Out to wander we linger in this place to absorb the atmosphere of these lonely downs, beautiful in their open spaces in the evening light. Grand views open up across the wooded Weald towards the distant North Downs, while the sea to the South sparkles silver in the sunlight.
Wandering in Old Sussex
Not all who wander are lost.
J R Tolkein
..And along the sky the line of the Downs
So noble and so bare...
‘This Eden which is Sussex still…’
Hilaire Belloc Country
This is Hilaire Belloc country. A staunch Roman Catholic, an outspoken politician and writer he was a lover of Sussex. Of his many books ‘The Four Men’ is the best known. It is the imaginary autumn walk of four men in the years before the First World War from the George Inn in Robertsbridge westwards. This is an early 20th Century Sussex full of quiet lanes, hidden villages and pubs.
For those of us familiar with this part of Sussex it’s not hard to imagine ourselves walking with the four men. We feel the autumn chill as mists begin to settle in the low lying fields and smell the autumn wood fires. Then at Washington to see the moon rising over Chanctonbury Hill and watch the waters of the Arun river at Houghton on their way down to Arundel and the sea. With tired legs after a day of walking, the welcome sight of a pub, the smell of the Sussex ales and the warmth inside with a group of Sussex locals.
We pause at this gate to look at a flock of South Down sheep. The renowned sheep fairs at Findon, near here, used to draw flocks from the surrounding downs.
The sound of horses, jingling harness and the shouts of the ploughman come from the nearby field. Further on the voices of hedgers at work re-laying an overgrown piece of hedging. We meet a herd of cows on their way to the evening milking sheds and a passing horse-drawn cart. These were the sights and sounds of an old Sussex long gone.
The South Country
The great hills of the South Country
From Belloc’s ‘The South Country’
They stand along the sea;
And it’s there walking in the high woods
That I could wish to be,
And the men that were boys when I was a boy
Walking along with me.
Belloc was brought up in the village of Slindon, just west of Arundel. This was his home country where he had wandered as a boy. Now his aim was:
‘to walk westward with no plan, until we come to the better parts of the county, that is, to Arun and to the land I know … a jewel for which the whole county of Sussex was made…. and beyond Arun, the hills I saw were the hills of home.
From ‘The Four Men’
These are delightful memories of a more graceful age when you could walk the slow lanes with time to linger, look and enjoy the countryside without being chased off the road by a stream of cars.
For me, too, the story brings me home to my favourite Arun river and its beautiful valley.
Hilaire Belloc bought King’s Land in Shipley in 1907 including this working windmill. This was his home for the rest of his life. He loved Sussex as few other writers have loved her: ….he tramped the length and breadth of the county, slept under her hedgerows, drank in her inns, sailed her coast and her rivers and wrote several incomparable books about her.
The Hilaire Belloc Society
In Belloc’s time, autumn’s mellowing would begin with early leaf colouring in elms (still common then), field maple and ash. The Sussex hedgerows full of hawthorn berries, rose hips and the leftover festoons of ‘Travellers Joy’ softening the slow approach of winter. Belloc loved this place. So do we.
He does not die that can bequeath
From the end of Belloc’s ‘The Four Men’
Some influence to the land he knows,
Or dares, persistent, interwreath
Love permanent with the wild hedgerows.
A Listening Heart 
I really enjoyed reading your post:)
Thank you
Sue
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Thank you, Sue. I hope you have survived the heavy rain you’ve been getting up North. It’s been fine here!
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Thank you Richard. Beautiful
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Thank you, Jim and Jennie. Good to hear from you. We hope all is well. Greetings from this side of the Atlantic. Grace and Peace to you both.
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I’ve always wanted to re-create that walk. Bob Copper did it so well, but I fear by now there would just have to be so many diversions.
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Thank you, Mick. I haven’t read Bob Copper’s book, I must try it. As Belloc feared, those ‘quiet lanes’ have all but gone. Maybe the South Downs Way will have to do!
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Copper’s book is definitely worth reading, Richard. And he details his route well. But the SDW is always worth doing, even if most of the pubs are rather off-route!
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I haven’t read a lot of Belloc’s work for some reason; my daughters loved his Cautionary Tales as did I when I was young and I have read a few of his poems. I enjoyed ‘The Old Road’ and have always intended to read more of his writing but have never got round to it. I will have to search out ‘The Four Men’. Thank you for another lovely post, Richard and beautifully illustrated as ever.
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Thank you, Clare. Sadly, most of Belloc’s books are now out of fashion and out of print. You can read ‘The Four Men’ online with Project Gutenberg. I found Belloc’s ‘The Old Road’ very interesting. It goes well with ‘Robert Macfarlane’s ‘The Old Ways’.. I hope all is well with you and the family.
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Sadly yes, so many excellent writers become out of date quickly because some of their views don’t sit well with modern thought. People don’t take the trouble to find out more about the author or the times in which they lived.
I enjoyed MacFarlane’s ‘The Old Ways’ and can also see the similarity.
I have had a difficult year with family problems and health issues too but these will all resolve themselves in time. I hope you and your family are well too.
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Sorry to hear you’ve had a difficult year. I do hope things change for the better soon. Wishing you God’s every blessing. Thankfully he cares.
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Thank you xx
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Every young boy needs a nearby 100 acre woods to wander, explore, and ‘walk the slow lanes with time to linger’. Well, girls too. I had places like that as a boy, I still do.
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I’m glad you still have access to local woods where you can wander. They are precious places to be treasured. There are too few left in England. The woods I knew as a youngster are now swallowed up in housing estates.
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Yes, that is my fear. That those quiet accessible places are quickly disappearing. Also disappearing, I never see a group of boys from a neighborhood just gathering on their own to form pick up games like unorganized sports. Everything is organized with parents watching and high pressure and adult led. There was great joy as a youth to just organize on our own to play a sport, just us youth.
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