Petworth

Petworth's accommodation is shaped by its setting: a small, largely residential market town surrounded by farmland, villages and the South Downs. Rather than a cluster of large hotels, the area offers a handful of characterful coaching inns and pubs with rooms, a couple of more indulgent country retreats nearby, and a good choice of small, independent bed and breakfasts on working farms and in quiet cul-de-sacs. It suits visitors who want somewhere with genuine character rather than a chain hotel, and who don't mind a short drive between where they sleep and where they eat or shop.

For a touch more polish, the villages around Petworth hold some of the best options: converted barns with boutique rooms, historic coaching inns with spas, and pubs that have invested heavily in both their kitchens and their bedrooms. These tend to suit couples and those celebrating an occasion, with restaurants worth the visit in their own right. A short drive further to Midhurst brings a proper historic hotel with a spa, useful if you want swimming and treatments as part of the stay.

At the more modest end, Petworth and its surrounding villages have a good crop of small bed and breakfasts, several run from working farms, offering home-cooked breakfasts, quiet countryside settings and a genuinely personal welcome. These are typically only a few rooms, so booking ahead matters, particularly around the town's antiques fairs, open-garden weekends and the summer season generally. Wherever you choose to stay, nothing in this area is more than a twenty-minute drive from Petworth House and the town centre, so the choice comes down to the kind of evening you want rather than how far you'll have to travel.

Petworth rewards slow exploration, on foot around the town and further afield into the park and Downs.

• Petworth House and Park is the obvious starting point, a National Trust property with one of the finest art collections outside London, including works by Turner, Van Dyck and Gainsborough, set in 700 acres of deer park landscaped by Capability Brown.
• Petworth's antique shops fill the lanes around the market square and Lombard Street, ranging from serious fine-art dealers to shops specialising in furniture, silver, books and architectural salvage.
• Petworth Cottage Museum recreates the home of a Victorian estate seamstress, giving a small, detailed glimpse of working life in the town in the 1900s.
• Coultershaw Heritage Beam Pump, just south of the town, is a restored Victorian water pump that once supplied Petworth House, open on selected days through the summer.
• The South Downs Way and a web of connecting footpaths cross the hills a short drive south, offering some of the best downland walking in Sussex with views towards Chichester and the coast.
• Local vineyards including Upperton Vineyards and Roebuck Estates lie just west of the town, both offering tastings, tours and terrace dining among the vines.
• Burton Mill Pond and Chingford Pond nature reserves, a few miles south of Petworth, are peaceful spots for a gentle walk and birdwatching among reedbeds and old millponds.
• Goodwood, home to the racecourse, motor circuit and Festival of Speed, is around twenty minutes' drive and makes an easy day out from Petworth.

Petworth's dining scene leans on strong local produce, from South Downs lamb and game to fish landed along the nearby coast. Several of the town's pubs have built solid reputations for food without losing their character as proper local pubs, and a handful of more ambitious restaurants have opened in recent years, reflecting the town's growing profile as a food destination alongside its antiques trade.

A monthly farmers' market in the town brings together local growers, cheesemakers and bakers, and is a good source of picnic supplies for a walk in the park or the Downs. The two vineyards just outside town, Upperton and Roebuck Estates, both produce English sparkling wine and offer tastings, with Roebuck in particular built around vineyard dining. Cafés around the market square serve as informal meeting points for locals and visitors browsing the antique shops, and several bakeries and delicatessens supply good bread, pastries and local cheeses.

Camping around Petworth means pitching within the South Downs National Park itself, on farmland and estates that have been managing this landscape for generations. Sites here tend to be small and understated rather than large holiday parks, reflecting both the character of the area and the planning constraints of a protected landscape. Expect grass pitches, good walking straight from the tent, and in several cases a strong emphasis on food cooked over fire rather than a shop selling sliced white bread and disposable barbecues.

Options range from simple, back-to-basics tent camping on working farms along the South Downs Way, through to a well-equipped club site with full facilities for tents, caravans and motorhomes, to a more polished 'gastro-camping' experience built around communal dining. What they share is genuine countryside, generally free from road noise, and easy access to walking and cycling routes across the Downs and the wider Petworth countryside.

Because several of the smaller sites deliberately keep things simple, don't expect electric hookups, swimming pools or full shops everywhere; check individual site facilities before booking, particularly if you're travelling with a caravan or motorhome, or bringing a dog, since policies vary between sites. Booking ahead is strongly advised for summer weekends, when the combination of good walking country and proximity to London makes the best pitches scarce.