West Dean Gardens sit in the heart of the West Sussex countryside, just a few miles north of Chichester. Here you’ll find acres of beautifully maintained gardens and an arboretum to explore, but it’s the walled garden I wanted to see.

Inside those walls I lost track of time as I wandered around Victorian glasshouses and cold frames, kitchen gardens, cutting gardens and orchards. The incredibly friendly and well informed gardeners actively encourage you to enter and browse the glasshouses and were happy to chat and answer our questions.

The restaurant is nicely styled, comfortable and, most importantly, served excellent coffee and a lot of good cake. It was a happy spot to linger before we wandered into the shop to buy a couple of plants to take home with us.

You could spend an hour or a day here, it’s lovely – especially in early summer – when the wildflowers are in bloom and everything is verdant and green.

Images by Gillian Roe

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Hidden in the greenhouses of the rather unassuming Manor Nurseries in Angmering is the most fantastic surprise for a plant lover like myself: one of the largest private collections of cacti and succulents in West Sussex (quite possibly, in the country!) Quiet and almost reverential, it’s a place to stop and catch my breath – an urban oasis.

My favourite time to visit is spring and summer when the cacti come into bloom, but it’s really quite something to see at any time of the year. Started in 1948 by Rob and Annie Lovejoy, the collection has grown from seeds and specimens gathered from around the globe, and is now home to hundreds of different species.

The collection is open to the public during nursery opening hours, with an ever changing variety of succulents and cacti available to buy. I can’t go too often – it’s too tempting! There are even some whoppers on sale – grown right in the nursery and already a few years old.

An easy visit for locals, but if I were planning a trip from further afield, I’d certainly take the opportunity to walk the short distance and enjoy the views from up in the Downs, and I wouldn’t miss a stop for lunch or a pint at The Lamb in the heart of the village before heading home.

Images by Sarah-Louise Kimmer

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The Horse Guards Inn is a firm favourite in our family. Sitting in the sleepy village of Tillington, the pub is over 350 years old and gets its name from when the household cavalry would stop off there to graze their horses in the 1840s. Beautifully done out yet totally kid-friendly, it makes the perfect place for a relaxed Sunday lunch or a cosy dinner.

The staff are really welcoming and the food has always been wonderful. The menu is small and seasonal, making the most of local produce, and they do great dishes for kids.

In winter, the place is so cosy you don’t want to leave, and they do a really good home-made sloe gin if you need a little pick me up! In the summer, they have a cute garden with chickens roaming free and lovely seating areas. To round off an outing,  Petworth House and Park is just a short drive away so you can walk off the amazing food in 283 hectares of deer park.

Images courtesy of The Horse Guards Inn

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Opposite the green in the picturesque West Sussex village of Lurgashall, in between the church of St. Laurence and The Noah’s Ark pub, is perhaps not the place you’d expect to find a store bursting with beautiful vintage finds. But it is here that a humble 17^th-century stable provides an atmospheric setting for The Bottom Stable.

Compared to the antiques trail in Petworth, six miles away, which focuses on more traditional pieces, this wonderful weekend pop-up shop offers something more unusual; an ever-changing and beautifully curated collection of items that owners Hollie and Amy fall in love with; from vintage curiosities with a French twist – think oversized glass bell jars, letterpress stamps, old-school desks and biscuit moulds – to contemporary homewares by independent West Sussex artisans to fresh-cut flowers.

I couldn’t believe my luck when I stumbled across this gem – and, with The Noah’s Ark serving up excellent British produce but seconds away, it really is a place worth making a special trip to.

Images courtesy of The Bottom Stable

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Perched atop a hill in the pretty South Downs village of Tillington, is The Horse Guards Inn; a pub so utterly charming that you find yourself wishing you could move in.

Stepping in off the narrow lane, we were warmly welcomed into its rustic interior and shown to one of the scrubbed pine tables where we sat back and admired the displays of fresh flowers, trinkets, old prints and vintage signs.

The seasonal menu is a celebration of all that is local, and my Sunday lunch was a dream: potted crayfish and toast served on a black slate, perfectly rare roast beef with trimmings (accompanied by individual jars of horseradish and mustard), and a delectable strawberry pavlova decorated with an edible flower. Even the coffee and tea comes with homemade vanilla fudge.

If it’s a sunny day, be sure to make the most of the quirky and enchanting garden with its vintage iron day beds strewn with cushions, straw bale seating, striped deckchairs and romantic summerhouse.

And if you really can’t tear yourself away, then you’ll be happy to know there are three delightful B&B rooms, allowing you to stretch out your stay just that little bit longer.

Images courtesy of The Horse Guards Inn and Siân Joseph

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Feeling in need of space, sea air and the ritual of a morning coffee I head to the cafe at Shoreham-on-Sea Airport.

