Best Attraction in West Sussex, England

Petworth House in West Sussex is one of the finest and most important country houses in England, a late seventeenth-century mansion in a great deer park whose collection of paintings, sculpture and decorative arts is of national importance and includes one of the finest groups of works by J M W Turner in the world. The National Trust manages the house and park, and the combination of the extraordinary art collection, the atmospheric house interiors and Capability Brown's park landscape makes Petworth one of the most rewarding country house visits in southern England. The house was rebuilt in its current form between 1688 and 1696 by the sixth Duke of Somerset, the west front's long facade of Caen and Petworth stone among the most distinguished seventeenth-century domestic elevations in the country. The interior was progressively enriched by successive owners, reaching its greatest elaboration under the third Earl of Egremont in the early nineteenth century, who transformed Petworth into one of the great artistic households of the Regency period and whose patronage of Turner produced the series of paintings depicting the park, the house and the interior rooms that are the crown of the collection. Turner stayed at Petworth repeatedly between 1809 and 1837 as the guest of Lord Egremont and the nineteen oil paintings and over one hundred sketches he made there constitute the most concentrated body of his work associated with any single place. The paintings range from the grand landscape compositions depicting the park at sunrise and sunset to the intimate interior views of rooms and figures, including the luminous sketches of the library and the great staircase, that are among the most free and personal works Turner produced. The deer park, landscaped by Capability Brown, is one of the finest of his surviving works and the view of the house across the lake is one of the defining images of the English landscape garden tradition.

Worthing Pier is a Victorian seaside pier located on the West Sussex coast of southern England, stretching out into the English Channel from the town of Worthing. It is one of the oldest surviving pleasure piers in the country and remains a beloved landmark for both locals and visitors. Extending approximately 300 metres into the sea, it offers a gentle promenade above the water with views back to the South Downs and along the coastline in both directions. The pier is operated by Worthing Borough Council and continues to serve its original purpose as a place of leisure, relaxation and gentle seaside entertainment, making it one of the most charming traditional piers along the south coast of England. The pier's origins date to 1862, when a wooden structure was first constructed to allow pleasure steamers to land passengers at Worthing, which had no natural harbour. The original pier was modest in scale, measuring around 150 metres, and was built at a time when Worthing was growing rapidly as a fashionable seaside resort. A significant extension was added in 1889, bringing it to its current length. The pier has survived a turbulent history, including storm damage, fires and wartime restrictions. A major fire in 1933 devastated the pier head and the Southern Pavilion, which had to be rebuilt. During the Second World War, a section of the pier was deliberately removed as a defensive measure to prevent enemy forces from using it as a landing point, a fate shared by many English piers during that period. The pier was subsequently repaired and has endured ever since as a symbol of Worthing's Victorian seaside heritage. In terms of physical character, the pier is a classic English structure of painted iron and timber, with a gentle walkway lined with benches where visitors can sit and watch the waves below or gaze out toward the horizon. The Southern Pavilion at the pier head has been used variously as a concert venue, theatre and amusement space over the decades and continues to function as an entertainment venue. The Northern Pavilion, closer to the shore, also serves as an events and function space. Walking the pier on a clear day is a quietly exhilarating experience: the creak of timber underfoot, the salt-laden breeze off the Channel, the cry of gulls, and the sensation of the sea all around give it a particular meditative quality that distinguishes a pier from any other kind of seaside walkway. The surrounding area is quintessentially southern English seaside. Worthing itself is a pleasant, relatively unhurried town with a long shingle and sandy beach stretching in both directions from the pier. The town centre is a short walk inland, offering independent shops, cafes and a good range of restaurants. The South Downs National Park rises visibly to the north, giving the landscape a dramatic backdrop. To the east lies Brighton, about 11 miles along the coast, while to the west the coast extends toward Littlehampton and Bognor Regis. The seafront promenade running either side of the pier is popular with cyclists and walkers, and the beach itself, while predominantly shingle, reveals stretches of sand at low tide. For visitors planning a trip, Worthing is well served by rail, with Worthing railway station sitting roughly ten minutes' walk from the pier along the seafront or through the town centre. Regular services run from London Victoria and London Bridge, making it an accessible day trip from the capital. There is also a reasonable amount of car parking along the seafront and in nearby town centre car parks. The pier is free to walk along, which makes it an unusually accessible attraction compared to some other piers that charge admission. The pier and its pavilions host a range of events throughout the year, from live music and comedy to craft fairs, so checking the events calendar in advance can add considerably to a visit. Summer is naturally the most popular time, when the beach and pier come alive, but the pier in autumn or winter has its own austere and bracing appeal. One of the more unusual details of Worthing Pier's story is its appearance in popular culture and its association with the Victorian fashion for convalescence. Worthing was, in the nineteenth century, notably associated with rest and recuperation, and the pier would have been part of the prescribed programme of fresh sea air and gentle exercise for those visiting the town for their health. Oscar Wilde reportedly stayed in Worthing in the summer of 1894, and it is widely held that the town's name inspired the surname of his fictional hero Earnest Worthing in The Importance of Being Earnest, written that same year. While the pier itself is not directly named in any Wilde connection, its presence as a central feature of the town at that time makes it part of the wider cultural fabric that surrounded him during that creative stay. For a structure of iron and wood standing quietly in the Channel, Worthing Pier carries rather a lot of history with it.