A deep dry chalk valley and famous viewpoint on the South Downs above Brighton, once a Victorian pleasure ground
Open accessNational Trust land — free to wander
The big draw here is the view. From the ridge the land drops away in a steep dry chalk valley — no river at the bottom, just a deep green cleft in the down — and northward the South Downs escarpment looks out across the whole Weald towards the North Downs. Devil’s Dyke is often called the deepest dry valley in Britain. Legend says the Devil dug it to let the sea in and drown the churches of the Weald, then gave up before dawn. In Victorian times this was a proper day out from Brighton, with a hotel, a funicular down the slope and a cable car strung across the valley; crowds came up by railway. The National Trust looks after the down now, along with the old farmstead at Saddlescombe just below. The South Downs Way runs right past, and the villages of Poynings and Fulking sit at the foot of the scarp.
