Souhor one

Verified Slow Way

Verified by 80.00% of reviewers

I walked from Southwater to Horsham.
There are lots of backstreet snickets through woods avoiding roads taking you out of Southwater. The paths were narrow and rooty in places and quite muddy, in summer, if the hedges are not trimmed it will become narrower still in places. Anemones, celandine, violets and primroses lined the wooded paths, lots of green bluebell shoots.
Paradoxically as you leave the town the paths become less muddy, wider, better maintained and fenced in. Biodiversity diminishes to monoculture trees and grass.
A short suburban section takes you to Horsham Station, the town centre is 500m away.
Some walking on very quiet lanes. Crossing the A24 takes patience, but there are large gaps in the traffic periodically.
Lots of stiles, gates, and narrow boardwalks make this unsuitable for wheels.

I enjoyed walking this route, but am sure someone local could share an alternative that would be more direct and possibly better in other ways too. I think it is certainly good enough to be in the Slow Ways network - it can just be bettered!

It's a shame the A24 splits Easteds Lane from Reeds Lane.

This Slow Way does the job and is a perfectly good and reasonable way to get between Southwater and Horsham, with some really delightful bits too.

I think someone local could create a better route option that would be more direct and accessible.

The wooded footpath snaking through suburban Southwater was great to see.

I agree with Borstal Boy's comments about the dinosaur in Southwater - it would have been amazing if it was full-scale! Still, better have a smaller dinosaur than no dinosaur.

Good route. There's a section near Horsham between Gorings Mead and Chesworth Farm that isn't great for accessibility (see pic). This could be avoided by going via Queensway to the west.

Horsham to Billingshurst via Southwater on 22/10/2021. Leg One HORSOU.

Starting from Horsham station the path follows a series of twittens and quiet streets to reach the green southern margins of the town. After a narrow wooden boardwalk with a gate at the end, you find yourself in a field called "Jenny Bare Legs", part of the Chesworth Farm site.

The route then crosses the River Arun by the moat at Chesworth and picks up a fairly wide and well-used bridleway. This skirts Denne Park on one side and the green steel fencing surrounding the fields of Bourne Hill House on the other. There is pleasant easy walking along Pedlar's Way, then through Blunts Wood to Jackrel's Farm. A short section along a quiet lane then follows, after which the path changes direction to head north on a footpath parallel to the A24. This section is in danger of getting overgrown and my secateurs came in handy to trim overhanging brambles and hawthorn. A roadbridge then takes you over the main road to the outskirts of Southwater.

The final mile follows a sad series of remnant footpaths between the high-fenced back gardens of modern housing estates. This is a bit of anticlimax to what was until that point quite a nice walk. The destination at Lintot civic centre provides shops, cafes etc. It also has an interesting sculpture of an iguanodon on a plinth of Southwater bricks. Sadly the dinosaur was not full scale which would have made a really impressive feature.

This Slow Way is well-marked on the map and apart from the section between the houses in Southwater was reasonable well signposted. It is a fairly short route, but there are no stops for provisions or refreshments along the way.

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