West Sussex bluebell walk with photos to guide you: America Wood in Ashington and Capite Wood on the Wiston Estate, with view over the South Downs north of Worthing

This walk is easy to access by bus on the No.1 from Worthing and Midhurst or the No.23 from Worthing, Horsham and Crawley. You need the Hillcrest Drive stop, near Blue Bird Garage in London Road, Ashington. The walk starts at Ashington Day Nursery, where you follow the public bridleway on the north side of the building. Follow the path, cross over Cricketers Close and continue into woodland, where you will see mounting blocks to your left. Take this path round to the bridge over the A24. On the other side, pass another set of mounting blocks as you head into America Wood. I should warn you that at the moment, this wood is extremely muddy. Take the middle path of three, and note that the path on the left is where you will return at the end of this walk. You will follow the footpath for quite a while as you walk through the woods, enjoying the bluebells and other spring flowers on your way.

Watch video and see 35 pictures of bluebells on the Wiston Estate

Eventually, you come out to a path with a field on your right. You can look across to enjoy views of the South Downs and Chanctonbury Ring. When you come to a T-junction, turn left and follow the footpath round to the right to East Wolves Farm. You will see a gate to your left, which is where you will be going later in this walk, but for now, turn right to follow the footpath to a stile. Cross the field to the stile on the other side and follow the footpath over another three stiles to the driveway of Hook Farm. Follow the path down to the gate then turn left to continue on the road. You need to follow this road for a fair while, passing a property on your right and continuing on to Woodmans Farm. Before you reach the farmhouse, you will pass a building on your right then see the footpath sign directing you behind the building and into the wood.

Take the path on the left, where there are logs to help you. This is Capite Wood on the Wiston Estate, where we found the best of the bluebells on this walk. Follow the main path through the wood. It will take you over a wooden bridge and up a small hill then over another bridge and on through the bluebells. You will find you are by a stream and you will walk downhill to another bridge. Take time to enjoy the wood, which is filled with birdsong. Eventually, you will arrive at a footpath sign with Honeybridge Lane to your left. You turn right here and follow the path round through land at Daylands Farm, Ashurst. You will come to a metal gate, which you need to go through. Follow the footpath down, with crops on your right. Ignore the wide path to the farmhouse and continue a little further to the footpath sign, where you turn right to head towards another metal gate.

Go through the gate and continue to follow the path around the front of the farmhouse then right along the top of the field before turning left to go downhill to a kissing gate. The footpath continues to the left and goes over a wooden bridge to another kissing gate. You are now back in the wood for a bit, following the footpath signs through more bluebells. You then come out to an open field, where you follow the line of trees to an open gateway. Continue through the next field until you come back to woodland. You should see ahead of you the footpath taking you down to a wooden bridge. Follow the path out to another field, where you turn right for just a short way. There is a signpost but it is in the trees and not easy to spot. Here, you turn left to go uphill to another field.

There is a clear pathway through the middle of this large field, which you follow all the way to a kissing gate. Now you see two paths, you need to follow the public footpath on the right, running alongside a wooden fence. This brings you to a driveway of white stones and back down to Hook Farm. You should recognise this driveway from earlier and should return the way you came, through the gate and up the drive. Don't forget to cross the stile into the field to follow the footpath back to the farm. Now, instead of turning left to return the way you came, carry straight on through the gate I mentioned earlier and follow the driveway with the farmhouse on your left. Continue past the smallholding on your right then turn left down a wide piece of road to head down to a green public bridleway sign. Take the narrow path and follow it alongside a field on your left. This takes you back into America Wood – a much less muddy path than the one we were on earlier! You can hear the A24 on your right as you follow the footpath and before you know it, you are back at the mounting blocks to return to Ashington over the bridge.