Pulborough Brooks is a flood plain of the River Arun and its water meadows are a prime site, run by the RSPB, for viewing winter visitors, including ducks, geese and various waders, some very rare and causing excitement throughout the county. The site has a café and shop (neither requiring an entrance fee), plus various lookouts and nature trails. This walk, to coincide with the Big Garden Birdwatch, makes use only of the public footpaths, beginning at the free car park. Wellies needed in winter and dogs are welcome. For more details and maps, please visit www.fancyfreewalks.org.
1. Starting in the car park of Pulborough Brooks RSPB Nature Reserve, at the end of the concrete, opposite a fingerpost and by a welcome sign for the Wildart Trail, take a footpath marked church. After some woodland, the path runs beside a wire fence and reaches a junction of grass paths. Turn left here. On your right is Wiggonholt Church, belonging to the little community of that name. The church is definitely worth a visit. (To access it, go straight ahead over a stile and turn left.)
Tiny Wiggonholt church is unusual in having no dedication. It is almost unchanged from when it was built in the 1100s. A doorway was added in the 1200s and some windows in the 1400s (not the glass of course which never survives so long). The interior is a single room (no chancel or aisles) and the church is built of rubble.
2. Continue past the church on your right, past a large wooden gate on your left and go through a small wooden gate ahead. You are now in the RSPB nature reserve and you must stay on the footpath that traverses it. At a crossing, go straight over through a wooden swing-gate. Go straight across this very pleasant meadow, cutting the right-hand corner, with great views of the South Downs to your left. At the other side, veer right past a fingerpost, go through a wooden swing-gate and straight ahead across the centre of the next meadow. At the other side, go through a wooden swing-gate and veer left, as indicated by a fingerpost. Yet another swing-gate takes you suddenly out into the reedy wetlands. The town of Pulborough is stretched out ahead, with the square tower of St Mary’s church perched on the hill to the left.
3. Your path goes straight ahead at first. It quickly veers left in the direction of the church and veers left a little more to a long bank visible ahead. This is a dyke of the River Arun. When you reach it, go up the bank and turn right along the riverside. A small wooden gate takes you over a tributary. There are paths down on your left close to the river if you wish to look out for the wildlife. A glance back gives you fine view of the South Downs. After 600m or so, your path goes over a long wooden bridge with metal rails and up a bank to a 3-way fingerpost. Ahead of you are two paths leading to the town: take the right-hand path, the slightly narrower option. The wispy grass here is home to numerous nesting larks in summer. Head for a line of weatherboard houses as your path goes by an unneeded wooden bridge. You arrive at a modern kissing-gate and your path twists left and right over a small bridge and up beside a garden fence to a residential road. Turn left and follow the road up to the main road in Pulborough. (You can also turn right on the less interesting residential road.) Turn right on the road.
4. Continue through Pulborough, passing several interesting buildings, going round a double bend. As the road straightens, opposite a superior housing development known as Maregate, your route is right at a footpath sign on a tarmac drive for Brookgate Farm. However, if you make a diversion of less than 200m, on the left you will find the White Horse, a 15th-century country pub which is open all day every day. Having turned right on the footpath, go 50m and leave the drive as it turns right towards a house, to take a narrow path through trees straight ahead. A stile takes you into a large pasture. Keep straight on along the left-hand edge next to a ditch. At the other side, go through a modern kissing-gate, over a bridge and through another kissing gate. As the RSPB info tablet says, you are now back in Pulborough Brooks, and there is a rustic bench from which to admire it.
5. Follow the path along the left-hand edge of the water meadow and over a stile (or through a large wooden gate). Your path now runs through willows with a stream and the wetlands on your right, then between wild hedges. After nearly 400m, you emerge via a (usually open) large wooden gate or a stile, with a house ahead. After a wooden gate, you pass the house, Banks Cottage, on your left. This fine old stone cottage with its steep slated roof is also a B&B. Follow the edge of the garden, ignoring a private stile. Just before your path goes up a steep sandy bank, turn left by a fingerpost through a wooden swing-gate. Don’t miss this turning! This sunken path takes you up steps to the head of a T-junction of tracks. Turn right.
6. You pass a horse pasture on your left. Before the track curves right towards a metal gate, go left through a modern kissing-gate into a meadow. Immediately keep right, going round a small fenced enclosure, and walk along the right-hand edge of the horse pasture. In the top right corner, go through a small metal gate into the next beautiful green pasture, still keeping to the right-hand edge. At the far end, go through a modern kissing-gate and veer a fraction left to go along the left-hand side of a narrow meadow. On your right are the few houses, farm and church that constitute the hamlet of Wiggonholt. Go through a wooden swing-gate under a large oak to a tarmac drive. Cross the drive, go over a stile to the left of a small wooden gate and keep straight ahead along a grassy path. Now retrace your outward journey, through trees and back to the car park where the walk began.
DISTANCE: 3.5 miles
MAP: OS Explorer 121 (Arundel)
START: The free Pulborough Brooks car park, West Sussex, RH20 2EL.
