DO
- Walk – follow the Arundel River Circular trail. Picturesque and diverse with quite a few (steep) ups and downs. Pub stop with views over the river close to the end. We will return.
- Just wander around the historic town, Arundel has a special charm!
- Next time: walk from Arundel to Amberley (approximately 20km circular trail)
- Walk around Amberley Village – there is an old church as you might expect, old fashioned pretty cottages, a village store and, obviously, a pub!
EAT
- THE PIG Madehurst: just wow, loved it! Their 25 mile menu is great!! They have a herb garden, greenhouse, mushroom house, smoke house and… bee hives!
- The pig journey started with a couple of hives at The Pig in the New Forest, back in 2014. They now have hives at every PIG, with each location having a unique honey flavour.
- The mushroom house: produces kilos of ‘zero mile’ mushrooms on a daily basis. They mainly produce grey, pink and gold oyster mushrooms.
- The Smoke House: smokes own fish using a blend of local honey, lemon, white pepper and sea salt. There was a smoked salt pot, and mixed with the garden herb oil (created here too) it becomes the perfect bread-dunking pool!!!
- Jonny’s bar and kitchen in Arundel: breakfast, lunch, dinner and cocktails, it’s all here. Coffee was really good and breakfast tasty. Worth the stop. https://www.jonnysrestaurant.com/
- The Swan Inn in Fiddleworth – a 14th century coaching inn tastefully decorated. It reminded us of Normandy (makes sense I guess!). Lovely menu, interesting dishes and a few classics. I tried and loved Ambriel ( local traditional method English sparkling wine). They’re really close by so we will definitely pay a visit next time. Tours and tastings require booking.
- Amberley Castle is taking guests in for afternoon tea and totally worth it, just unsure about dinner…
SLEEP
- Here’s where we’re staying next time, min 3 nights bookings – looks very cool https://www.amberleybarns.co.uk/about
- Amberley Castle: luxury hotel blending medieval architecture and history with contemporary living needs. A super thoughtful gift we really enjoyed!
- Initially a Norman building as you might expect, it has a very interesting history – first building was a small hall (1140) with a larger hall and other improvements added in during the 1300s. It was later transformed into a fortified Manor House to ward off pirates! Even though many believe it was more to show off.
- Henry VIII visited Amberley in 1526 seeking advice regarding a divorce from Catherine of Aragon.
- Charles II visited twice and 1670 with the restoration of monarchy he gave the castle back to the church; in 2025 we stayed over for one night! 🙂
SHOP
- Charlie’s farm shop: butcher counter, veggies, dairy and eggs, lovely shop to stop on the way back home and skip the supermarket for one day.
You know it aaall! 