Distance 4 miles (6.4km)
Classification Easy
Duration 2 hours
Begins Petworth Park car park
OS grid reference SU966238
Walk in a nutshell
A tour round a Capability Brown landscaped park, which contains one of England's largest herds of fallow deer. Petworth is especially famous as the subject of many Turner paintings, some of which can be viewed inside the house. The terrain is steep in places and can be muddy. You are welcome to bring dogs but do keep them under close control. In the summer you'll also need to prevent them from swimming in the ponds, which contain blue-green algae.
Why it's special
This is a wonderful combination for art and nature lovers. The walk starts amid the landscape and woodland that Turner made famous then, about halfway around the circuit, you reach the magnificence of Petworth House, where 20 of Turner's paintings are on display as part of a dazzling collection that also includes works by Van Dyck and William Blake, carvings by Grinling Gibbons and statuary by John Flaxman and John Edward Carew.
Keep your eyes peeled for
The Ionic Rotunda in the Pleasure Grounds is particularly beautiful. There are also some wonderfully characterful old trees around the park. One oak, on your right as you approach Petworth House, has probably been growing there since before the Norman conquest.
Recover afterwards
Festooned with antlers, the Audit Room restaurant inside the house is a lovely place to enjoy hot or cold meals, or a cream tea. There's also the new Servants Hall coffee shop in the servants' quarters. If you fancy something upmarket you could try lunch at the Horse Guards Inn in Tillington on the park's south-western edge, or possibly the Halfway Bridge , a restaurant and bar just 2 miles west. The Angel Inn in Petworth (which has medieval origins) is also good .
If it's tipping down
You could easily while away a few hours inside the opulent rooms of Petworth House. Besides its art collection, there is the manuscript of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, some truly stunning rooms and staircases, and the servants' quarters perfectly preserved with all their utensils. For £2.99 you can even download an iPhone app that guides you round. There's also the Petworth Cottage Museum , which is open most days throughout the summer, giving you an insight into life for workers on the estate a century ago.
How to get there
Pulborough railway station is roughly 5 miles away, and Horsham 15 miles. However, there is also Stagecoach bus number 1 which goes from Worthing to Midhurst (passing Pulborough station then Petworth) and a Compass bus number 76 from Horsham, passing the station, to Petworth.
Step by step
1 From the ticket machine in the car park, and with the park wall on your left, walk through the gap in the fence and continue until you reach a stone square in the centre of the path. Turn left at this point and walk to the wall.
2 Continue towards the Lower Pond and then to the left of the pond, past a large oak on the left-hand side and towards the hill rising in front of you.
3 Pass the hound kennels and then the house on the left-hand side. When you see the two clumps of trees, start walking away from the wall, diagonally right on a grass track.
4 When you meet the gravel path, turn right on to it and walk uphill. You will soon meet the wall that goes around the Pleasure Grounds.
5 Cut across Lawn Hill towards the Upper Pond.
6 With the lake on your left-hand side, bear right down the other side of Lawn Hill. Ignore the first grass path and continue down to the second grass path. Follow this until you come to a T-junction in the paths, turn left and take the wide path towards and up over Arbour Hill where you will find a clump of very old sweet chestnuts.
7 From here go down towards the Upper Pond copse, which is enclosed by black railings. Follow the railings to the right and turn right uphill on the grass path between the timber boxed trees just before you get to the black gate in the railings.
8 Turn right when you get to the cross paths on to another grass path that leads away from the Upper Pond and walk gradually uphill towards a short, wide and hollow tree.
9 Keep walking on this path, over Snow Hill, until you get to a stone track. Turn right and continue for around half a mile.
10 Shortly after you pass between two huge sweet chestnuts, turn left up a steep grass path towards the side of an enclosure.
11 Follow the vehicle tracks and you will come to the top of the hill and the Concave.
12 Continue around the Concave and down Monument Hill. Head towards the lodge on a grass path and continue over the track on the same path. Follow this grass path, going straight over any cross paths to reach the car park after around a third of a mile.
