Selhurst Park
Chichester
Children will enjoy a visit to The Milk Hut for milkshakes fresh from the farm.
The patch of poppies at Selhurst Park Farm with Halnaker Windmill just about visible on top of the hill in the distance!
The Basics
Time: 1 hrs 30 mins
Distance: 5 km / 3.1 miles
Terrain: A busy road crossing, some very rough paths with encroaching vegetation, stony field tracks, a stile, a long steady descent and ascent (quiet country lane with no pavement if you walk to The Milk Hut).
Pushchairs: This route is not suitable for pushchairs.
Dogs: Dogs are welcome on this walk.
Refreshments: The Milk Hut & The Coffee Hut at Ide’s Barn Farm
Toilets: There are no public toilets on this route.
Public Transport: There is no public transport to this location.
Parking: Droke car park, Droke Lane, free (Postcode: PO18 0JH - W3W: ///imprinted.track.scrambles)
Watching the cows come in for milking at Ide’s Barn
We set out on this walk to find a patch of pink poppies, which are gorgeous against the distant backdrop of Chichester Harbour and Halnaker Windmill. As beautiful as the poppies are, they will not be around for long, so to add a more lasting feature to this walk, we decided to add on a hike to one of our favourite refreshment stops - The Milk Hut - with a make your own milkshake vending machine!
The Route
If standing at the entrance to Droke car park, with your back to the road, turn right and walk along the path that runs parallel to the road, with the road to your right, in the direction of East Dean. Very shortly, you will come to a junction where you cannot walk forward any further and a skinny path to your right heading to the road and a wider track going up to your left. Take this track and begin a long and steady climb up the hill through the forest.
Where the path splits, take the left hand path, sticking with the bridleway. Continue all the way up this track until it bends to the right and you see the road on your left. Go out through the gap in the wooden barrier, into a lay-by and cross the road with care.
On the other side of the road, enter the woodland just to the left of the gate and turn immediately left. Follow the rough, unmarked forestry track as it goes parallel to the road. The path is particularly rough right now due to recent forestry work. When the track splits, take the right fork, heading down the hill. At the bottom of the hill, the rough track will become more grassy and will veer off to the left before soon merging with the official path of The Monarch’s Way.
Keep left when you meet The Monarch’s Way and continue through the trees until the path opens up into a field. The open space will stretch up to your left. When the hedge/tree line to your right ends, you should see the patch of pink poppies ahead with the views beyond. The path goes straight through the middle of the poppies.
To complete the circular walk, turn around and begin to walk back the way you came, but this time look for a path on your right cutting up through the field towards the road and treeline at the top. Due to the meadow grass growing tall, the path can be hard to make out at the moment. Look for the footpath finger post at the side of the hedge and follow it in the exact direction it is pointing. The grass soon gives way to a thin flint stone path that is easier to make out. For extra reference, keep the little circle of bushes with one tall tree in to your right as you cross the field.
At the very top of the field, you will find a stile leading out to the road. Cross the road and join the forestry track on the other side. Stick with this long straight path as it brings you fairly steeply back down through the forest to the car park.
We highly recommend a visit to The Milk Hut/The Coffee Hut at Ide’s Barn Farm. To get there, you can turn left at the road and walk along the quiet country lane for approximately half a kilometre. Or you can, of course, drive. You will find a milk vending machine that pumps out fresh milk from the farm’s cows and a variety of syrups to flavour it with (open 7am - 7pm). There is also a small coffee shop selling drinks, cakes, pasties and ice-creams at weekends until 3 pm. There are picnic benches in the farmyard, and if you are there at the right time, you can see the cows come into the yard as well as the pigs in the picnic paddock.
Did you know?
One of the reasons farmers might grow wildflower crops such as this is because they can receive subsidies (Sustainable Farming Incentives) to provide pollinators and winter wild bird food. It can also be a way of resting a field from the usual food crops for a year or two, thus improving the soil.
If you enjoyed this walk…
…try this one at East Dean, which is very close by and can also be combined with a trip to The Milk Hut.
We are passionate about keeping The Ambling Path as a free resource available to everyone, forever. If you have enjoyed using our walking guides, then please consider leaving us a donation. This will help to cover our costs as well as rewarding the considerable time and effort needed to maintain the site. Thank you.
Follow us on social media to see our new walks and get regular updates on our old ones:
