Weald and Downland Living Museum

I went last spring and really enjoyed it. It was easy to get to by bus from Chichester. I would suggest making sure you have good weather, though, since you will be outside.

Yes and yes. I went last spring. By bus from Chichester. Hmmm, I wonder if we were there the same day, TexasTravelMom?? ;-)

It's the kind of place that you might like, if you like that sort of place. I quite enjoyed it, and the property, and a (free) musical event that happened to be on in one of the buildings.

Yes very much - it is wonderful. Do allow several hous for teh visit as there is so much to see.

The buildings are set on a 40 acre site on the edge of the South Downs and really do give the impression of walking back through history. (It's a bit like the Cotswolds but on steroids.) The buildings come from Kent, Surrey, Sussex and Hampshire and were either falling down or threatened with demolition. They have been carefully dismantled and reassembled here.

They include a mix of rural, urban and industrial buildings from the C13th to C19th. Many of the interior have been furnished to give an impression what it would have been like to live and work in them. Gardens have been recreated around many of the farmhouses with the herbs, vegetables and plants that would have been grown at the time.

The surrounding landscape is being worked traditionally with shire horses and C19th machinery. Sussex cows graze the pastures with sheep on the higher slopes. Traditional crops are grown using the medieval strip system. Woodland is managed traditionally to provide timber, fuel and charcoal needed for industrial processes. The watermill provides stone ground wholewheat flour. There is a working Tudor kitchen.

Obligatory school trip when I was younger and we all enjoyed it and I've been meaning to go as an adult but as with a lot of things on your doorstep you often neglect them in favour of things further afield so you've spurred me on to make a visit.

Me too, JC. Multiple childhood trips to there, along with Fishbourne Roman Palace. Always loved both.

Although a fresh visit to either will have to wait as I’m now in the far west.

CWSocial, we might well have been! LOL!

Although I didn’t go, I seem to recall it was an easy stop off the same bus to visit West Dean Gardens. As well as Fishbourne Palace, Goodwood House is also nearby for a lovely tour and afternoon tea.

It’s a really lovely area with lots to see and do.

Thank you all for your responses. I’ve loved watching programs with Ruth Goodman, a period historian, who was on location at Weald and Downland for one of her programs. I’ll definitely check it out. And it’s good to know about the bus from Chichester.

You can watch The Repair Shop, filmed in one of the barns.

I've wanted to go for several years and intend to when the planets align with good weather and no previously scheduled doctor appointments