A pub beneath the woods
Henley
A small hillside hamlet where terraced water gardens, a historic inn and paths towards Black Down set the rhythm.
- Best for
- A country-pub meal paired with a walk
- Give it
- A relaxed half-day, or longer with Petworth
- Don't miss
- The running water and stone pools below the Duke's terrace
The Fox verdict
A tiny hamlet with one very good reason to stop
Henley gathers around a historic country pub, then opens onto wooded paths and the high heath of Black Down.
Come for the Duke's food, old pub rooms and terraced gardens, then make the surrounding landscape part of the visit. The Serpent Trail can be picked up directly opposite, while Black Down, Fernhurst Furnace and other nearby heritage broaden a pub stop into a full day.
Where to go
Places in Henley
Every place below is checked against a published source, listed with what it is and how long to give it.
Local signatures
3 placesThe Duke of Cumberland Arms
An 18th-century Grade II country pub with historic front rooms, more than three acres of terraced gardens and running water feeding stone pools.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 90 minutes
- Locality
- Henley hamlet
Serpent Trail
The South Downs National Park trail can be picked up in Henley opposite the pub, opening a direct walk into the wooded landscape.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 60 minutes for a short out-and-back
- Locality
- Opposite the Duke of Cumberland Arms
Fernhurst Furnace
The remains of a water-powered ironworks that used local ore and charcoal to make cast iron, tools and cannon from about 1614 to 1777.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 45 minutes
- Locality
- Fernhurst
Walks & outdoors
1 placeBlack Down and the Temple of the Winds
The highest point in the South Downs National Park, with a two-mile route to a curved stone seat through heathland, ancient woodland and flower-rich meadows.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 2 hours
- Locality
- Black Down
History & heritage
2 placesChurch of St Mary, Easebourne
A Grade I church with an 11th-century south aisle, a 12th-century tower, 13th-century work and a shingled spire.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 30 minutes
- Locality
- Easebourne
- Access
- Check local information before relying on interior access.
Petworth House and Park
A late-17th-century mansion with a Capability Brown deer park, an art collection and historic servants' kitchens.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 2 hours 30 minutes
- Locality
- Petworth
- Access
- Check the National Trust site before travel.
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Three ways to explore Henley
Signature outings
Terraces, pools and a historic pub
Settle into the Duke's three-acre terraced gardens, where running water feeds stone pools holding trout and crayfish.
Reach the Temple of the Winds
Follow the two-mile National Trust route to the curved stone seat on the highest point in the South Downs National Park.
Make time for Petworth
Explore a late-17th-century mansion, its art and historic kitchens, then the Capability Brown deer park.
The village story
Henley: pub, paths and wooded hills
The original Travel Fox article follows Henley from the Duke's running water and historic rooms onto Black Down, then back down the lane.
A hamlet gathered around the Duke
Below the terrace of the Duke of Cumberland Arms, water runs through a series of stone pools holding trout and crayfish. The gardens fall away in more than three acres of terraces down the hillside, with long views over the wooded slopes, and you can sit out among them with a drink while whatever is in the pools gets on with its day. This is more or less the centre of Henley, a small wooded hamlet folded into the hills of the South Downs National Park, west of Midhurst. There is no shop, no church of its own. There is the pub, and the pub is the reason to come.
The building is 18th-century, coursed stone with brick dressings under a half-hipped tiled roof, and Historic England lists it at Grade II. Inside, the front rooms link together with red quarry-tile floors, boarded walls and ceilings, bench seating and matchboard counters, a survival that CAMRA rates as of very special national historic interest. It is food-led without having tidied any of that away.
Local food and an open welcome
The kitchen is run by Simon Goodman, who owns the place and cooks the meat from local farms, fish off the south coast and vegetables from the pub's own patch. He was named UK Pub Chef of the Year in 2010; the Duke took the Good Food Guide's Pub of the Year in 2012 and Sussex Life Pub of the Year in 2016. Menus change daily with what comes in, but they run to things like ale-battered day-boat haddock with pea puree and triple-cooked chips, wild-boar-and-apple sausages with mash and onion gravy, confit pork belly with creamed cabbage and apple glaze, and cod with pancetta, broad beans, samphire and a Langham Hip Hop beer sauce. Harvey's Sussex Best Bitter and Langham Hip Hop are the regular cask ales, with other Langham beers rotating through.
Elizabeth Carter, who edited the Good Food Guide, called it "infectiously welcoming, centuries old, in a glorious location." Dogs are welcome.
Trails and older traces
The Serpent Trail is picked up directly opposite the Duke, and from there the ground rises towards Black Down, the highest point in the whole national park. A two-mile National Trust route climbs to the Temple of the Winds, a viewpoint with a curved stone seat, through heathland, ancient woodland and flower-rich meadows. Tennyson built his house Aldworth nearby in 1869 and lived there until he died in 1892, and the view of green Sussex fading into blue with a grey glimpse of sea was one he wrote about. For a longer day, the Haslemere-to-Fernhurst circular runs eight or nine miles over gates, stiles and steady climbs, taking in the Temple of the Winds and the remains of Fernhurst Furnace, an ironworks that made cast iron, tools and cannon from about 1614 to 1777.
Traces of older Henley are thin on the ground. The old turnpike kept its pillow-shaped stone setts until the 1950s, and the wooded slopes above the hamlet held the remains of Verdley Castle, probably a medieval hunting lodge, possibly fortified, into the last century.
The lane back to Henley
Getting here means driving or the number 70 bus, which runs between Haslemere station and Midhurst and stops up on the A286 at Henley Common, above the hamlet; the Duke is down the smaller lane below. Haslemere is the nearest railhead. Midhurst, Cowdray's polo grounds and Tudor ruins, and Petworth House with its Capability Brown deer park are all within reach for a day out.
Come back down the lane at the end of it, and the pools will still be running, the trout still turning over in the dark.
Stay around South Downs
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A guide with a point of view
Written from research. Edited for real journeys.
Use the Official site links for live practical details, then use this guide for context, ideas and room to explore.
Sources
Every place on this page is checked against a published source. Each entry links the record we used and names who publishes it.
- The Duke of Cumberland Arms — dukeofcumberland.com operator, sector body or destination organisation
- Serpent Trail — southdowns.gov.uk statutory register or public authority
- Black Down and the Temple of the Winds — nationaltrust.org.uk national body or asset manager
- Fernhurst Furnace — historicengland.org.uk statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access
- Church of St Mary, Easebourne — historicengland.org.uk statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access
- Petworth House and Park — nationaltrust.org.uk national body or asset manager