Midhurst & Cowdray

Midhurst is the town we mean when we say we are popping out for bread. It sits on the River Rother just north of the estate, small enough to walk end to end in twenty minutes, old enough that H.G. Wells — who went to school here and later taught at the grammar school — would still find his way around without much trouble. You can drive in and park off North Street, cycle in along the lanes, or simply walk from your cottage door.

Start on North Street, then duck through Knockhundred Row into the old town: Church Hill, South Street and a knot of crooked, timber-framed lanes around the church. Many of the cottages have their window frames painted a particular shade of yellow — the mark of the Cowdray estate, which has shaped the town for five centuries. South Pond, at the bottom of South Street, is the spot for small children and ducks; St Ann's Hill, just behind the town, hides the grassy earthworks of Midhurst's original Norman castle and a fine view back over the rooftops.

Midhurst's great set piece stands just across the water meadows. Cowdray was one of the grandest Tudor houses in England — Henry VIII and Elizabeth I were both entertained here — until a fire gutted it in 1793, leaving the shell that broods so photogenically over the town today. The walk to it is a pleasure in itself: a raised causeway leads from the car park off North Street across the meadows, with the ruins growing larger all the way and the river drifting alongside. The ruins are managed by the Cowdray estate and access inside the walls is limited to certain open days and tours, so check the Cowdray website before you set your heart on going in; the view from the causeway costs nothing and is arguably the better angle anyway.

Cowdray Park Polo Club, based on the estate at Easebourne just north-east of town, is the home of British polo. The season runs from late April to September, with matches most weekends and the sport's biggest prize — the Gold Cup, the British Open — decided here in July. Sunday afternoons are the classic time to go: park by the ground, take a picnic, and wander the boards between chukkas. You do not need to know the rules; someone nearby will explain them whether you ask or not, and everyone is welcome on the pitch at half time to tread in the divots. Big finals days are ticketed and busy, but an ordinary Sunday match is one of the most painless ways we know to spend an English summer afternoon.

Two favourites, both flat and easy:

• The ruins circuit — over the causeway, past the ruins and round by the river through Cowdray's parkland. An hour or so, longer if you carry on into Cowdray Park itself to find the Queen Elizabeth Oak, a vast hollow tree already ancient when the first Queen Elizabeth is said to have hunted beneath it.
• The riverside to Easebourne — along the Rother to the estate village of Easebourne, with its yellow-framed cottages and priory church, returning across the polo lawns. Good with dogs on leads.

Along the river keep an eye out for kingfishers and grey wagtails, and in summer the ruins' towers draw swifts and swallows hawking for insects over the meadows.

Midhurst has proper shops rather than chains: butchers, bakers, delis, bookshops and cafés, most of them clustered on North Street and in the old town. Parking is easiest in the pay-and-display car park off North Street, which is also where the causeway walk to the ruins begins. The town sits at the meeting of the A272 and A286, so summer Saturdays can be slow through the centre — one more argument for walking in. If you are here on a clear evening, the ruins floodlit against a darkening sky, seen from the causeway, is the picture you will take home.