The South Downs Way
Saddlescombe Farm
As you might expect of a National Trust property, Saddlescombe Farm is a kind of romanticised farm, designed to provided an enjoyable day out for National Trust members and educational tours for children.
Saddlescombe almost seems like a fake farm, a soft farm with ducks carefully placed on the pretty pond, the buildings uniformly beautiful and well-maintained and scarcely a hint of the usual debris of downland farming.
But never mind.
Saddlescombe is also one of the best places to eat along the South Downs Way thanks to the Hikers Rest - an upmarket catering trailer located in a very pretty courtyard at Saddlescombe.
The menu is imaginitive and it's worth scheduling in a stop here - the Hikers Rest is comfortably one of the best watering holes on the route.
Saddlescombe Farm itself has a considerable and interesting history, dating back to the twelfth century when the farm came into the ownership of the Knights Templar. The donkey wheel at the farm draws water from a well which the Knights had dug in the thirteenth century.
And Saddlescombe's Maude Robinson wrote an enjoyable account of her childhood on the farm in the 1860s called A South Downs Farm in the 1860s.
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 Down
- Harting to Cocking
- 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
- Devil's Dyke viewpoint
- The Devil's Dyke
- Saddlescombe Farm
- West Hill
- Newtimber Hill
- Newtimber to Pyecombe
- Pyecombe Village
- Pyecombe Church
- Pyecombe Golf Course
- Clayton Windmills
- East Sussex Border
- South Downs Way Tips
- 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