Findon

Findon is not a hotel town, and that is part of its appeal: what accommodation there is tends to be small-scale and full of character rather than corporate. The Findon Manor Hotel, home to the Snooty Fox restaurant, is the closest thing the village has to a full-service country hotel, set in a period building at the heart of the village with easy access to the surrounding Downs. Several of the village pubs, including the Gun Inn and the Village House, also offer rooms, putting you a short stumble from dinner and right on the doorstep of the South Downs Way and Cissbury Ring. Because the village itself is small, many visitors choose to stay in nearby Worthing instead, just a few miles south down the A24, where the range of hotels, guest houses and budget chains is far wider, while still being close enough for a morning walk up to Cissbury Ring or an evening in one of Findon's historic pubs. Whichever you choose, book ahead if you are visiting for the Findon Sheep Fair in early September, when the village and its handful of rooms fill up quickly. For walkers tackling the South Downs Way, Findon also works well as a stopover point roughly midway between Amberley and the coast, with pubs offering food late enough for an end-of-day arrival.

Findon rewards walkers and anyone with an interest in ancient landscapes far more than shoppers or sightseers. The main draws are all within a short walk or drive of the village centre.

• Cissbury Ring — An Iron Age hillfort on the down immediately above the village, and the second-largest hillfort in England after Maiden Castle in Dorset. Its ramparts enclose around 60 acres, and the site also contains Neolithic flint mines dug some 5,000 years ago, among the earliest evidence of organised industry in Britain. The climb up from Findon is short but steep, and the views from the top stretch across the Weald to the north and out to the English Channel and the Isle of Wight on a clear day.
• Findon Sheep Fair — Held on Nepcote Green on the second Saturday in September, this is one of the oldest fairs in Sussex, with a market charter dating to 1261. In its heyday it saw tens of thousands of sheep change hands in a single day; it now survives as a smaller country fair with livestock classes, stalls and entertainment, but it remains the village's single biggest event of the year.
• Findon Parish Church (St John the Baptist) — A part-Norman church at the heart of the village, with a squat flint tower and a quiet churchyard that is worth a look on any walk through Findon.
• Walking the South Downs Way and surrounding bridleways — Findon lies close to the South Downs Way National Trail, and a network of footpaths and bridleways radiates out from the village across the Downs towards Chanctonbury Ring and Worthing, making it a popular start or end point for a day's walking.
• Chanctonbury Ring — A short drive or a longer walk north-west of Findon, this beech-crowned hillfort on the Downs is one of the most photographed viewpoints in Sussex, and a natural extension to a walk that starts at Cissbury.
• Findon village centre — The High Street itself, with its flint-and-brick cottages, old coaching inns and small independent businesses, is pleasant simply to wander, particularly combined with a pub stop.

For a village of its size, Findon punches well above its weight for pubs. The Gun Inn on the High Street has been serving visitors since 1619 and remains a village focal point, while the Village House, also on the High Street, occupies a building dating back to the 16th century. The Snooty Fox forms part of the Findon Manor Hotel, offering a more formal dining option, and John Henry's and the Black Horse add further choice for a village of only around 2,000 people. Between them these pubs cover everything from a quick pint after a walk on Cissbury Ring to a proper sit-down meal, and most make the most of their setting with gardens or terraces looking out towards the Downs.

There is no legal wild camping in England without the landowner's permission, and the South Downs around Findon are no exception, so any camping trip here means booking an official site rather than pitching up on the open Downland. That said, the chalk hills around the village, crowned by Cissbury Ring and, further along the ridge, Chanctonbury Ring, are classic South Downs walking country, and a handful of small campsites and glamping operators in the villages around Findon and further along the Downs make the most of that setting, offering everything from a simple grass pitch to a fully-equipped bell tent or shepherd's hut with a view over the Weald. Sites in this part of West Sussex tend to be small, family-run affairs rather than big holiday parks, which suits the quiet, walker-and-cyclist character of the area.

The camping season here runs broadly from Easter through to the end of September, mirroring the rest of the South Downs, with the driest, most settled weather usually in June, July and August. Early September has an added draw for campers: the Findon Sheep Fair on Nepcote Green, one of the oldest fairs in Sussex, dating back to a market charter of 1261, which turns the village into a genuine country show for a day. Outside the main summer months the Downs can be wet underfoot and exposed to wind, so a well-pitched, decent-quality tent, or a glamping option with proper heating, is worth the extra thought for spring and autumn trips. Whatever time of year, the terrain rewards it: the South Downs Way runs close by, Cissbury Ring is reachable on foot in well under an hour from the village, and the chalk grassland is home to skylarks, orchids and butterflies through the summer months. For those who prefer not to pitch their own tent, glamping sites in the wider area offer bell tents, yurts and shepherd's huts, giving much of the same sense of sleeping out under the Downs without the packing list, and are usually the easiest option to book at short notice around the sheep fair weekend.