Barlavington

A Sandstone Church in a Scattered Parish

St Mary's stands at the end of a farm turning, with a working farm for its only close neighbour. It is small and built of rough sandstone; the Victorians restored it in 1873–74, rebuilding the south aisle and adding a stone belfry, but carefully enough that it still reads as little touched. Most of what you see inside is early thirteenth century: a nave, chancel and south aisle, two round-headed lancets at the east end, and a piscina set unusually high beneath a south lancet. Some of the roof corbels are medieval, reused from older work. A blocked arcade in one wall outlines a north aisle that, as far as anyone can tell, was never built. There are Minton floor tiles and an oak Annunciation carved by A. Ayres in 1967.

The parish is 397 hectares of scattered farms and sunken lanes, about four miles south of Petworth and east of the A285, inside the South Downs National Park. There's no pub or shop in the village; for either, you drive or walk to Duncton or Graffham.

Coaching Inns and Country Kitchens

The Cricketers at Duncton is a sixteenth-century coaching inn on the A285 with a large inglenook fireplace. It was The Swan until 1867, when John Wisden bought it, renamed it and leased it to the Sussex fast bowler James "Jem" Dean. Dean is said to have died there on Christmas Day 1881, sitting in the inglenook with a pint in his hand. The kitchen now cooks Sussex game, fish and locally sourced sirloin, and there is a children's menu and a large garden.

Two other pubs are nearby. The Foresters Arms at Graffham is a four-hundred-year-old inn where the chef, Thiago, puts fish and chips and burgers at the centre of things; dogs are welcome and there is a garden. The White Horse at Sutton aims higher, with slow-cooked pork belly in five-spice miso caramel, a Mediterranean fish stew of pollock, king prawn and mussels, squid-ink risotto with red mullet, and tandoori cauliflower with naan and saag aloo. Ben is the head chef.

Village Provisions and Heathland Paths

For provisions, drive to Graffham Village Shop, which is also a café. It sells Sussex Charmer cheese, Goodwood lager, Hennings wine, free-range eggs from just over a mile away, and cakes made by people who live in the village. Its owners, Thievandiram and Vasukee Jeevathasan — Jeeva and Vasu — were named local Community Champions in 2020, and Jeeva later received the British Empire Medal for keeping the village supplied through the pandemic.

The walking is the reason to stay. A five- to six-mile circuit from Lavington Common follows part of the Serpent Trail past Burton Park church, Chingford Pond and Duncton Mill, with a detour to The Cricketers if you want one. It is mostly flat, over sandy heath and woodland that turns muddy after rain, and somewhere along it is a sculpture called the Lavington Lizard.

From Domesday to Day-Trip Country

The Domesday commissioners found twenty households and two mills, and valued the manor at seven pounds. Pulborough station is about five miles north-east; the Compass 99 covers the lanes Monday to Saturday, and stops at Barlavington Manor if you book it ahead. Petworth House and its deer park lie four miles north, and Bignor Roman Villa, with its Medusa mosaic, has been letting visitors in since 1814.

Ivon Hitchens and Lavington Light

The painter Ivon Hitchens lived on Lavington Common from 1940 until his death in 1979. He worked outdoors and largely ignored the skyline of the Downs, painting instead the light in woodland clearings and the reflections in millponds close to home. Patrick Heron called his work a "profound personal identification of a painter with a special place, or landscape".