Wakehurst parkrun

Wakehurst is the current name of a country estate which is nestled into the West Sussex countryside near the village of Ardingly. It first came into being when 40 acres of land was purchased by William de Wakehurst in 1205. The estate later became the home of the Culpepper family who had held the Manor from 1454. By 1570, when the estate was inherited by the then-9-year-old Edward Culpepper, the original manor house was described as 'verie ruinouse and altogether decaied' which I'm understanding as meaning ruined and decayed. His father's will had expressed a desire that Edward should rebuild the family home, so for the next 20 years, that's what he did, and in 1590 the stunning Tudor mansion called Wakehurst Place was complete.

The estate changed hands a number of times throughout the years. In 1890 some restoration works took place and in 1903 the north porch was added after it was bought by Gerald Loder. It was thanks to Loder that the estate's wonderful gardens exist. Around 3,000 species of plants were introduced to the gardens and he continued to develop them for the rest of his life. He also served as the president of the Royal Horticultural Society between 1929 and 1931. Gerald Loder went on to become the 1st 'Baron Wakehurst of Ardingly, in the County of Sussex' (Lord Wakehurst) when the title was created for him in 1934. After his death the estate was purchased by Sir Henry Price and he turned out to be the last private owner. He died in 1963 and left the estate to the National Trust.

The estate now covers an area of around 500 acres and is open to the public. The National Trust still owns and maintains the house, and while it is a stunning building and the centrepiece of the estate, it is not the main reason visitors come here - that honour belongs to the gardens, which have been managed by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, since 1965. Sadly, many of Lord Wakehurst's original plantings were lost during the Great Storm of 1987 where thousands of the estate's trees were brought down. This devastation led to the gardens being redesigned and the modern-day estate is thought of as one of the county's most beautiful botanical gardens.

The gardens consist of a huge variety of plants, trees and flowers from all over the world. There are 'interconnected water-based gardens' which have over 60 varieties of Japanese Water Iris, there is a walled garden, a children's and community garden, an American prairie, a bog garden, many different temperate woods where you can see giant redwoods, gum trees and even a wollemi pine, which I hear is one of the oldest and rarest plants in the world; there are apparently less than 100 adult wollemi's known to exist in the wild. There are miles of beautifully crafted pathways, a stunning water feature called Mansion Pond and deeper in the woodland is Westwood Lake. One of the giant redwood trees is decorated with 1,800 lights each Christmas. With a total height of 37 metres, it is recognised as being the tallest living Christmas tree in the UK. 

Wakehurst is also home to the Millennium Seed Bank which is 'the world's largest underground seed bank and conservation resource for diverse wildlife species'. The facility's underground vaults are kept at -20 degrees Celsius and are also flood-proof, bomb-proof and radiation-proof. The building can be visited and you can see scientists in their labs working on the preservation process. The latest information I can find suggests there are around 39,000 species held in the vaults, and this accounts for around 10% of all known flora in the world. In total there are over 2.4 billion seeds stored here.

On 20 April 2024, Wakehurst became home to a weekly, free, timed 5 kilometre event called Wakehurst parkrun. This event is open to all abilities including those who wish to walk and wheelchair users. Anyone brand new to parkrun can register via the parkrun registration page. Please note that parkrunners are not permitted to take part with a dog. There is, however, an exception to this rule for anyone that uses an assistance dog. Outside of the parkrun event, dogs are allowed on-site, but given the nature of the venue, there are quite strict rules in place at all times.

I visited on 25 May 2024 (event 6) and parked in the on-site car park where I met up with my brother. Given that this is a popular attraction, the car park has strict controls in place. Members of Kew or Wakehurst qualify for free car parking at all times and can simply scan their membership card upon entry (this does not apply to National Trust members). If visiting and you are not a member of Kew of Wakehurst, upon reaching the barrier, just press the display screen and a ticket will be dispensed by the machine.

Anyone leaving before 11am can take advantage of the offer of free car parking. I'm not 100% sure if the following was necessary to validate the ticket for exit, but I inserted my ticket into the payment machine (approx 10:45am) at the visitor centre as I was leaving and the machine confirmed that no payment was required. Should any parkrunners remain on-site past 11am, the car parking fee will apply. At the time of my visit, up to 2.5 hours costs £7 and anything over this costs £12. For the record, the car parking fee is calculated based on the time you entered the car park - this is printed on the ticket.

