The Merry Harriers

Cracking stately homes are rife in the rural lands around the South Downs: head to Petworth House and Park (20 minutes’ drive) for one of the best in the area, a mansion with a fine art collection displayed in grand rooms. You can see works by Turner, Flaxman and Blake here as well as take tours of the servants’ quarters or wander about in the 700-acre deer park. Prefer cycling to sauntering? Bikes can be rented in Hambledon for tours of the countryside on two wheels. While you’re in the village have a look inside the well-preserved Oakhurst Cottage with its renovated timber-framed front to see how labourers lived in the 16th century; the garden’s interesting too, as it’s planted with flowers that were popular in Victorian times.