Forest bathing at Slindon Woods

The Slindon Estate near Arundel covers about 3,500 acres of woodland, downland, farmland and parkland, and Slindon Wood is around 750 acres of it. Beech woods hang on the scarp and old wood pasture spreads over the gentler slopes, cut through by dry valleys. Much of the wood pasture was damaged in the storms of 1987 and 1990, so you walk through a mix of old survivors and younger growth.

The Park Lane car park, known as Bluebells Wood, is the natural start for the woods. Slindon Park Woods and the village have well surfaced, fairly level paths that suit pushchairs and wheelchairs, which makes this one of the easier woods in the county for slow walking. Further out the tracks are rougher. Spring is the time for bluebells; autumn beech colour is a close second. Livestock graze much of the estate, so keep dogs close.