111 Places in Chichester and West Sussex That You Shouldn't Miss

Mixing Roman and medieval roots, Chichester sits at the heart of a storied landscape where South Down hills dotted with idyllic hamlets ripple back from a shoreline mixing wild dune-backed beaches with old-school seaside resorts. Reminders of smuggling and war add spice.

But a thrilling thread of modernity runs through this slice of West Sussex too. Chichester’s modernist Festival Theatre provided the foundation for London’s National Theatre, while masterpieces of contemporary architecture that draw admirers from around the world include Sea Lane House in East Preston and The White Tower in Bognor Regis.

Evocative ancient memorials abound. Chichester is blessed with the only English cathedral visible from the sea, while England’s largest castle rises above the ravishing – and cosmopolitan – riverside town of Arundel. Ancient yew trees mark the burial spots of Viking warriors in an idyllic Downland spot. And it’s a land vibrant with creative imprints: poets, painters, composers, from Blake and Keats to Joyce and Chagall.

This guidebook takes you exploring through Chichester and its surroundings to find incomparable natural beauty, hidden secrets, astonishing history, art of all kinds, and much more. 

Norman Miller is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster for a host of leading outlets including the BBC, The Times and The Guardian. He is also a published and performed poet, playwright and story writer. He has lived in Sussex for two decades after deciding it was far more enjoyable than London. Alexandra Loske is an art historian and curator with a particular interest in late 18th and early 19th century European art and architecture. She has been working at the University of Sussex since 1999 and at the Royal Pavilion in Brighton since 2008. She has curated a number of exhibition and displays, including ones on Regency Colour, exotic and non-native animals, local history and the life and times of Jane Austen. She has lectured and published widely on colour history and related topics, appeared as an art historian on many TV and radio programmes, has organised conferences and writes regularly for local and national magazines, as well as the official Brighton Museums blog.