Harting Down 21st September 2026

 

 

Walk 21st September Harting Down.

Leader: A.P  backer : P.G. walkers: J& S Ed;A.S;N.S;F.M. [7]

A beautiful sunny day , clear skies , light breeze – ideal!

Start in Harting Down National Trust car park. Walk through a gate and cross Harting Hill following the South Downs Way.

Go over the undulating cross ridge dykes. These parallel mounds date back to the Iron Age, and may have been boundary markers or a checkpoint across the ridgeway.

Enjoy far-reaching view across the flat plain of the Weald towards the Hog's Back ridge and North Downs and a wonderful view of S.Harting below. To the left, a view of Uppark’s ruined ‘folly’.

Follow the right-hand track up Round Down hill, keeping a hedge on your left. Just over the top of the hill, turn left and go through a gate, before walking down into the next valley. After another gate at the bottom, walk across to the base of Beacon Hill.

You can climb up to the summit of Beacon Hill, but we took the easier option and turned turn right to skirt across its lower slopes, along Bramshott Bottom – a wide, sunny valley – which led eventually to a ‘dew pond’. 

These ‘dew ponds’ – a misnomer - are really man made [from the 1700’s onwards] by farmers digging them out of the chalk earth and lining them with clay or straw to catch rainwater or run-off from the surrounding Downs in order to provide drinking water for their sheep/ cattle. They are unique to the S, Downs.

After a coffee break here we turned right to follow a gentle , long track back to the main track where we started. Here we took a narrower  but clear track to the left and at an eventual gate and  fence we turned right to follow down the hill to the car park.