West Sussex walks: Ferring - Kingston Gorse circular with cafés and toilets, and photos and video to guide you

I love it there and it offers various options for circular routes, easily accessible by bus. For this walk, I will be taking you on a round trip of around 3 miles or so, all fairly flat. With two cafés and public toilets en route, it is perfect for an afternoon stroll. You can get the 700 from Littlehampton, Brighton and Worthing, or the 8 and 8a from Worthing, to Ferring village to start at Ferring Village Green. I took the path across the green to turn right into Rife Way.

You pass Glebelands Recreation Ground on your left and head to the end of the road, where you will see the entrance to Ferring Country Centre. Follow the pedestrian route through to Ferring Rife, where you turn left. For this walk, you can choose either side of the water to go down but I took the east side, as it is wider. There is a bridge part way down, so you could even swap sides at that point. The bridge is also a good vantage point for turning back to get a view of Highdown Hill and the South Downs and a great spot for some reflective photography!

Simply follow the course of the water to the beach. Here you will come into a car park, where toilets are available, and you will see The Bluebird Cafe. This is a circular walk so you could choose to make this your starting point if you are driving. Over to the right is a gate leading on to the beach. Go through to the Kingston Gorse Estate, which is a private beach with a public footpath through it. Sorry, if you are thinking beach picnic, you are not allowed one here but there is no problem with you stopping on Ferring beach at the bottom of the Rife.

Walk through along the grass. You will pass three points of access to the Kingston Gorse Estate but these are private. The fourth exit, reached through a wooden fence, is public but we are going to ignore it and continue along the shoreline through the West Kingston Private Estate. You will see views over to Littlehampton as you walk and you can enjoy the sound of the sea. Look out on the left for an intriguing stone bench, which was provided by Kingston Parish Council to tell the story of Kingston's Lost Chapel.

Some 250 yards out to sea from this commemorative stone, just south of the Black Rocks which are seen at very low tide, is the site of the chapel that once served the old settlement of Kingston. Because of coastal erosion, it is said the chapel was lost to the sea in December 1626. A whimsical story tells of the chapel bells tolling from beneath the sea whenever storms and spring tides batter the coast. Near the bench, I saw some lovely beach art, including a big heart made of stones. Keep your eyes out for a signpost pointing your way off the beach and on to the estate, it's not far past the stone seat. Take the path out to the road and cross over to join another footpath. Follow the waterway for a short distance and then follow the road. This is Peak Lane, a private road. At the end, turn left and follow the road around the bend. I would say that other people walk along the edge of the field but this is not a footpath according to Ordnance Survey, so I walked on the road, which is fairly quiet.

You will pass Kingston Manor and you will see the former lodge, now bricked up. Follow the road to the bend at the top, where there is a footpath sign. Turn right here, at Newcote Farm, and follow the footpath on to open farmland. This is a working farm, so take care. You will soon come to more water and a footpath sign. The signpost seems to indicate that the footpath is the south side of the water, while Ordnance Survey suggests it is the north side. Either way, it is the waterside only that is accessible – the rest of the land is very clearly marked private. You will soon come to a brick bridge and you have to cross here to the north side to get back to Ferring Country Centre. The north side is narrow but it is clearly marked as a public footpath as you walk along it. There is a small wooden bridge to cross and then you are soon back at Ferring Rife. Turn left here and then turn right over the concrete roadbridge to get back out to Rife Way and on to Ferring Village Green. I stopped off at the country centre for a sandwich and a piece of cake. They do the best carrot cake here but it wasn't available on the day I visited, sadly.