What a city is Chichester. And how clever of it to place itself conveniently between the chalk hills of the South Downs and the sandy beaches of the Sussex coast… Evidently the Romans thought so too, pitching up here when they came, saw and conquered most of the country way back when, but they were at least considerate enough to leave very spectacular souvenirs indeed in the mosaic floors at Fishbourne Royal Palace on the edge of Chichester.
Post-Roman times, West Sussex’s only city grew a cathedral in the eleventh century, a Gothic cross marketplace in the early sixteenth, and the four-week Festival of Chichester in the twentieth, an event that annually makes us wish for a Harry Potter time turner so we can attend this and every other concurrent summer festival around the country.
If you’re camping in Chichester, June and July are the main festival times, but activities are available all year round, such as gazing at wintering geese on Chichester Harbour or at the ‘superb’ collection of twentieth century art at the acclaimed Pallant House Gallery: info, ideas, maps and cycle routes are on all our Chichester campsite listings.