Travelling by public transport seems potentially quite tricky. The closest train station is at Haywards Heath, which is six miles away from Wakehurst. The bus service that runs from Haywards Heath to Wakehurst is the 272 (Brighton-Crawley), but the earliest 272 bus to stop at Wakehurst from that direction arrives at 09:12, which is of course too late! The public transport option that looks like it would work would be to travel by train to either Crawley station or Three Bridges station, and then use the 272 bus which runs in the opposite direction (Crawley-Brighton). At time of checking, there seems to be one scheduled stop at Wakehurst before the start of parkrun - it departs Crawley at 07:50, goes through Three Bridges at 07:55, and then arrives at Wakehurst at 08:18. If you are going to attempt to travel purely by public transport, please double check this information before leaving just in case the timetable changes or in case I have made a mistake.

If an overnight stay is required there are lots of different options locally from campsites such as The Hook Farm Campsite to the grand 16th century manor house called Gravetye Manor - both are within a few miles of the parkrun. Other nearby independent hotels can be found in Ardingly. For anyone that prefers the familiarity of a Premier Inn, there are branches in other nearby towns such as East Grinstead and Haywards Heath (right next to Clair parkrun), but the best selection of Premier Inns is in Crawley which, due to its proximity to Gatwick airport, has seven of them. There are also many more well-known chain hotels such as Travelodge, Ibis, Holiday Inn and Radison located in the town.

Once in the car park, there is a very obvious main visitor entrance, but this does not open until 10am when the venue officially opens to the general public. To access the estate for parkrun, there is a different entry point which is the 'Schools Entrance' and it was clearly marked with signs when I visited. Toilet facilities are available in two locations between the car park and the cafe, the first is just inside the schools entrance and the second is next to the Stables Kitchen cafe. The meeting point, start and finish areas for the parkrun are all located just outside the cafe. The briefings also take place in this area and at 9am the participants line up and await instruction from the Run Director that it's time to set off.

The parkrun takes place over a two lap course which is negotiated in a clockwise direction. Underfoot is 100% hard surface featuring a combination of resin and tarmac paths, so standard road shoes are fine all year round. Overall the profile can be described as hilly, but this is a roller-coaster style course, so it features ups and downs all the way around. My GPS data reported 74 metres of elevation gain over the 5 kilometres. It is fine for anybody wishing to push a buggy around, and also for wheelchair users providing the uphill and downhill sections do not pose a problem for the individual or for the safety of those around (I note the downhill sections could result in a fair amount of speed being generated).

The start area is on the path right outside the cafe and it is a reasonable width, however, the sheer number of people that have been attending the event over the first six weeks of its life have meant the start is very congested. Over the first six events the average attendance was 418.6 with the event I attended being over 500. When you read the official course description and it says 'two clockwise laps of possibly the most beautiful botanical gardens in the country' you can see why so many people have been drawn here. Maybe once my fellow curious tourists have got their visits out of the way things may settle down a little.

With the attendance figures being so high, if you are anywhere but at the very front I would expect to spend the first 100 metres or so at walking pace. The highest point on the course is reached after 200 metres (and again at 2.7km) and over the next kilometre the elevation gently drops until the lowest point of the course is reached at the 1.3km point (and 3.8km). The second half of the lap has a general theme of being uphill, but as I mentioned above it does feel a little roller-coaster like, with lots of small inclines interspersed with flat sections. The course also has a really cool switchback which reminded me of a similar feature at Wendover Woods parkrun.

On the journey around the lap, the course takes in most of the garden areas, so you do get to see quite a lot of the different zones during the event. One thing that really stood out for me in some sections was that I could smell the flowers as I went past. The paths feature quite a few sections that meander from left to right (which I love) so I really enjoyed those sections. There are also plenty of marshals, signs and cones out on the course to help to guide the way.

Towards the end of the lap, the route passes directly in front of the mansion, at the time of my first visit it was undergoing major refurbishments and the entire building was encased in scaffolding. The exterior had been wrapped in a giant artwork called Planet Wakehurst. When I revisited in December 2024 the works had been finished and the building was completely visible again. You can see what the mansion looks like in the collage at the top of this page - my brother took the photo when he visited in 2020. An interesting fact about the mansion is that there is a duplicate of it, also called Wakehurst, in Newport, Rhode Island, USA.

Once the two laps have been completed, the finish funnel can be found along the side section of the path and barcode scanning takes place shortly after. When all of the participants have finished their 5 kilometres of exercise and the tail walker has crossed the finish line, the gear is packed away and the post-parkrun refreshments and social gathering take place in Stables Kitchen cafe. I didn't go into the cafe myself, but the food served there seems to have very mixed reviews. These are spread across online parkrun groups and also other non-parkrun related online review sites, so there seems to be a pattern.

