The guide
Arundel
West Sussex, England
Arundel Castle, rising over the River Arun — one of England's largest inhabited castles.
Getting there
London Victoria → Arundel — direct Southern trains, fastest around 1h 30m and no change needed. Weekends run roughly half-hourly on Saturdays and hourly on Sundays; Sunday service starts early (first train 07:32, arriving 09:06). No engineering works affect this route for the coming weekend (3–4 October). The station sits about a kilometre out of town, a 10–15 minute walk to the centre.
Famous for
A castle, a cathedral, and a pocket-sized medieval town beneath them. Arundel Castle was raised in 1067 for Roger de Montgomery and has belonged to the Dukes of Norfolk ever since — the 18th Duke still lives there. Alongside it sit a French-Gothic Catholic cathedral (one of only a handful in England), 38 acres of award-winning gardens, and the reedbeds of the River Arun.
Where to eat
- The Parsons Table — modern British cooking on Tarrant Street; Michelin-listed and the town's top-rated restaurant — book well ahead.
- The Black Rabbit — a riverside pub by the wetlands, run by Hall & Woodhouse; a popular Sunday spot for honey-roast ham, egg and chips.
- La Campania — family-run Italian on Tarrant Street, a long-standing town favourite.
- Motte & Bailey Cafe — the spot for light lunches: toasties, salads and quiches.
What to do
- Arundel Castle & Gardens — the Norman Keep, the state rooms, Fitzalan Chapel and 38 acres of gardens; open until 1 November.
- Arundel Cathedral — the French-Gothic Catholic cathedral, commissioned by the 15th Duke of Norfolk.
- WWT Arundel Wetland Centre — 60 acres of reedbeds, eight hides and a silent boat safari; daily warden talks.
- Tarrant Street — a collector's paradise of antique shops and independent boutiques.
- Arundel Museum — the town's story, from Roman roads to the Dukes, just outside the castle gates.
- Swanbourne Lake — hire a rowing boat or walk the circular path through the trees.
- River Arun walk — the path south from town runs through floodplain meadows to the sea.
- St Nicholas Church — the parish church at the foot of the castle walls.
Arundel Cathedral, with the castle on the hill behind.
Jess's favourite
WWT Arundel Wetland Centre, on Mill Road — 60 acres of reedbeds with eight hides, a guided boat safari, a sand martin nesting bank and pelican feeding at 2pm. Open daily, 10am–4:30pm.
Good to know: The castle and much of the town close on Mondays — plan for any other day. The castle's 2026 season ends on 1 November. The station is a kilometre from the centre, so allow 10–15 minutes' walk.
Jess plans her trips the week before, but trains have a mind of their own. Routes, times and fares in these guides were checked at the time of writing — engineering works, timetable changes and last-minute alterations can still happen. Please check your journey before you travel (National Rail Enquiries or the Trainline app) — and if a replacement bus sneaks in, we hope the day makes up for it.
Read Jess's diary of the day ↓
Jess's Day Off · Diary No. 4
Arundel: Castles, Cathedrals, and a Boat Full of Ducks
Arundel, West Sussex
I overslept. The meerkats must have known it was my day off and filed a collective lie-in request. I bolted for Victoria with my flask half-filled and my tea barely tea.
The train to Arundel was the slow, happy kind — Southern, rattling through green fields, the flask of tea finally doing its job. I had a notebook full of Barnaby's dictation (a hedgehog, a conker, a misunderstanding — we're still arguing about the ending) and exactly no plan beyond "the town with the castle you can see from everywhere."
The arrival
You really can see the castle from everywhere. It sits up on its hill like it owns the view, which I suppose it does — it has done since 1067. Down in the town the first thing I noticed was the quiet: no penguin braying, no gibbon opinions, just swallows and the wind in the trees. And uphill, the cathedral's spire, which looks like it wandered in from France and decided to stay.
The walk
I did the castle gardens first — 38 acres, which my feet now confirm is a lot of acres — and then took my mandatory wrong turn heading back down. Instead of Tarrant Street I found myself at Swanbourne Lake, where a family of swans was staging what looked like a very formal meeting. I watched for ten minutes. I think the chairman was the one with the muddiest feathers.
Back uphill (everything in Arundel is uphill), the museum told me the whole story of the Dukes of Norfolk, and the high street delivered on its promise: antiques, bookshops, and a café smell that nearly finished me off before lunch.
The café
Then, Mill Road: the WWT Arundel Wetland Centre. Sixty acres of reedbeds, eight hides, and a silent electric boat that glides through the reeds while ducks argue about right of way. The pelicans get fed at 2pm, and watching a pelican fish is the funniest and most graceful thing I have seen all month — mostly graceful, partly traffic jam. I sat in the sand martin hide for so long my notebook fell shut from lack of attention.
Lunch
The Parsons Table, on Tarrant Street — the town's best table, and the only thing I've ever booked with complete confidence before a day trip. Modern British, the fish immaculate, and I have added their crackling to my personal list of reasons the day off was worth the early alarm.
Home
Back in London by evening, legs aching, notebook smelling of reedbeds and Sunday-lunch gravy. The zoo tomorrow at dawn. Happy.
Story seed
The boat safari did it. I want a scene where Clarence and Pinafor drift through the Great Wood's reedbeds on a leaf-boat, and Clarence — so careful, so slow — is the only one who notices the kingfisher before it dives. Pinafor is too busy steering to see it, which is fine: Clarence describes it so well she sees it anyway.
Barnaby's text“The swans didn't ask you to chair the meeting — they didn't need to. They could see a keeper who respects the order of things. Watch, wait, learn: that is the whole job.”
— Jess
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