Sky Park Farm
Children will enjoy a trip to the deer farm on this walk where there is also an excellent adventure playground.
The Basics
Time: 40 minutes each way
Distance: 3.5 km
Terrain: Fields (muddy in winter), quiet roads, narrow footbridges.
Pushchair: No
Dogs: Not inside the farm
Refreshments: Sky Park Farm has an excellent cafe, as well as a picnic area by the river and The Grazing Rooms restaurant
Toilets: At Sky Park Farm or The Taro Centre
Parking: Use the free car park at The Taro Centre, Petersfield (Postcode: GU31 4EX - W3W: barbarian/shakes/masterpiece)
This walk will take you from Petersfield to Sky Park Farm over farmland and the River Rother. It will return a slightly different route, passing the river again and an old mill. You can view some of the deer for free from the footpath, or you can divert to the visitor centre. There you can either just enjoy the café or purchase tickets to see more of the deer and use the excellent adventure play area.
The Route
Leave the car park and walk along Penns Place Road, exiting the way you drove in. There is a play area in the park just behind the hedge (*edit September 2024 * the play area has been removed with intention by the council to replace in 2025). You can walk through the park or along the pavement.
At the junction with Durford Road, take the lane opposite on your left. Walk down the lane and pass the round buildings of sewerage works on your left. Shortly the lane bends to the right, but you should continue onto the dirt track and go through a gate.
On entering the field, look out for the middle path going straight ahead (not the one between post and rail fencing). The path is soon bordered by brambles to the right before narrowing into trees.
Turn left over the wooden bridge and cross the next field, rising to a gate. Turn right and walk along the edge of a far larger field. Go through the kissing gate when you spot it on your right.
Cross the next field to the wooden bridge on the other side. Go left after the bridge and follow the path around the edge of the huge field. At the corner, go right with the path and soon on your left you will see the footpath enters Sky Park Farm.
It is at this point that the footpath crosses the farm and you will be able to spot deer in the paddocks on either side. Keep going straight through the farm and out the gate on the other side onto a tarmac lane.
Here you have a choice to make. If you want to see more of the deer varieties, feed the deer, use the picnic area, adventure playground and spotter trails, you will need to turn right and walk up the lane to the visitors entrance and pay an entrance fee. You can also visit the café without paying the fee. If you do not wish to enter the farm, turn left along the lane and cross a stone bridge over the river.
Continue up the lane, passing some cottages on your left. Look out for a well hidden footpath squeezing between two cottages. Take the footpath and it will emerge into a field. Cross the field and follow the path around the left of a barn and pass Durford Mill.
Just after the fine house, the footpath goes left and crosses a little marshy paddock before a kissing gate brings you into the large field again. Follow the path across the middle, passing a tree. On the other side you will hit the path you came in on and can turn right to retrace your steps back to Petersfield.
We recommend viewing the interactive map as a Trails Map:
Did you know?
You should be able to spot three types of deer. The red deer, with the iconic stags, the diminutive sika deer, with the cutest call we ever heard, and the rare white deer.