To me an airport is a unique kind of space; at once exciting and nomadic and yet static and unchanging; and this is an old, municipal airport. Tucked away, this listed art deco building straddles a busy four-lane bypass, the rural hills of the South Downs and the blistering sea coasts. There’s not much about; a neo-gothic public school here and the odd shopping centre there. Sea birds shriek and wheel overhead. It could be in a desolate film noir, and I, the blousy heroine.

We sit in a long 1930s terminal building, and the artist in me relishes the Bauhaus architecture; all rounded corners with a dome, modernist clock and a small curved balcony out in the foyer; it feels solid and purposeful. I always think it would be a very good place for a party on a summer’s evening.

On the café walls, peeling posters advertising flying lessons are the only links to consumer modernity. The food here may not be award-winning but the atmosphere is more than alive! You can sit at the large viewing windows and watch the to-ings and fro-ings on the airfield. The planes are small and old and new; a spitfire languishes by a helicopter and handsome pilots amble up to the café in full aviation gear like Hollywood heroes, imbuing a sense of far away, exotic destinations.

Text supplied by visual artist, Lucy Newman

Image courtesy of Vintage Owl Boutique and howzy on Flickr

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I love going to antiques fairs and my favourite is in Ardingly which is only an hour from London at the South of England Showground. It’s held just six times a year so I’m always there come rain or shine. There are over 1,700 stalls so you have to be pretty committed to foraging but there are always some fantastic finds to be had among the endless pathways of stalls. Original 1930s Ercol furniture, French linen, fine antiques, Hungarian olive pots, old butchers tables from Holland – I’ve spotted all of these among the wealth of European treasures waiting to be uncovered.

The Ardingly fair is still off the radar for many fashionable Londoners who all seem to know about Kempton and other events nearer to home, which means you can still find fantastic pieces that are really on trend. I like to seek out weird and wonderful old finds that just seem to work when you put them all together. Just go with your instincts and don’t think too much, I say!

If you’re seriously hunting for furniture or something specific then you should definitely go on the first day. And if you’re a really committed bargain hunter then you could follow the lead of a very focused buyer I saw there last time who was whizzing around on a bicycle spotting potential purchases in order to be ahead of the game. When I later saw her piling things in to her van I thought it was a genius idea!

Photos courtesy of Little Musings

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The beautiful Pallant House Gallery is one of my favourite places to visit – guaranteeing many pleasurable hours spent admiring the latest exhibitions, breaking for a scrumptious lunch and then rounding up with a good browse around the gallery bookshop.

Situated in a Grade I listed Queen Anne townhouse, the Gallery is known as the home of Modern Art in the South. The original building has an award-winning contemporary wing, and on the inside, the clean, white, modern spaces make it a lovely, calming place to spend time. Best of all, they always have an exciting line-up of exhibitions, workshops, talks, tours and live performances to chose from.

Culture aside, for me, the highlight of any visit has to be a stop in at Field & Fork – the superb gallery restaurant which extends into a lovely courtyard shaded by plane trees. It’s a real treat! The delicious food is all freshly prepared using the finest locally-sourced ingredients. They even grow their own vegetables, salads and soft fruit in a half acre greenhouse, which can be visited by prior arrangement.

The final icing on the cake is the gallery bookshop with a large range of new and out of print books on modern British art. Although these are available to buy online it is much better to leave enough time in your visit to browse the bookshelves as well as checking out the wonderful shop merchandise.

Photo courtesy of Claire Sambrook on Flickr

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My friend Ali’s traditional painted beach hut on West Wittering beach near Chichester is one of my favourite places to spend time. We’ve basked on long balmy summer days, barbequeing as the sun starts to set, as well as huddling together behind Ali’s vast collection of wind breaks, wrapped up warm against the driving wind and rain whilst downing endless mugs of tea.

The beach is in an unspoilt stretch of golden sand, the car park is simply a field and there’s no real development save an old-fashioned beach café and shop. It’s like going back in time to the days when the seaside was simply that. To escape the traffic jams during the height of the summer season, either get here early or arrive after lunch and stay into the evening as the sun goes down. Then head to The Boulevard in East Wittering for some freshly cooked local fish and chips. It’s not a fancy place but the food is always great and the portions are enormous.

What I’ve loved about the days we’ve spent at West Wittering is that no matter how stressed I am when I arrive, after just a short time, I realise everything has slowed right down and you find yourself smiling and breathing in deeply. Ali’s beach hut is painted lovely ice cream colours and is decked out with more than a few vintage and handmade treasures – some of which I have passed her way. I always end up feeling very lucky that we have such a lovely, rejuvenating place on our doorstep.

Photo courtesy of ~KimUK~ on Flickr

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