The Shepherd’s Return

This weekend, the boy and I headed off to West Sussex for his belated birthday surprise weekend. A lover of all things camping, I wanted to take him on a slightly more ‘special’, birthday-appropriate version of a camping weekend and whilst doing some research on the internet came across the little gem of The Shepherd’s Return.

The Shepherd’s Return is a replica 16th Century Shepherd’s Hut kept in a delightful garden in West Sussex and owned by Lizzie Staples. It’s nestled away in the back of her gorgeous little cottage near Pulborough in Sutton.

We arrived (after getting slightly lost!) on a Friday evening after work after a 1 hr 30 mins drive from London, to be welcomed by Lizzie who showed us around our humble home for the next two nights – we were instantly smitten with the charm of the hut.

We were informed there was an outside camping toilet if we were feeling adventurous, but if not, we could use the shower and toilet in Lizzie’s cottage across the garden – this was the prettiest camping toilet I had ever seen (beats Glasto that’s for sure!)

Handily, Lizzie came armed with a fantastic pub recommendation for our thirsty and hungry Londoner stomaches – The White Horse Inn in Sutton. We spent the evening here while playing cards and gorging on baked Camembert with hazelnuts and honey before walking the 5 minutes back down the hill (where I fell in love with my dream house ‘Rose Cottage’) to our little hut under the stars for a good night’s sleep.

Lizzie’s attention to detail is incredible. Included in your price for two nights stay, is an organic breakfast hamper freshly prepared and each morning bringing different delights – we gorged on fresh museli with natural yoghurt and bananas and award-winning toasted bread one morning, to fresh hen’s eggs scrambled with English muffins and jam the next. (Lizzie has her ‘girls’, the two hens Florence and Matilda, who provide the eggs so a really lovely personal touch).

Suitably full from our organic breakfast feast and steaming mugs of tea, we bounded into the car thrilled with the sunshine and navigated our way to the coast in search of sea, sand and ice cream. We made our way to West Wittering beach, a lovely sand duned stretch of beach just south of Chichester, where we spent most of the day lounging in the sun and admiring the cute beach houses.

Saturday evening was spent at another one of Lizzie’s pub recommendations; The Horse Guards Inn at Tillington (a.k.a my new favourite place in the whole world). This little pub is a true delight with a huge, quirky, mix-matched garden filled with old vintage seating and higgeldy-piggeldy decoration – I was completely in love. We spent the whole evening eating and chatting away with each-other and the locals, sampling the Steak choice on the menu and the Pork rilette with copious amounts of Malbec wine!

Sunday was spent pottering a bit more around the towns that pepper the way between Sussex and London – we stopped off to have some Rose spritzers at The Duke of Cumberland pub on the way to Haslemere and leaf through the sunday papers; a lovely thatched pub with a stream running through the hilled garden.

(Above outfit: Dress from Vero Moda, bag is the Mulberry Dorset)

The Shepherd’s Return is genuinely food for the soul and Lizzie’s personal details make it seem a little magical break away from real life and stress and worries of your every day – no phone signal either makes it easy to stay away from the pull of social media and allows you to literally switch off.

I would thoroughly recommend The Shepherd’s Return to anyone who loves the simplicity of the country and a break away from city life and its hectic demands. It’s definitely a bit like camping though, so be aware there is no electricity at all in the hut (but you can charge your phone inside the cottage if needed). It’s not your all frills ‘Glamping’ experience – it’s about a simple, organic, refreshing and restorative break. I know we can’t wait to go back.

The website is HERE for all bookings – enjoy! Please do let me know if you take a visit as would love to hear your thoughts.

LMNH x