I used my Garmin to track my progress around the course and the resulting data can be viewed on my Strava account. I transferred that file to the Relive app on my phone where a course fly-by video was created. It can be viewed on my YouTube account. The results were processed a short while later and there were 515 participants at event 6. As I mentioned above, the true weekly average is not yet known, but 332 (64.5%) of the total were first time visitors, so at time of writing it is very tourist heavy.

Post-parkrun we had a little wander around the gardens and then. as noted above, left in-time to take advantage of the free parking. Even if we had stayed longer and paid the £12 parking fee, which is of course quite steep, we still would have saved money by avoiding having to pay the normal entry fee which is currently £16.50 for an adult. One final note about leaving the site; if you finish parkrun and decide to leave before 10am, you simply go back out of the Schools Entrance. If it is after 10am, exit is via the visitor centre at the main entrance.

As it was still pretty early, we decided to drive 12 minutes down the road, passing the South of England Showground and the stunning Ardingly College, to the Ouse Valley Viaduct which is known as the most elegant viaduct in Britain. We had a huge amount of fun exploring and climbing within the arches.

By midday, we were ready to head back home so we headed off having had a brilliant morning in West Sussex. Wakehurst parkrun is one of those special parkruns that takes place within beautiful private grounds, and we should remember that we are very fortunate to have the opportunity to indulge our passion at places like this. I would imagine that it is a great place to visit at different times of the year where you can experience the colours and smells throughout the different seasons. A huge thank you goes to all of the volunteers that made (and continue to make) this parkrun event possible.

Related Links:

• My Wakehurst parkrun GPS data (25 May 2024)
• The Relive course fly-by video (25 May 2024)

• The Sussex parkrun venues (blog7t page)

Littlehampton Prom parkrun

Littlehampton is a seaside town located on the south coast in West Sussex. It was recorded in the Domesday Book as the hamlet of Hantone, but had also been recorded elsewhere as Hanton. The town developed initially as a fishing community and then as a port. The ownership of the area has largely sat with the Duke of Norfolk, who also holds the title of Earl of Arundel. This is one of England's oldest surviving Earldoms having been created in c.1138 and the Duke of Norfolk is the most senior Peer in the Peerage of England. A tradition which was written into law in 1627 is that the holder of Arundel Castle is automatically the Earl of Arundel. In fact the port at Littlehampton was known as Arundel Port around the 18th century. It's name eventually became Littlehampton and it is thought that this was to distinguish it from the larger Southampton which is just to the west.

The town is located on the mouth of the River Arun which flows through the town. The area was susceptible to attack by the French, and in 1760 a battery was erected on the river's east bank to add some protection. In 1854, to protect against a new threat from the French, the more substantial 'Littlehampton Redoubt' (commonly known as Littlehampton Fort) was built on the river's west bank. The fort is still standing but is now best described as an overgrown ruin. The east bank was also home to Arun Mill, which was one of the largest windmills ever built in Sussex.

The 18th and 19th centuries saw Littlehampton also start to develop as a holiday resort and in 1863 the railway came to town when Littlehampton Station was opened. By the 1920's the holiday resort had become known as The Children's Paradise. In 1932 Arun Mill (windmill) was demolished to make way for an amusement park owned and run by Billy Butlin. This was subsequently bought by the a family called the Smart's in 1977 and the name changed to Smart's Amusement Park. It is now called Harbour Park, however I gather that you may still hear some locals referring to it as Smart's. The amusement park is situated right next to the mouth of the River Arun and part of it sits on the rampart of the 1760 battery. The reference to the Windmill still lives on in the name of the cinema (formerly a shelter hall and a theatre) and a pub, both next to the amusement park.

The East Bank is now the location of the town's free, weekly, timed, 5k event, Littlehampton Prom parkrun. We visited on a gloriously sunny day in July 2022 and parked in West Green Car Park (which is on the East Bank). The car park fees can vary depending on the time of year, however if you are visiting for the parkrun and then leaving straight away the charge can be reasonably cheap (see the Arun Council website for info). We had decided to turn our parkrun visit into a day out so we had to pay the full day's fee which was £11, which to me seemed eye wateringly expensive. The full day rate is considerably cheaper during the winter. If you are a little more organised and don't mind a longer walk you may be able to find some free parking further inland on the residential streets in the town.

Travel is of course possible by train to Littlehampton Station which is the terminus on the main line running from London Victoria via East Croydon, Hove and Worthing. The onward walk to the parkrun meeting point is approximately 0.8 miles (1.3km). There is also a Stagecoach bus, number 700, which stops near the train station, so the walk will be about the same. For cyclists I saw some bicycle racks over near the car park. There are toilets and these are located in the area in between the car park and the seafront. I understand these toilets open at 8am all year round.

