A gorgeous natural harbour, colonies of seals and rare seabirds, plus Roman remains and a nationally important art gallery make the cathedral city of Chichester a gem, says CAROLINE WHEATER
PHOTOGRAPHS: CHICHESTER: BID; PALLANT HOUSE GALLERY: LEWIS RONALD; FISHBOURNE ROMAN MUSEUM; RSPB: KEVIN SIMMONDS
At the foot of the South Downs, the ancient city of Chichester in West Sussex boasts beautiful beaches nearby – West and East Wittering – and a huge natural harbour. In summer it’s awash with sailing boats, 10,000 at peak times. While in autumn and winter, vast flocks of migrating birds glide in from Scandinavia and Russia, including all kinds of wader and dark bellied Brent Geese who swap Siberia for the Solent.
At the heart of Chichester is the Cathedral, dating to 1108, set within the Bishop’s Palace Gardens. It’s a peaceful place with some phenomenal artworks, such as a stained-glass window by Marc Chagall (his last design), and a huge, colourful tapestry created by John Piper for the high altar.
From here, the town radiates out along South, North, East and West Streets and a tangle of ‘twittens’ or lanes lined with independent shops, cafes and restaurants. More cultural credentials are provided by Pallant House Gallery and its collection of Modern British art, Chichester Festival Theatre and Fishbourne Roman Villa where there are ancient mosaic floors to rival those of Italy.
SEABIRD SAFARI
Our first stop is RSPB Pagham Harbour Nature Reserve, a couple of miles from the city centre and a lovely place for a walk down to the sea. If you come in winter wader season you’ll spot longbeaked curlews, scurrying dunlin and bold oystercatchers hunting for small crustaceans and worms in the mud flats. In summer, it’s all about little terns, the second rarest nesting seabird in the UK, trying to make a comeback.
Fortified by cups of tea from the visitor centre, we follow
TOP CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT Situated in a grand 18th century townhouse with modern extension, Pallant House Gallery specialises in British art from 1900 onwards; Cupid riding a dolphin features in one of the mosaic floors unearthed at Fishbourne Roman Villa, built nearly 2,000 years ago; a colony of rare little terns are RSPB Pagham Harbour’s pride and joy, the young are cleverly camouflaged to meld into the beach.
West Side Walk across the salt marshes and sea purslane beds to Church Norton hide, and from there to a bench overlooking Tern Island. In summer, this shingle island transforms into a little tern nursery – 31 pairs at last count which each produce two to three pebble-coloured eggs per year. An incoming tide is the best time for little tern watching, says visitor experience officer Roy Newnham, as the parent birds hover over the water hunting for small fish.
There’s a cacophony of chirps as the birds bustle abou
