Turn right out of Wivelsfield station, then left at the roundabout, through suburban housing until you break suddenly into idyllic Sussex farmland. Keep ahead on the path on to a tarmac lane and over a stile by the entrance to the tantalisingly hidden, Grade I-listed, Great Ote Hall. Walk the left edge of the field, past rare-breed cattle, to another stile and up the broad, grassy track between tall hedgerows.

Keep going, over a stile by a footbridge, then two more on the other side of the field, and find yourself behind Wivelsfield’s 13th-century Parish Church. Its walled graveyard is worth a visit.

Follow the footpath east through ploughed fields, over a road, and into a field of friendly alpacas (the largest herd in Europe). Continue through the alpaca farm, over the trim lawns of Townings Place and into the grounds of Wivelsfield Hall. Go through the kissing gate and take the middle of three signposted footpaths through beautiful meadows and along a boundary of mature oaks to emerge into Wivelsfield village high street. The Cock Inn is a must for lunch.

Head west out of the village and pick up the Sussex Border Path south, which soon takes you into the ancient forest of West Wood. The route becomes a mossy lattice of tree roots running parallel to a fern-strewn gulley in which pheasants forage. Keep to it, along the wood’s western border, past sleepy cottages and over Middleton Common Lane to the corner of Blackbrook Wood: a denser, wilder forest, worth exploring.

Now, into Ditchling Common Country Park and pick up the wide bridleway where birds and butterflies fly out of the thick scrub. Make your own flight – across the B2112, through Hope Farm, and keeping straight ahead on the bridleway. Manor Road leads back to the roundabout near the station.

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The details

Changing trees and alpaca herds

Start
Wivelsfield railway station (TQ200321)

Length of walk
7 miles

Walkers’ pitstop
The Cock Inn, Wivelsfield

Website
http://tiny.cc/vQBpH