Jevington, Lullington Heath National Nature Reserve and Litlington

The South Downs are dotted with sturdy little churches dating back to Norman and even Saxon times, but many are not quite as old as they look. Until quite recently, Sussex was a remote county cut off from mainstream architectural fashion, and local masons were still building churches in the Anglo-Saxon style several decades after the Norman Conquest. St Andrew in the village of Jevington could well be such a church, although some scholars have dated its massive tower as early as AD 900. It is well worth a visit, if only to see the rare Saxon sculpture of Christ destroying Evil built into the north wall. A thousand years before the church was built, the hills above Jevington were being cultivated by Iron Age farmers.

From the 18th century, fine chalk grassland was used for grazing sheep, but providing water was always a problem solved by building dewponds such as Winchester's Pond (visited during the walk). The River Cuckmere has carved its way right through the chalk downs to the sea, creating a steep-sided valley adorned with the Litlington White Horse. Deep Dene is a dry valley scoured out by meltwater during the ice ages when conditions in Sussex resembled modern Arctic Siberia.

Litlington is a perfect little downland village perched on the bank of the River Cuckmere, featuring flint cottages, an ancient farmhouse, and handsome Clapham House (once the residence of Maria Fitzherbert, secretly married to the future George IV). Nearby Charleston Manor features magnificent gardens, a 15th-century barn, and a Norman dovecote.

The nature reserve of Lullington Heath is a treasure trove of plants and wildlife. Although chalk is solid lime, Lullington Heath features acid soils because the chalk is blanketed by a shallow layer of red clay with flints, allowing acid-loving plants such as heather, wood sage, tormentil, and gorse to flourish alongside chalk scrub specialists.

Acknowledgment: Text derived from the Out and Out Series; Discovering the Countryside on Foot. Pictures courtesy of Wikipedia.