I tried West Sussex walk in Short Walks Made Easy: South Downs and found glorious views in peaceful countryside. But was it easy?

The aim of the book is to help casual walkers find their way into the countryside. The South Downs edition features walks ranging from two to five miles, specifically written for those with little walking experience who don’t want to spend all day on a hike.

I started with the longest walk in the book, a 4.8-mile circular route from Amberley railway station with the promise of a choice of refreshments at the end.

What attracted me was its ease of access, the fact you could get there by train, and the excitement of a route I had not covered before.

I set off with the term 'easy walk' in my mind but to be fair, that is not what the book promises. It is about short walks, made easy by providing a map, photographs, mile markers and an indication of gradient.

Easy is definitely not the word for this walk, as it features some very steep climbs. The book does make this clear, noting the 'continuous steady climb from station' and 'shorter steeper rise' further on.

I would say don't take the word 'steep' lightly. It is definitely steep! But to be fair, this is the South Downs and the rewards for a climb to the top of any hill are the absolutely stunning views.

Here at Amberley, there are shades of green all around and it is so peaceful. It is a wonderful walk which families can enjoy together.

The route was fairly easy to follow but I would say that more detail would have helped at one or two points. One piece of advice is don't get ahead of yourself, sometimes the distance between points is further than you think it is going to be.

We went wrong only once, at a point where the South Downs Way left the road to Downs Farm and headed up hill. One thing that put us off was the sight of the very steep climb. The other was the instructions, which didn't make it clear you have to turn off the road.

We instead followed the road to Downs Farm, where we found a sign for a Restricted Byway uphill. Had we known, this would have got us back on track but as we weren't sure, we retraced our steps.

The updated edition for 2025 includes QR code links to view the route in OS Maps. This proved a great help at this point because we couldn’t make sense of the instructions using the map in the book.

It seemed that steep hill was the only option, so up we traipsed and thankfully it was not far before the ground levelled off. The landmark to look for was a Restricted Byway sign – as it turned out, the other end of that footpath from Downs Farm.

After that, the South Downs Way continues straight uphill. It was that note in the book, in brackets, that had confused us in the first place! Our route now, however, was to turn instead to head back down for a while. Here, we saw the Belted Galloway cattle, which the book includes among its Nature Notes section.

We enjoyed spotting wildflowers en route and found cuckooflower, pilewort, cowslip and wood violet, among others.

Next came that 'shorter steeper rise'. This is about the halfway point and we found it the hardest part of the walk. 'Short' is debatable, 'steep' is 100 per cent accurate. But boy is it worth it! So very beautiful up there.

From here on in, it genuinely is easy and there are more points of interest, too. Along the mile-long track to North Stoke, we enjoyed watching the birds of prey and listening to their calls.

We took the suggested detour to visit St Mary the Virgin Church, where we saw a stunning altar frontal, designed and made by Belinda Scarlett, and dedicated by the Bishop of Chichester, Dr Martin Warner, on March 22, 2015.

This historic church is a Breathing Space on the Small Pilgrim Places Network and it is well worth the short extra walk to visit.

The important turn needed to find the riverside path is easy to spot and the final part of the walk is along the banks of the River Arun, with views of Houghton Bridge ahead.

The map indicates Bridge Inn and Boathouse Brasserie as places to eat and drink but on Tuesday afternoon, the wonderful Riverside South Downs opposite, not mentioned in the book, was the only place open - and very busy it was too, with its riverside terrace and warm welcome.

The book Short Walks Made Easy: South Downs is written by Fiona Barltrop, an experienced outdoor writer and photographer. It is available from Ordnance Survey priced £8.99.

Look out for further reviews as I try out some of the other walks in the book.