Graphic: map of the locals' guide to The South Downs

Britain’s newest national park is a subtle landscape of soft grassy summits and secret streams, revealing its charms coyly. But the South Downs tends to inspire deep-rooted devotion — just ask the actors, rock stars, racehorse trainers and wine-makers who live there...

CHRISTOPHER TIMOTHY

Better known for Dales than Downs, the All Creatures Great and Small star is about to tour with Tim Firth’s play The Safari Party

“We’ve been living in Chichester for 20 years: it has quaint buildings, but also a youthful arts scene. Visitors should investigate the concerts they stage at the cathedral — acoustically, it’s a tremendous space. I saw Jools Holland there, doing Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On, and I thought, ‘This is what the place was made for!’ “Our big recent find is West Stoke House, a restaurant-with-rooms on the edge of the Downs. It’s a Queen Anne mansion that’s been done up marvellously with clean colours and contemporary art. ‘Boutique style’, my wife, Annie, calls it.

“The chef, Darren Brown, looks about 14, but his food is utterly exquisite, especially these big, deep soups under a pastry crust. In fact, it’s so good that Annie treated me to an overnight stay for my birthday — even though it’s only 15 minutes from our house. That’s a bit indulgent, isn’t it?”

Details: B&B at West Stoke House (01243 575226, www.weststokehouse.co.uk) starts from £130; tasting menu £49.50pp.

JOHN DUNLOP

One of our top racing trainers, John is celebrating 40 years on the gallops at Arundel Castle, including two Derby victories

“Whenever I’ve had a really good win, I drive out to the village of Burpham: it’s a place for meditation and quiet exaltation about how good life can be. The views are everything I love about the Downs: river meadows, stubble fields, crooked bits of woodland. So much more intimate than classic horse-racing country — the flatlands of Newmarket or Middleham.

“The village is only a mile or so from Arundel, but it’s on a dead-end lane — that’s probably why few trippers seem to find it. The cottages slide off the Downs into the Arun valley, with a flinty Norman church — St Mary’s, where my children were christened — a picturesque cricket pitch, and the George and Dragon, which now does rather smart food, and fills up with racing people on Goodwood days.”

Details: meander out on foot from Arundel to Burpham, along the eastern bank of the Arun. Just across the river is the Arundel Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust reserve (£6.95; 01903 883355, www.wwt.org.uk). The George and Dragon is on 01903 883131.

DAVID PLUMMER

David spends half his year snapping caymans and capybaras in the Pantanal in South America, and the rest running photography courses for Sussex Wildlife Trust

“Everybody knows the Seven Sisters, but almost everybody goes to the wrong bit. Understandably, they head up onto the clifftops, but you don’t get the iconic panorama from there — you’re too close to it. The trick is to drive down the Cuckmere valley and turn west, onto Seaford Head.

The sweep of chalk ramparts rolls away to the east — as breathtaking as any beach in Australia or savanna in Brazil.

“For me, it signifies England; our defiant island. It was one of Hitler’s planned landing points for Operation Sea Lion — perhaps he saw the symbolic importance of that view.

“I sometimes go on New Year’s Day — it’s great for blowing away a hangover. I’ve seen dolphins offshore, and peregrine falcons patrol all year round: I saw one turn, dive and take out a herring gull half a mile away. They’re the fastest-moving creatures on the planet.”

Details: for more on Seaford Head, call 01323 897426. The Seven Sisters visitor centre is on 01323 870280, www.sevensisters.org.uk.

Continued on page 2: Patrick Muirhead, Nick Mason and Mike Roberts

PATRICK MUIRHEAD

Throwing in his job as a Radio 4 newsreader in exchange for the country life, Patrick has opened a gentlemen’s outfitters in Midhurst

“In an age of clone towns, Midhurst is straight out of Miss Marple — a quintessential English market town, full of parsons on bicycles and doughty old ladies in tweeds.

“It has quite a bit of harmonious Georgian architecture, and the Cowdray Estate, which gives the place a heartbeat. Cowdray is the epicentre of British polo, so there’s a thriving community of grooms and saddlers and blacksmiths. These days, weekenders come just for the characterful shopping. I like Wild, a ‘lifestyle store’ with an eccentric assortment of gifts. There is also a world-class vintner, Wine Etcetera. Wander up to the castle ruins on St Ann’s Hill, and watch the sun sinking across fold upon fold of hills. I always think the Downs landscape is like a mother’s breasts — intimate, enveloping and nurturing.”

Details: Patrick recommends the Spread Eagle Hotel (01730 816911, www.hshotels.co.uk; doubles from £99, B&B). For polo fixtures at Cowdray Park, visit www.cowdraypolo.co.uk.

NICK MASON

Renowned for banging the drums with Pink Floyd, Nick can be found hammering his 1962 Ferrari GTO around Goodwood racetrack

“I spent my teenage years at Dell Quay, learning to sail my Fireball 16ft racing dinghy, and it’s full of special memories for me. I find sailing tremendously exciting: in some ways, the sensation of speed is even greater even than in motor-racing.

“Dell Quay was once the main port for Chichester, with cargo steamers bringing in wheat and stone. You’d never believe it, though. Today, it’s not much more than a shallow creek, silted up with shoals and sandbanks. There are some old boat sheds, the sailing club, and a rather good pub called the Crown and Anchor, where you can sit outside and watch the white sails bobbing — very festive in summer.

“If you don’t sail, I’d recommend the footpath around the head of the estuary. It’s tremendously reedy and romantic.”

Details: Dell Quay sailing club is on 01243 785080, www.dqsc.co.uk. Download a four-mile walk alongside the Chichester Channel at www.conservancy.co.uk. The Crown and Anchor is on 01243 781712.

MIKE ROBERTS

Britain’s “King of Fizz” produced the world’s top-rated sparkling wine of 2005 at his RidgeView Estate vineyard, near Ditchling

“I spent two decades running a computer business in Burgess Hill and dreaming of having a proper view of the Downs. So, when I sold up in 1994 to grow wine, I built my tasting room to overlook my favourite stretch — from the Jack and Jill windmills at Clayton across to Ditchling Beacon.

“That two-mile walk along the South Downs Way from the salt- and pepper-pot windmills to the beacon is a classic, and the best way back to Clayton is along Underhill Lane, carved right into the bottom of the escarpment — superbly atmospheric. You deserve a drink at the end, at the Jack and Jill Inn.”

Details: Mike’s walk is on OS Explorer map 122. The Jill windmill is open most Sundays from May to September (www.jillwindmill.org.uk). Mike raves about the nearby Dower Cottage B&B (01273 843363, www.dowercottage.co.uk; doubles from £65).

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