
- Pen Hill
- Buriton Farm
- Treyford
- Devil's Jumps
- Linch Down
- Bepton Down
- Cocking Down
- Cocking to Upwaltham
- Upwaltham to Amberley
- Amberley to Washington
- Washington to Upper Beeding
- Upper Beeding to Devil's Dyke
- Devil's Dyke to Ditchling Beacon
- South Downs Way info
- Cycling in Sussex
- Bike repairs
- Bicycle hire
- Mountain Biking
- Sussex Walking
- The Ramblers
- Other trails
- Horse riding
- Arundel
- Bognor Regis
- Burgess Hill
- Chichester
- Crawley
- East Grinstead
- Haywards Heath
- Horsham
- Littlehampton
- Midhurst
- Petworth
- Shoreham-by-Sea
- Steyning
- Worthing
Wednesday February 08