As soon as one crosses from Hampshire to West Sussex things turn a little bit odd, a little bit spooky, a little bit weird. I don’t know why. This is completely unfounded but I feel it every time. It’s fun to go over the border and explore a little into this wigglier county. Today we went to Maysleith, which isn’t really a place but there’s a wood and a hanger and an old house. It’s near the villages of Milland and Rake. We parked near Combeland Farm and walked north east underneath Maysleith Wood and then Maysleith Hanger, past Maysleith House (C17). Then a steep climb of path and stone steps up to the top of the hill. Soon we were in the churchyard of St Lukes church (Milland and Rake parishes). Unusually there is also a chapel in the same grounds. Tuxlith chapel was built in the 16th Century but there was probably something older on the site. Around it and the church were many rather bumpy graves, each with its own spongy mound. Some of the headstones were headirons, rusty and so very Victorian. The path took us through the woods near the old A3 then down through moss-banked tracks and to the start on Canhouse Lane.

Here’s some of what we saw: