Henfield

Henfield is not the place to expect a cluster of big hotels, and that is rather the point of staying here: it is a genuine Sussex village, not a resort. What accommodation there is tends to be small in scale, ranging from rooms above traditional pubs on the High Street to bed and breakfasts in period cottages, giving visitors a proper feel for the village rather than a generic stopover. This makes Henfield a good choice for anyone who wants a quiet base within easy striking distance of both the coast and the South Downs, without the price tag or crowds of staying directly in Brighton or on the more heavily visited parts of the Downs.

For a wider choice of hotels, the market towns of Steyning and Horsham are both a short drive away and offer a better range of options, from independent inns to larger chain hotels, while Brighton and Hove, around twenty minutes south, has the fullest spread of hotels in the area if a coastal stay is preferred. Wherever you base yourself, Henfield works well as a day-trip destination for walking the Downs Link, exploring Woods Mill, or following the Adur valley on foot, and its pubs are a reliably good reason to end up back in the village for dinner regardless of where you are sleeping.

Henfield rewards a slow wander more than a checklist of sights, but there is a good spread of things to see in and around the village, from local history to open countryside.

• Woods Mill Nature Reserve — headquarters of the Sussex Wildlife Trust, just south of the village off the A2037, with ancient woodland, wetlands, a millpond thick with dragonflies and damselflies, and a nature trail that is especially good for families in summer.
• Henfield Museum — a small, volunteer-run museum in the village hall covering local history from prehistoric flints to the village's role in early conservation movements, along with costume and photographic archives.
• The Downs Link — a largely traffic-free walking and cycling path along a disused railway line, running from Shoreham-by-Sea to Guildford and passing along the edge of Henfield, ideal for an easy circular walk or a longer ride.
• River Adur towpaths — flat riverside paths across the water meadows south of the village, good for birdwatching and a gentle stretch of the legs, with views back up to the ridge Henfield sits on.
• South Downs National Park — the escarpment rises a few miles south of the village, with Devil's Dyke and the Jack and Jill windmills both within easy reach for a proper downland walk.
• Henfield Common — a pocket of green space on the edge of the village used for informal recreation and dog walking, part of the wider common land that has surrounded Henfield for centuries.
• St Peter's Church — the parish church, with parts dating back to the 12th century, sitting at the heart of the old village alongside some of Henfield's oldest timber-framed buildings.

For a village of its size, Henfield has an unusually strong run of pubs, among them the 16th-century coaching inn The White Hart on the High Street, along with The Wheatsheaf, The Plough and The Old Railway, the last of these sitting right on the Downs Link and popular with walkers and cyclists refuelling mid-route. A short drive away at Muddleswood, on the road up towards the Downs, the Ginger Fox has built a strong reputation locally for its food. The village also has a scatter of everyday cafes and a bakery along the High Street for a quieter stop.

Henfield sits right on the fringe of the South Downs National Park, with the Adur valley on one side and open downland walking within a few miles on the other, which makes the surrounding area a popular one for camping despite the village itself having no large campsite of its own. As with everywhere in England, wild camping is illegal without the explicit permission of the landowner, so anyone hoping to pitch a tent for the night needs to book into one of the established sites scattered through the wider Adur valley and the northern edge of the Downs, rather than simply finding a quiet field.

The terrain around Henfield is gentle and pastoral rather than dramatic, all hedgerowed fields, water meadows and orchard country, giving way a few miles south to the steeper chalk grassland of the Downs themselves, so sites in the area suit a mix of easy family camping and a base for more serious downland walking. Facilities tend towards small, well-run touring and tent sites rather than large holiday parks, in keeping with the low-key character of the villages around here. Glamping has also taken hold locally, with shepherd's huts, bell tents and the odd yurt appearing on farms in the valley, offering a step up in comfort for anyone who wants the setting without the full camping kit.

Late spring to early autumn is by far the best window for camping around Henfield, when the water meadows are dry underfoot, the Downs Link is at its most pleasant for cycling in and out of a site, and long evenings make the most of a rural pitch. The Adur valley can be prone to flooding after wet weather, so it is worth checking ground conditions with a site directly if booking outside the summer months, and packing for changeable weather is sensible at any time of year this close to open downland.