Walter travelled around Sussex in the 1930s,
pushing a cart containing his Punch and Judy show,
and sleeping in a tent.
In 1933 at another of his stops on the Downs, he wrote:
As the road rises the view began to spread,
and here I seemed to get
the most expansive sight of Downland of all the summer.
Northwards one looked down into the valley,
down on West Dean,
a compact settlement in the hollow,
with farm, church, and cottages all set out like a toy.
And over the hamlet, spreading east and west,
undulated the hills, hill after hill,
the great wide pastures rolling up to the heavens,
a vast stretch of yellowing, ripened grass,
that changed its tone, and palpitated livingly
with the varying pressure of the wind.
Towards the west,
hill and sea met in a glory of golden mist,
or a dark cloud covered the sun,
and the great rays streamed from behind the cloud
to illumine the distant hills
across the Cuckmere valley.
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