Stanmer Park

Beautiful Stanmer Park… why have I only visited you twice!!!
I really don’t know why I don’t come here more often. Perhaps it’s the lack of a furry friend that keeps me away, but considering my love of walking and nature, it really is a wonder that I don’t spend more time here.
The park itself is massive and is made up of both wild areas and more maintained ones, better suited to picnics and games. Could could spend days exploring the different areas and never get bored.
Parking can be tricky on a sunny day, but there is normally a spot on the verge, just make sure you get far enough out of the way of the road — the bus does pass through here!
If you didn’t bring your own refreshments, there is both a café and Stanmer House where you can eat, drink and use the facilities. I haven’t been to the café, but Stanmer House is a beautiful grade 1 listed mansion that is home to a restaurant and bar and serves delicious roast dinners and afternoon teas, amongst other things, it would also be a lovely place to get married!
Stanmer village is lovely to look around (people are actually lucky enough to live here!), and so is the church.
Overall, it’s a beautiful place — bring your kids, bring your dogs, or just bring yourself. It shouldn’t be missed.

im a big fan of stanmer park. nice place to get away from it all in brighton (hove never really gets to much as its so chilled and quiet xD
had a blast campin around here in past with friends and never had any trouble. plus if you can get a car packed with subs deep enough into it you could get away with blaring out da choons hehehe.
this area also in summer has some interesting and sometimes awsome freeparties so keep an ear out and ask around. u know who you are ;) if not then find somebody that does: P
i remember once i went up there with about 9 friends for a good campin and munch session. it got to about 3am and out of nowhere we heard this thumping bass rolling towards us. we followed it for 20 minutes and came over this ridge where there were 3 areas set up, each with a soundsystem and crowd of ppl infront of each one. it was like something out of a dream but one i can assure you was very much real.
sweet memories this place…

Everyone else has talked a lot about the park in specific, so I will focus this on Stanmer Woods.
This is a great location to get away from Brighton without actually getting away from Brighton. Whilst the wood stretches back across the South Downs, it begins right next to Sussex University and the 25 bus stop just before the Uni. At any time of the year this wood has something to offer, be that early year bluebells, or a shelter from the mid day summer sun.
There are many routes to take through the wood and it is generally laid out like an American city with intersecting blocks of woodland between pathways. You will find a lot of dog walkers, cyclists and runners making use of the scenery, but I usually come down here with a book or a few cans of beer and my friends. Being brought up on the back of a nature reserve I always like to get out of the city, even it’s a pretty green one like Brighton. This is such a convenient location even if you don’t own a car.
If you are feeling extra adventurous you can trek all the way onto the South Downs (and jump on a free ASDA bus back into the city). Keep in mind that the buses won’t run all night and that you will find yourself pretty far out of town if you do so. In short, an enchanting area where you can hang out with trees, woodland wildlife and recharge your batteries.

Stanmer Park is a lovely, expansive place for a walk, as well as featuring Stanmer, a nice quiet village with an old house/​museum and café. This combines to create a great set-​up for a day of walking, mixed with a bit of history and coffee, tea, or even a lunch break if you’re here for longer. You’d think there’d be more students thanks to the proximity to Sussex University campus, but most seem to stick themselves: this is not the field full of dossing students you may expect at first!
At the front of the park are some sports fields: probably the only place you’ll actually run into students, mostly playing football and the like. However, once you get past this, there’s plenty of space to sit and relax, as well as walk through field and woodland alike. It’s surprisingly tranquil, although there are plenty of ramblers at the height of summer. Still, it’s a nice place to go for a hike, although the Downs are really not far for the serious hiker.

After spending a year living on the Sussex campus, I became very well acquainted with Stanmer Park. Whenever the thought of being glued to my computer screen writing poetry essays was just too much to bear, I’d head out for an hour or so to this beautiful green space on the edge of the Downs. Living on campus often felt pretty claustrophobic, but a brisk walk over to Stanmer was always the best way to blow away the cobwebs.
Stanmer Park is directly next to the University of Sussex and can be easily accessed from the routes served by the 25, 28 and 29A buses hop off the bus just before you reach the campus. Within the park, you’ll find the stunning 18^th century stately home Stanmer House (which is available to hire for weddings, conferences and other functions) and a gorgeous little church where several previous Earls of Chichester were laid to rest. There’s also a lovely little café in the tiny Stanmer Village where you can have a nice hot mug of tea and a slice of cake.
One edge of the park (behind Stanmer House) is bordered with woodland which is a favourite spot of dog-​walkers. I love traipsing through the trees on an autumn day — it makes me feel like a kid again. On the other side, you can head up through fields and straight into the Downs. Being surrounded by such an expanse of greenness and fresh air is fantastic when you’ve become a little too accustomed to the buzz of central Brighton.

What used to be part of the Pelham estate, Stanmer Park is one of Brighton’s best spots for walking and general rural indulgement. Located near Sussex University, just north of Brighton, it’s easily accessible via the no.25 bus or by car, as it’s just off the A27. I’ve spend many happy days wandering through the massive estate that features myriad paths and trails for the eager walker. There are many different routes but my favourite has to be beginning at Stanmer House, walking up through the gardens, around the nearby farmland and back down through the tiny but idyllic Stanmer village. (If you begin early enough you’ll be in time to grab a tea or an ice cream at the village tea rooms.)
It’s well worth the journey especially in the summer when the season’s gifts are in abundance. It would be a crime for you to live nearby and not visit it at least once.

