Walks, Kingley Vale Nature Reserve & Yew Tree Forest, West Sussex.

Visited August 2025.

Having visited Kingley Vale once before in the depths of winter, I never got further than the main gate, due to piercing wind and cold.

However on this day it was 27 degrees, very still and had that late summer smell where it will all start to grow colder in a few weeks.

The walk through the countryside was beautiful and obviously different than on a December afternoon. The last of the blackberries and Travellers joy joined tiny butterflies, like minute fluttering around as I made my way to the Yew forest.

The Yew trees are said to be some of the oldest living things in Britain and although official estimates put them at 500 years old, some estimate them to be much, much older, with some of them possibly 2,000 years old. Standing inside the forest, it is so quiet. It was also a welcome break from the heat. The twisted trunks and giant branches are really something to see.

They were cold to the touch and I respected them greatly. No hauntings though, but it did feel very whispery in there.

Walking further on the wild flowers really ramp up and I even spotted a Robin’s pincushion.

The hills and terrain are quite steep and you need good knees to get up them. The top of the hill has more old Yews and it brings you out onto the most beautiful view.

It is weird to think all about how many others have witnessed that view over hundreds and hundreds of years. The black void of night and the changing landscape. You can see Portsmouth, all across Chichester Harbour and the Isle of Wight. It is actually too much to think about as it is such a wonderful sight.

The next stop was the four Bronze Age burial mounds, the Devils Humps.

You can read more about Kingley Vale HERE. Download a Nature Trail leaflet HERE and read more about the Yew forest HERE.