Wedding Photographer Upwaltham Barns — South Downs, the Goodwood Estate and the West Sussex Countryside
Upwaltham Barns is a Sussex flint-and-brick barn wedding venue in the southern South Downs National Park between Petworth and Arundel — a converted traditional Sussex farm complex in the chalk downland above the Arun valley, with views across the South Downs’ north-facing chalk escarpment and the ancient parish church of St Mary at Upwaltham (the smallest and arguably most atmospheric Norman church in Sussex) in the farmyard. For Upwaltham Barns wedding photography, the venue’s Sussex flint barn architecture, the Upwaltham Norman church’s twelfth-century interior and the South Downs’ chalk escarpment landscape provide portrait settings of West Sussex rural pastoral character of genuine downland character within the national park boundary.
The Sussex Flint Barns, the Norman Church and the Downland Setting
Upwaltham’s Sussex flint barn complex — the traditional West Sussex flint-knapped and brick-quoined barns converted to a wedding venue while retaining the original agricultural character of the flint walls, the timber-framed interiors and the barn’s Sussex vernacular agricultural building type — provides a portrait setting of Sussex traditional building material character distinctive to the chalk-flint geology of the South Downs. The church of St Mary Upwaltham — the Norman church of c.1140 in the farmyard, with the twelfth-century apsidal east end and the complete medieval interior of chancel arch and nave — provides the smallest and most complete Norman church portrait setting in West Sussex: the unaltered medieval interior and the flint Norman exterior create portrait compositions of extraordinary antiquity.
The South Downs Escarpment, Goodwood and the Arun Valley
The South Downs’ escarpment above Upwaltham — the chalk ridge of the downs with the South Downs Way running east towards Bignor Hill and the Devil’s Jumps visible to the north-west — provides chalk downland portrait settings of open views across the Weald immediately accessible above the venue. Goodwood Estate — the Duke of Richmond’s estate six miles south, with Goodwood House, the racecourse’s open downland grandstand, Goodwood Motor Circuit and the aerodrome — provides a second South Downs estate portrait destination. Arundel Castle — the Duke of Norfolk’s castle visible on the Arun plain ten miles south — provides an accessible castle portrait backdrop.