Walks you can reach from Hilsea by train

Beginner-friendly: Just follow the coast and come back along a straight walk. It’s almost too simple! Flat, short and plenty of choices for lunch. Chichester Harbour is a little-known National Landscape. Its protected saltmarsh landscape feeds an abundance of birdlife. It’s a major recreational harbour but somehow has a romantically melancholy and isolated air — you can imagine sea shanties being composed here.

Coastal: three fifths along the coast.

Chichester Harbour

Bosham

Fishbourne Roman Palace & Gardens

Time: 3h–6h

4 lunch spots: Bosham (1h30–3h in) — the Anchor Bleu, Timberley's, the Berkeley Arms, or Marwick's

2 end-of-walk rewards: the Bull's Head Pub, or the Woolpack Inn

Adapted from: The Rough Guide to Walks in London & the South East (3rd edition).

Mixed oak, beech and chestnut woods, bridleways, streams, open countryside, horse paddocks and a final climb into a market town.

Woodland: half under tree cover.

Time: 4h–8h30

2 lunch spots: Fernhurst (2h30–5h in) — the Red Lion Pub, or the Fern Café

1 end-of-walk reward: the Harper's Steakhouse

Warnings: Can be muddy.

Adapted from: Time Out Country Walks Volume 1.

Similar walks: the Saturday Walkers Club and Slow Ways (inc. GPX).

Forest, fields, Sussex villages and views; St Leonard's Forest, historic Slaugham village, Cuckfield, South Downs views.

Woodland: a third under tree cover.

St Leonard's Forest: An expansive forest of ancient woodland between Horsham and Crawley.

Time: 5h30–10h30

Walk details: Walking Post (tips, photos and local insights).

Wealden woods, farmland fields, streams, ponds, riverside nature reserve and old market town.

Warnings: Can be very overgrown.

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Park- and woodland, steep lonely valleys, open fields, hamlets, beech avenue and South Downs escarpment views.

Time: 6h

Warnings: Steep climbs and descents.

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Historic cathedral city streets, watermeadows, iron age hillfort, downland ridges, river valley and ancient meadows.

Warnings: M3 motorway noise.

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Flat coastal walk, seafront promenade, sandy beaches, short ferry crossing, disused railway path and harbourside shore path.

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Flat coastal sea wall, tidal harbour, salt marsh, sand dunes, beach, mudflats, tidal lake and historic village high street.

Warnings: Check tide timings.

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Flat tidal harbour shoreline, raised sea walls, mudflats, fields, light woodland, duck pond and pedestrianised historic city centre.

Time: 5h

Warnings: Can be muddy. Best at high tide.

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Undulating ramble through western South Downs, gentle hills, hilltop views and farmland.

Time: 5h

Warnings: Can be muddy.

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Rolling Hampshire countryside, wooded hangers, steep hillside ascent, unspoilt farmland and quiet villages.

Time: 5h

Warnings: Steep ascent, slippery winter.

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Coastal country park, stony beach, light woodland, mudflats, riverside causeway with marinas, open farmland and village lanes.

Woodland: a quarter under tree cover.

Time: 5h–9h30

3 lunch spots: the Harpers Steakhouse (2h30–5h30 in), Little Canton (3h–5h30 in), or the Jolly Sailor (3h–6h in)

4 end-of-walk rewards: Manor Farm Café, the Dolphin, the Brewery Bar, or the Railway

Warnings: Check tide timings.

Adapted from: Time Out Country Walks Volume 1.

Similar walk: the Saturday Walkers Club.