Levin Down
Singleton & Charlton
Children will enjoy the village play area on this walk as well as the bridge over the river and a beautiful pub garden.
The wonderful views from Levin Down looking towards the Goodwood Estate.
The Basics
Time: 1 hr 25 mins
Distance: 4.7 km / 3 miles
Terrain: One steep climb, downland paths, stony farm tracks, quiet village roads.
Pushchairs: This route is not suitable for pushchairs.
Dogs: Dogs are welcome on this walk. They are not allowed within the play area compound, but can be in the wider park.
Refreshments: The beautiful Fox Goes Free in Charlton has one of the nicest garden views we know, or The Partridge Inn in Singleton has a great garden for kids with play things and usually a bouncy castle in summer.
Toilets: There are no public toilets, other than for customers of the two pubs.
Public Transport: Stagecoach route 60 between Chichester and Midhurst stops in Singleton.
Parking: Free roadside parking can be found around Singleton, nearest the school on Charlton Road is best (Postcode: PO18 0HP - W3W: ///script.trending.stunner)
Th Fox Goes Free has a truly lovely garden.
There are some gorgeous villages in this part of the South Downs and this walk links two of them, Singleton and Charlton. Both have great pubs and Singleton has a brilliant play area. The two villages are overlooked by Levin Down, a hillside covered in natural grassland.
The Route
The footpath starts just to the left of Singleton Primary School, so aim to park as near to there as possible. Follow the path up the left side of the school premises and then go through a gate into a field. Continue straight upwards to a pair of gates at the top and then walk onto Levin Down.
The path continues straight on up the hill, and straight on when you reach a cross-paths. As you get to the top of the hill, go through a gate, and then continue in the same direction. The path will begin to drop down the other side of the hill, and at the time of writing, the next landmark is a gate without a fence. You can currently go around the gate, but should a fence appear at a later date, you will need to go through the gate and continue following the single path. After leading you over the grassland, the path will bring you to a corner where there is a gate that you should go through.
On the other side of the gate, you will see a very smart finger post with multiple paths leading in multiple directions. Continue forwards on what appears to be the main track towards Charlton. Descend downwards and look out for a small footpath leading up through the scrub to your right. At this point, you can make a choice to follow this path back up onto Levin Down and then descend to the road on the other side, or continue down the farm track you are on to get to the road.
We chose to stick with the farm track. It takes a sharp turn to the left (where there is another opportunity to join the path over Levin Down) and then to the right before making its way to Charlton Road. At the road, turn left if you want to visit The Fox Goes Free. It is a gorgeous pub, beautifully decorated inside and out, and has wonderful garden views.
The walk continues up Knight’s Hill, which is the road directly opposite where you emerged at Charlton Road in step four. As you walk up the lane, you will soon see a footpath on your right which goes straight across a long field. Follow this all the way back to Singleton.
At the other side, go through a gate and then veer right as the path goes tightly around the back of some properties. Cross straight over at The Leys, a small housing estate, and follow the sign straight ahead for Church Way. Where ‘Church Way 1-11’ is pinned to the front of a house, look for the tunnel to the right of it and follow the footpath out to the recreation ground on the other side.
Children will love the play equipment, and then afterwards the route continues to the right of the church. Turn right at the church to return to the road. You will see The Partridge Inn straight ahead, which has a large garden with play thing for children. If you walk down the road to the left of the pub, you will come to a pretty bridge over the River Lavant. Turn right over the bridge and follow the road back around to where you parked.
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Did you know?
Levin derives from the phrase ‘Leave-Alone’, which was used to refer to the hill because it was too steep to plough for agriculture.
If you enjoyed this walk…
…try this one that starts at The Trundle and goes down to Singleton because you could easily combine the two.
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