Embrace the night walk with Rural Strides
Sunday 15th February 2026 from 18:00pm to 20:00pm
Cocking Hill Car Park
Cocking Hill, Midhurst, West Sussex, GU29 0HT, South East England
Join a gentle, immersive night walk during the South Downs Dark Skies Festival and experience true natural darkness on a moonless winter evening. Slow down and explore the landscape through sound, smell and touch, while spotting winter constellations in one of the UK’s rare protected dark sky areas. A calm, sensory experience designed to reconnect you with nature, the night sky and a sense of wonder.
This event takes place as part of the South Downs Dark Skies Festival 2026.
Please note that this has already taken place on 15/02/2026
Event organiser
South Downs National Park is organising this event
Please contact South Downs National Park directly for more details regarding this event or, if appropriate, contact the event venue.
Email: [email protected]
Website: South Downs National Park
Twitter: @sdnpa
Facebook: South Downs National Park
Event booking
Event darkness
The below chart shows if and when the skies will be at their darkest during this event. Moonlight is shown in light yellow and the Sun's twilight in light blue. Midnight on the date shown is shown as a white line with sunset to the left and sunrise the next morning to the right. A black background with stars shows the best times for stargazing.
Sun 15th Feb
Local light pollution
Cocking Hill Car Park is estimated to have light pollution levels similar to a rural location based on the latest data from the VIIRS satellite. For more advanced light pollution data, view this location on DarkSkySites.
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Urban
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Suburban
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Semi-rural
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Rural
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Dark site
The above demonstrates the estimated effect of light pollution - graphics created using Stellarium.
Stay and gaze nearby
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