Southdowns Hotel and Restaurant is set in one of the most historic and unspoiled corners of England, and the house itself has an interesting background story.

Originally called Dumpford House it was built as a two storey, three bay house towards the end of the last century by the Hon John Jervis Carnegie (1807-1892. He bought the neighbouring Fair Oak estate from the Paget family about 1850 and was High Sheriff of Sussex in 1862. Hon John Jervis was the third son of the 7th Earl of Northesk and his initials can be seen on the stone boundary post to the left of the Southdowns entrance.

The Northesk family still own Fair Oak but Southdowns was sold prior to 1895 when the top floor and water tower were built. At that time it was the home of a German artist Rudolf Blind, and later of the Boyes family. Southdowns was also run for many years as a private school at one stage for wayward boys, becoming the Southdowns Guest House prior to the last war. During the war it provided a billet for members of the Royal Canadian Air Force.

The present owners bought Southdowns in 1983. Since then it has been sensitively restored and enlarged into the present hotel and restaurant together with a purpose-built conference centre which attracts seminars from all over the country.

Southdowns is part of the scattered hamlet of Dumpford; the name derived from the Old English for a ford by a dam - the dam in this case powered the local water mill for centuries. Dumpford may have been a small community but it gave its name to the Dumpford Hundred Court, who from the 10th century administered one of the hundreds or division of the shire. There were twenty-one in West Sussex each officially representing one hundred families; Dumpford included those in Trotton and Rogate. Dumpford perhaps, because of the ford would have been an ideal meeting place for the court: business was transacted in the open air; perhaps on or very near the site of Southdowns. Those involved would have worshipped in the little chapel which fell into disuse by the 14th century, which stood in the field still called Chapel Plot to the east of the hotel.

Although today the area is within easy access to Gatwick and Heathrow airports by road or rail to London and the Coast, it is still very much a farming community, as it was in the days of Dumpford Hundred Court. It is dominated by the South Downs of which the poet F.W.Bourdillon (1852 - 1921) who lived locally wrote:

It is ideal walking country, and for guests who want to forget their cars for a while and take to the Sussex byways, there are many delightful villages with ancient churches, manor houses and pubs within a few miles of Southdowns.

Goodwood, with its racecourse and historic house; Petworth, with its antique shops and ancestral seat of the Wyndhams; and the Cathedral towns of Chichester and Winchester. Literary pilgrims are not far from the homes of Gilbert White at Selborne and Jane Austen at Chawton.

It should be pointed out that most of the churches in the area offer comprehensive guide books for sale, or at least a potted history framed somewhere on the walls. Official guides for the Midhurst area are also available from the local Tourist Information office in Midhurst.

For guests who feel they may have walked a little too far, the Southdowns < Kingfisher Club > awaits their return with indoor heated swimming pool and sauna.

Further things to do and see in the area: Historic Uppark House - National Trust Petworth Park and House - National Trust The Mary Rose and the Victory - historic ships at Portsmouth Queen Elizabeth Country Park Golf at Cowdray Park, Petersfield and Goodwood Goodwood House and Motor Racing Circuit Horse Racing at Fontwell and Goodwood racecourses Antique shops and fairs at Petworth, Midhurst and Petersfield Cowdray Park and historic ruins at Midhurst Weald and Downland Museum at Singleton Chichester and Portsmouth Harbour and south coast beaches Arundel Castle Chilsdown Vineyard West Dean Gardens

Further information about Midhurst and the surrounding area, can be found at the < Midhurst Chamber of Commerce website >.