This is a lovely area, consisting of 18^th century Stanmer House, the grounds (over part of which the University of Sussex now sits), playing fields, a church and Stanmer Village. Well worth a wander, though don’t expect to find loads in picturesque Stanmer Village — there’s a nice pub for a sunday roast and some tea rooms, as well as some houses and stables. But that’s really about it. I also wonder how the church keeps going, it feels so unpopulated. For students at Sussex University, this place is literally on the campus doorstep and it’s a real privilege to have access to all this. As Jack M. has said, it’s a lovely place for a walk when you need to clear your head, and is also very quiet during the week. If you’re into walking it’s worth combining this area with the attached areas — the South Downs and Wild Park.

Sitting in the Library can drive you crazy. Factor in that you already have a slight dispensation for crazyness and panic, that your trying to write a dissertation which is essentially about the whole world and it’s inevitable destruction from man’s greed and that you’ve really got to start writing soon. Stanmer Park is one of the greatest places in the world when you are in that particular place and a long, slow walk around it to just pull yourself together and chill is invaluable. Though, It is also a great place to be when you are feeling the full beauty of the world and little colourful birds are landing on your shoulder singing their chirpy little songs.
The area of Stanmer park is pretty vast and once your past the numerous football pitches that cover the flat area on the Sussex University side, you can really get away from it all walking around the forested areas on the hillside. Once you’ve had fun playing hide and seek in these areas or spot the Sussex camping Sussex student (there always one) you can walk to Falmer House, and take in the aristocratic grandeur, or even to Stanmer village which is so quaint it looks more like a film set for a quaint little English village than a real place.
Football, Frisbee, Rugby, whatever you want, this place great for informal sport with friends, or for scouting your next football team on a Sunday when it hosts local league matches. Falmer park’s a really relaxing place to hang out, though if your up for a big walk it provides a much more rugged experience than the more pedestrian parks nearer town.

Stanmer Park is located just off the A270 between Brighton and Lewes, right next to the University of Sussex Campus, in the village of Stanmer. It is a lovely place to walk the dog or take the kids for a run around if they need to expel some excess energy! There’s a small car park, but be warned this can get packed out pretty quickly, as it seems to serve as an overflow car park for visitors to the village, church and pub!
Easily accessible from Falmer village and Sussex campus, Stanmer park provides a really nice, scenic walk– it’s not particularly challenging or varied, more of a light stroll around the estate’s grounds. I often used to pop over to Stanmer to stretch my legs and get a change of scenery, during my first year at university, it’s a really great place to have on your doorstep, which I suspect many students aren’t even aware of.
If you feel like exploring, you can also wander through the village, where there’s a really sweet old church and a pub that do nice food. Stanmer House itself is also quite something to look at and Stanmer Nursery is nestled away at the side and is well worth a visit. This is where the council grow many of the flowers they use in displays all over the city!
Oh and if you’re interested in Eco living and building, be sure to check out the Earth ship, it’s incredible and they do tours!

Visitors more familiar with the densely built up City Centre of Brighton and its Georgian architecture will be surprised to learn just how many large parks the city has.
One of the nicest, and most historic, is Stanmer Park, on the eastern outskirts of the city and adjacent to the lovely campus of the University of Sussex at Falmer.
The park is set around Stanmer House, built in 1720 by the first Earl of Chichester, Thomas Pelham. Set in its own little valley, the estate includes Stanmer Village and church: the former a picturesque private village built for the estate’s workers, and the latter rebuilt in 1838 when the earlier mediaeval church burned down. As with many such estates, it was planned on the principles of classic English landscape gardening, and consists of sweeping areas of lawn planted with specimen trees, all edged with woodland.
Bought by Brighton Council in 1947, the grounds are now open to the public as parkland. The ‘village’ includes a café (‘see separate entry under ‘Stanmer Tea Rooms’) and public toilets. Part of the old stable block now houses a mildly diverting small museum of rural life (free entry but rather limited opening hours) and a nursery which is open to the public, selling a wide range of plants, in what was the house’s walled garden (which closes at 16h). The whole ensemble is maybe not quite as well kept as it could be, but it’s nice enough.
The House itself has been beautifully restored and is let as a conference and private function venue, and some of the main function rooms can be visited (again, for free) when not hired out. It contains a collection of old photographs, but most of the original contents have long since gone — however, the modern furnishings fit in well enough in a ‘Country House Hotel’ sort of way.
However, the main reason for a visit to the Park is just to get some fresh air, in nice surroundings: it’s a great place for a game of cricket or rounders, or picnic, or just a woodland walk, and is very popular with students from the nearby University and families in the summer.
The park is a 15 minute walk from Falmer station, and 10 minutes from the University, but on summer Sundays and Bank Holidays there is an hourly bus service (route 78) from the centre of Brighton, via the railway station, during the day, right up to the Village and House. Car-​parking is in the process of being reorganised, but is normally not a problem unless there is an event taking place.