The parkrun meeting point is on the seafront right in the corner next to the river mouth and amusement park, One of the best visual guides is to look out for is the white tower, which I understand contained (or maybe still contains) a light (it's a lighthouse) to mark the entrance to the River Arun / Littlehampton Harbour. It may be known as Littlehampton East Pier Lighthouse or Littlehampton East Pier Range and from what I can see it dates from 1948. Also look out for the former coastguard station with a tower that apparently had a gun mounted during the Second World War. It is located right at the start/finish line and is now apparently a unique holiday rental home called The Little Lookout (imagine waking up here and going to parkrun).

As you may have guessed by the name, the parkrun takes place on the prom. This is a double out-and-back course along the seafront. It is completely flat and underfoot is 100% tarmac, so road shoes are the ones to go for all year round. Buggy runners and wheelchair users would be absolutely fine on this course. As is common for seafront venues, it can suffer from harsh weather conditions at times. On the day we took part there was a headwind on the 'out' leg. Fortunately that meant that the 'back' leg had a tailwind. However it was so hot that the breeze was quite a welcome addition.

Heading out from the start, the course immediately passes the former coastguard station followed by the bank of shops which sell fish and chips, ice cream, donuts and all sorts of beach-themed items to the hoards of people that gather here in good weather. Glancing to the right you may be able to see the Rampion Offshore Wind Farm. This consists of 116 wind turbine generators which generate 1,400GQh and is enough to provide power to 350,000 homes. The wind farm and associated infrastructure was constructed between 2015 and 2017. It first started generating power to the national grid in November 2017 and by April 2018 was fully operational with all 116 turbines running.

While heading along the prom the parkrunners keep to their left, this ensures that everyone can pass safely as outgoing and returning parkrunners start to interact. Look out for The Long Bench. This bench is 324 metres long and is made from stainless steel and 9,000 wooden slats. It weaves its way along the prom, sometimes twisted and looped within the shelters that form the two ends of the bench. It is the longest bench in the UK and it can theoretically seat around 300 people at any one time.

Towards the eastern end of the course there are brightly coloured beach huts nestled in small batches on the beach. Watch out along here as there are benches which protrude onto the path. On the opposite side of the road you will find Littlehampton Miniature Railway, which dates from 1948 and runs on a 12 1/4 inch gauge line. This gauge is apparently extremely rare and there are only six in existence with Littlehampton being the oldest. The line is 800 yards long and has two stations Norfolk Road and Mewsbrook Park.

Before long the turnaround point is reached - it is marked with a cone and a marshal. The return leg takes you back along the same path, again keeping the left. On the return leg you may encounter stones on the path as these can spill over from the adjacent beach. Look out for the Littlehampton Beacon which is on the beach, it was lit as part of the Queen's Jubilee (2012) and Platinum (2022) celebrations beacon lighting events. The Littlehampton Urban District Council coat of arms hangs alongside the beacon. It features a Martlet (a mythical bird without feet that never roosts) in between the cross-crosslets from the Howard family arms (Edward Fitzalan-Howard is the current Duke of Norfolk). The ship represents the fact the the town is a port (see photo). At the bottom is the town's motto 'Progress'.

The halfway point is reached just in front of the shops mentioned earlier where there is now a turnaround point marked by a marshal and cone. The out-and-back is negotiated a second time and the finish is found back at the original start line. The open area here is nice and spacious with plenty of room for some post-event recovery before being scanned by one of the barcode scanners. I recorded the route using my Garmin and you can find the GPS data online on Strava. That data was also used to create a Relive course fly-by video and that can be viewed on YouTube. The results for event 97 were processed and online shortly after the last participants had finished. Many thanks to all the volunteers.

The official course page says that the team grab refreshments at a local cafe, but it doesn't say which one. We decided to go into the adjacent The Windmill pub, which is run by Harvester, for breakfast. They had a good selection of offerings for all diets including vegetarian and vegan, and it was very tasty. Sadly the pub suffered a major fire in August 2023, and is not currently open.

We continued our day with another walk along the prom, stopped at a playground we had spotted during the parkrun, had a ride on the miniature railway and hung out in the beautiful Mewsbrook Park with its boating lake and art-deco features. The weather was perfect for a seaside day out and we finished our day hanging out on the beach and splashing in the sea.

Related Links:

My GPS data from 9 July 2022

The Relive course fly-by video

The East and West Sussex parkrun venues