Exploring the South Downs National Park.

Date of trip: Early May 2025

Total cost: £400 including lunch at the Black Rabbit, Knepp dinner and tour and Arundel wetlands entry.

Number of party: 5 (2 adults, 3 children).

The South Downs National Park is England’s newest National Park, having been established in 2010. It covers an area from Winchester to Eastbourne. It is characterised by farmland, chalk grassland, lowland heathland, ancient woodland, rivers, wetlands and coast. There is much to explore from gorgeous wildlife, relaxing bike rides, magical villages and winding rivers.

We started our visit on the Friday evening with a romantic candlelit dinner at the Knepp rewilding estate followed by a night time guided tour to listen to the magical nightingales on the estate.

Nightingales are small brown birds, about the size of a Robin. What makes them special is their unique, rich, and complex song, which they tend to sing at night. Nightingales are migratory birds, arriving from Africa to the UK around mid-April. They then sing to attract a mate to their territory. The more complex the song, the better their chance of attracting a female.

Nightingales are the bird of poetry representing love and hope throughout history. Most famously in John Keats’ poem, Ode to a nightingale. Sadly, this bird has vanished from most areas it used to be heard in the UK, removing this once treasured voice from our ears. There has been a 90% decline in nightingales since 1967, but at Knepp they are now thriving. The food, care and company that evening was flawless but the nightingales topped the night off. We stood close to 3 separate males singing their hearts out but heard a further 3 that night. The number of males has been hovering around 50 for the past few years, which means 100 birds if they all paired up. Knepp has so much more on offer also from wild camping, glamping and swimming to walks and wildlife not seen easily elsewhere. My particular highlights would be the beavers, purple emperor butterflies, white storks, turtle doves and ponies. They offer informative tours to get up and close to these. The Knepp estate is a true gem in the UK and no visit will disappoint. It is worth noting that children need to be over 12 years old to visit.

After spending the night with their grandparents, our children joined us on the Saturday for a bike ride through the South Downs countryside. We followed the Meon Valley cycle trail. The trail covers 11 miles (17.7km) but we finished slightly under that as we had a car parked just outside the town of Wickham to pack the bikes into. A good way to do the trail is to start at West Meon and cycle the route to Wickham. Then padlock the bikes up while you get a bus back to West Meon and then pick up the bikes. There is a free carpark to mark the start of the trail. The trail continues away from the main road along a completely car free route. This makes the flat route ideal for all the family, especially younger riders finding their balance or prams if you want to walk the route with infants. It took us 2.5 hours to complete at a leisurely pace with a couple of snack stops. There are facilities in the nearby villages but not in the carparks we used. The route had some nice views of typically English countryside and both West Meon and Wickham are worth a visit.

Sunday was a busy day starting with a paddle along the Arun river. Be careful the currents are strong here. It is best to launch about an hour before high tide and paddle with the tide up river. When the tide turns, it can assist your effort on the way back. We had a busy day planned so did end up paddling against the current and found this to be ok with 2 experienced adults paddling and a strong experienced 15 year old. The two younger kids sat on each of the adult boards, helping with the paddling as they would not have been able to control the paddleboard against the flow safely.

We launched at The Black Rabbit pub carpark. You can park here for free for up to 3 hours if you give the public house your custom. We enjoyed our pub lunch from the seats outside overlooking the river. The food was delicious and the cold drinks were welcome on the hot day. Soon after launching, we split from the main river off to the right. The river here had a much gentler flow so was easier and safer to paddle with the kids. It was full of wildlife and beautiful views and features to keep the family entertained.

After our lovely pub lunch, we visited the Arundel wetland centre for a small cost. It was the perfect time of year to visit with baby birds everywhere. We enjoyed a little electric boat trip around the centre.

We finished the day with a trip to Climping Beach, a stony beach with some sand at low tide. Not the ideal beach for kids with warnings of submerged rocks and hazardous materials but it made for a sea view walk.

Arundel has a lot to offer visitors. We spotted a little pleasure boating lake and will plan to visit the castle in the future. We are looking forward to exploring the South Downs National park further.

Highlights

Nightingales, white storks and great food.

The kids enjoyed climbing old trees along the Meon Valley cycle route.

Sand martins flying so close at Arundel wetland centre.

Top tips to keep the kids interested

Lunch after a paddle to refuel really helps keep the spirits up.

A cold drink on a hot day.

Bitesize activities.

Useful links

Visitor Map – Maps South Downs Home | Zesty

Knepp – Rewilding Pioneers

South-Downs-Leaflet-Meon-Valley.pdf