Funtington walk on 1st March 2023

The walk this week was led by Isabel, starting out from the car park of the Fox and Hounds. After a wander along a lane we found the footpath which took us up to to Funtington Down. On the way we passed by the Adsdean Estate. A chequered history of a grand house built around 1850, now partly demolished. It was let to Mountbatten early in the 20th C who constructed a nine hole golf course and a polo field. Parts were demolished in 1954 and in 1970 the building was split up into 5 separate residences.

Our route took us along the edge of the East Plantation and this first part of the walk was a long gradual ascent - luckily few realised this as most were busy being taught to sing in either Spanish or Polish. Luckily few natives of those countries were present to judge pronunciation. We eventually reached Hounsom Firs and the up hill work was done. We had seen some fine deer in the woods which seemed to be escorting us as we walked along. A walk down towards Kingley Vale was rewarded with a very pleasant coffee spot, including a nice seat and a mysterious pond. After our rest we continued downwards, this time puzzling why small clothing items seem to have been discarded. Skirting Kingley Vale we turned south-west to head generally towards Funtington and on our way, passed through an area called a Poultry Farm on the OS Map. However, we were not fooled as these chickens looked like, sounded like and smelt like pigs. For the pig by-product the farm does have an anaerobic digester producing electricity, 85% of which is sold back to the national grid. From here it was a short road walk back to the Fox and Hounds were we were very well looked after.