Sky Park Farm
Petersfield to West Harting
Children will enjoy the brand new play area at Penn’s Farm and walking to see the deer at Sky Park Farm.
The fabulous adventure playground at Sky Park Farm
The Basics
Time: 1 hr 20 minutes (slightly more if walking to the farm entrance or going to the café)
Distance: 5 km / 3.1 miles
Terrain: Fields (muddy in winter), quiet country lanes, narrow footbridges. A steady incline up a lane if adding on a visit to the farm.
Pushchair: This route is not suitable for pushchairs.
Dogs: Dogs are welcome on the footpaths but not inside Sky Park Farm. They are also not allowed around the play equipment at Penn’s Farm.
Refreshments: Sky Park Farm has an excellent café which you can visit without paying an entrance fee or The Taro centre also has a cafe.
Toilets: There are toilets for customers of Sky Park Farm or at The Taro Centre in Petersfield.
Public Transport: AMK bus 94 runs from Petersfield train station to Penn’s Place where this walk starts.
Parking: Free car park at The Taro Centre, Petersfield (Postcode: GU31 4EX - W3W: ///barbarian.shakes.masterpiece)
The children always love feeding the deer
This walk will take you from The Taro Centre in Petersfield to Sky Park Farm over farmland and the River Rother. You can view some of the deer for free from the footpath, or you can divert to the visitor centre; There you can either just enjoy the café or purchase tickets to see more of the deer and use the excellent adventure play area. This walk now benefits from the installation of a brand new play area at the start of the walk too.
The Route
Leave the car park and walk along Penns Place Road, exiting the way you drove in. There is a brand new play area in Penn’s Farm playing fields just behind the hedge; you can walk through the park or along the pavement.
At the closed off junction with Durford Road where there are concrete bollards, take the lane opposite on your left. Walk down the lane and pass the round buildings of old sewerage works on your left. Shortly the lane bends to the right, but you should continue onto the dirt track and go through a gate.
On entering the field, proceed forward until two newly gravelled paths fork around a fenced area. Fork right.
Turn left over the wooden bridge and cross the next field, rising to a gate. Turn right and walk along the edge of a far larger field. Go through the kissing gate when you spot it on your right through a narrow gap in the hedge.
Cross the next field to the wooden bridge on the other side. Go left after the bridge and follow the path around the edge of the huge field. At the corner, go right with the path and soon on your left you will see the footpath that enters Sky Park Farm through a tall metal gate.
It is at this point that the footpath crosses the farm and you will be able to spot deer in the paddocks on either side. Keep going straight through the farm and out the gate on the other side onto a tarmac lane.
Here you have a choice to make. If you want to see more of the deer varieties, feed the deer, use the picnic area, amazing adventure playground and spotter trails, you will need to turn right and walk up the lane to the visitors entrance and pay an entrance fee. You can also visit the café without paying the fee. If you do not wish to enter the farm, turn left along the lane and cross a stone bridge over the river.
Continue up the lane, passing some cottages on your left. Look out for a well hidden footpath squeezing between two cottages. Take the footpath and it will emerge into a field. Cross the field, walk through the gap in the hedge and enter another field. Follow the path around the left of a barn and pass the entrance to Durford Abbey Farm. Keep left.
Just after the fine house, the footpath forks left through a gate and crosses a little marshy paddock before a kissing gate brings you into the large field again. Trace the path across the middle, passing a large lone tree to your right. On the other side of this field, you will hit the path you came in on and can turn right to retrace your steps back to Petersfield.
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After paid entry to Sky Park Farm:
Did you know?
You should be able to spot three types of deer after paid entry to Sky Park Farm. The red deer, with the iconic stags, the diminutive sika deer, with the cutest call we ever heard, and the rare white deer.
From the footpath, you should be able to see some of the large stags and their hugs antlers.
If you enjoyed this walk…
…you can see more deer on this walk at Petworth Park
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