DISCOVER
The South Downs
Country Walking takes a hike – and goes for a song – with pilgrim, singer, and occasional time traveller, Will Parsons.
“YOU’LL TEND TO find that traditional songs usually cover the three big topics of life,” says Will Parsons. “Sex, death and farming.”
Will is stomping the snow off his boots in the doorway of the parish church in the Sussex village of Steyning. We’ve been exploring the historic sites of nearby Bramber: the ruined Norman castle, and the former pilgrim inn of St Mary’s House. Ahead of us is a seven-mile journey to Findon, following an ancient and near-forgotten pilgrimage route.
But first, Will wants to pop into a sacred space for a moment. The church is quiet, empty and beautiful. Pause.
“Right, what shall we sing?” he asks, cheerfully. Both Tom and I go suddenly silent.
“Come on, everyone can sing something. There’s no one else here and churches are built for song. It’s nearly Christmas; what’s your favourite carol?”
After a long silence, Tom blurts out:
“We Three Kings.”
“Perfect! Let’s do it.”
And so we do. At first I can hear Tom sneakily throwing in lyrics about a taxi and a car, but then as we get to ‘star of wonder, star of night’, something remarkable happens. We get it. We go for it. By the time we’re on ‘guide us to thy perfect liiiiight’ we’re holding the notes and a whisker from jazzhands. “Congratulations,” says Will.
“We just reached into something older, wiser and kinder than the divisive narrative of modern life. When we sing together, we reconnect. It’s incredibly empowering.”
Thankfully, I realise, we chose a song that wasn’t about sex, death or farming.
The wandering minstrel
In 2006, Will Parsons became a wayfarer.
In his early twenties, having inherited his father’s walking boots, he set out with old friend Ed Stevens to walk from Kent to Cornwall. The pair were fascinated by the idea of moving slowly with purpose; taking months to travel a pa
