Walks you can reach from Nutbourne 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).

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).

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).

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).

Easy walking, deer park and historic Horsham; secluded Vann Lake, Warnham Deer Park, pretty historic centre.

Woodland: half under tree cover.

Warnham Deer Park: A deer park near Horsham, home to many red deer.

Time: 3h30–7h30

Warnings: Woodland after Vann Lake can be muddy.

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

Recommended: Lovely views of the harbour inlets. A coastal walk incorporating several sections beside the shore of Chichester Harbour, on a mix of footpaths and minor roads with mainly arable fields and several stiles and kissing gates. The footpath at Fishbourne is tidal at peak high tides. Easy to follow and well-signed. Parallels the Chichester Cathedral Mini Pilgrimage from Bosham to Chichester.

Coastal: four fifths along the coast.

Chichester Harbour

Time: 4h–8h

Lunch: Refreshments at Bosham, roughly halfway.

Warnings: Two sections of eroded coastal defence after winter storms are officially marked closed (passable with care at personal risk). The Fishbourne footpath floods at spring high tides. Stiles and kissing gates.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Follows the Solent Way, with a ferry from Portsmouth Harbour to Gosport and a ferry from Warsash to Hamble-le-Rice.

Walk details: Railwalks.

A varied walk on footpaths and wide bridle paths and with a fine section crossing the wooded St Leonard's Forest. Generally well-traced and easy to follow. Can be shortened by catching the train from Ifield station.

Woodland: half under tree cover.

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

Time: 4h–7h30

1 lunch spot: the Dragon

Warnings: Short sections into and out of Colgate village follow a narrow verge along a road that is busy at times.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Many attractive sections. A long route mainly on field paths and woodland tracks with the occasional farm track, through attractive countryside and woodland. Lots of stiles and kissing gates and a couple of short sections walking the verge beside busy roads. Pretty muddy in places after wet weather. Includes part of the High Weald Landscape Trail. A long route passing no refreshment opportunities, so take food and plenty of water. Has a railway station at each end, making a good day walk.

Woodland: two fifths under tree cover.

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

Time: 7h–14h30

Lunch: A long route passing no refreshment opportunities, so take sandwiches and plenty of water.

Warnings: A couple of short sections walk the verge beside busy roads, particularly Isaacs Lane north of Burgess Hill. Many stiles and kissing gates. Pretty muddy in winter.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

A short, easy urban route from the seafront into the city centre and passing a wide range of architecture and Southsea Common with a view over the Solent. Mostly flat and on pavements. The route includes a hovercraft crossing between Portsmouth and Ryde. Public toilets at the Southsea Hovercraft Terminal.

Time: 2h30–5h

Warnings: The mapped crossing at the Winston Churchill Avenue roundabout is wrong; the road has railings between carriageways, so continue past the roundabout to the pelican crossing.

Walk details: Slow Ways.