Midhurst

Midhurst's accommodation is built around two very different traditions: the historic coaching inn, several of which still operate in the town centre exactly as they did when they served the London to Chichester road, and the country-house hotel, a legacy of the large estates that surround the town. The Spread Eagle Hotel & Spa occupies one of England's oldest coaching inns, its sloping floors and inglenook fireplaces sitting alongside a modern spa and indoor pool, while a few minutes outside town Park House Hotel & Spa offers a similar country-house formula on ten acres of grounds, with tennis courts, a golf course and both indoor and outdoor pools. Halfway Bridge Inn, roughly midway between Midhurst and Petworth, brings the same balance of period charm and contemporary comfort to a smaller, restaurant-led property.

For visitors who want to be in the thick of the town itself, the Swan Inn on Red Lion Street combines pub rooms with a working bar and kitchen, giving easy access to North Street's shops and restaurants without needing a car. The Cowdray Estate itself runs two contrasting options: Benbow Pond's self-catered cottages, tucked behind their own private pond and good for families or longer stays, and The Lodge, a converted 18th-century golf clubhouse turned bed and breakfast overlooking the polo grounds and the Cowdray Ruins.

At the more modest end, Midhurst has a handful of small, independently run bed and breakfasts within walking distance of the centre. Appletrees and Pear Tree Cottage both offer a handful of ensuite rooms with private parking, aimed at walkers, cyclists and anyone visiting Goodwood or Cowdray Park without wanting hotel prices. Between the estate properties, the town-centre inns and these smaller B&Bs, Midhurst covers most budgets, though rooms in and around the centre are limited in number, and it is worth booking ahead for polo weekends in summer and for the Goodwood race meetings that draw visitors from across the wider area.

Midhurst rewards a mix of history, walking and slow food, and most of it is within easy reach of the centre.

• Cowdray Ruins — the roofless remains of one of Tudor England's most important private houses, gutted by fire in 1793 and now open for self-guided tours across its great hall, chapel and kitchens.
• Cowdray Park Polo Club — one of the sport's spiritual homes in Britain, with matches running from April to September and a clubhouse terrace that makes for an easy spectator afternoon.
• Woolbeding Gardens — a National Trust property a short drive from town, its formal garden rooms, follies and river walks overlooking the Rother valley and the Downs beyond.
• Midhurst Museum — a small, volunteer-run museum in the old grammar school building with rotating displays on the town's Tudor, literary and wartime history.
• South Downs Way and Serpent Trail — long-distance paths that meet near the town, giving walkers everything from a gentle riverside stroll to a full day on the chalk ridge.
• Cowdray Farm Shop and Café — an estate-run farm shop selling venison, beef and produce reared on the surrounding land, with a café looking over the polo ground.
• Midhurst Common — heath and woodland on the town's northern edge, good for an easy circular walk without a car.
• Cowdray Golf Club — an 18-hole parkland course laid out within sight of the ruins, open to visiting golfers as well as members.

Midhurst's food scene leans on the produce of the estate and the surrounding farmland rather than imported ingredients: venison and beef from Cowdray's own herds appear on menus across town, alongside game in season and vegetables from local growers. The town's coaching inns remain the backbone of its dining, serving proper Sunday roasts and open fires through the winter, while North Street's smaller cafés and wine bars cater to a slower, browsing pace of visit. A farmers' market held periodically in the town centre brings together local cheese, bread, charcuterie and West Sussex wine producers, and the Cowdray Farm Shop and Café is worth a visit in its own right for anyone wanting to take produce home rather than eat it on the spot. Look out too for small independent producers of chocolate, beer and soap who trade from shopfronts around the centre, a legacy of the town's long-standing market character rather than a recent addition for visitors.

Midhurst itself has no campsite within the town, but the South Downs National Park that surrounds it is well provided for, and a short drive in almost any direction brings you to a working farm or smallholding offering pitches among the same chalk downland and wooded valleys that define the area. Most of the nearest sites sit to the south and east of the town, towards Petworth and Goodwood, rather than in the sandy heathland to the north, reflecting the way camping in this part of Sussex tends to cluster around the open Downs rather than the Weald.

Littleton Farm Campsite, a few miles south towards Upwaltham, is the simplest of the local options: a tents-only field directly on the South Downs Way, with hot showers, a small on-site café and a deliberately spartan, back-to-basics approach that suits walkers and cyclists more than families with a car full of kit. Woodfire at Westerlands, near Graffham, takes a different approach again, pairing grass pitches and campervan spaces with pre-erected canvas tents and a fire-cooked, restaurant-style food offer, making it a good option for a first camping trip or a weekend built around good food as much as the outdoors.

For a more conventional touring base with electric hookups and full facilities, Old Farm Camp and Touring Site near Slindon, towards Arundel, is the closest option that takes caravans and motorhomes as well as tents, set in quiet woodland roughly forty minutes from Midhurst. None of the three sites listed here sit inside Midhurst itself, and all are given with their approximate distance from the town, but each is within easy reach for day trips into Midhurst and out onto the surrounding Downs.