Cowdray Park Circuit, Midhurst

The forecast had promised another good day ...  we packed a picnic and the dog into the van and headed for Midhurst and a circuit around Cowdray park.

Parking in the town car park the track left from the end, across the flood meadows and straight to the ruins, before following the river to the south and along the edge of the town.

the route we were following took us then along an old Oak way at the top of a bank .. presumably used when the house was in its prime, but now rather old and overgrown.

After some zigzagging on roads we were back on the ancient track ways and rising into the Todham rough.. an older forested area.

Then it was back down to the river ..  the route took a diversion through a ploughed and manured field, where I suspect it may have been better to amble down the road.

Crossing the river gave Bertie his first proper opportunity to cool down - there had been a muddy puddle on the way into the rough.

Much cooler after his swim, we followed the road up to the main A272 linking Midhurst to Petworth. This rose up through a gorge of sandstone and mud, showing its age.

The other side of the main road we kept tot he ancient track-ways rising up to the highest for today.

There was a lot of new(ish) planting here and plans to add in 12 tree-houses for B&B, however the shape of the land made the traffic noise (and especially the motor bike screamers) quite intrusive.

The slope was not as steep as on the other side of the road, and we soon came to the northernmost turn around a cornfield.

Entering into Cowdray park proper was announced by a line of Lime trees planted for the jubilee. This lead down to a small overgrown and dry pond. 

Time for lunch ... and a rest in the shade of a large Oak. watching the other users of the park walk around.

Rising up a bank we were into the golf course ... a slight navigational error caused a diversion throughout several holes of the course and some disparaging comments from the "members" - we had ascended a bank rather than continue up a small gully! 

Back on track we picked up the A272 again and crossed over into polo-land - more polo fields than a municipal football ground...  we followed the track around the right-hand edge and back down to the ruins.

The sun was beating down and all the people around were eating ice creams ...  so once back at the van it would have been a tragedy if we had not also indulged - including a dog ice cream as a special treat.

However there was time for a quick cool off in the river, for Bertie, before jumping in the van making his covers all wet.