New artwork at Devil's Dyke celebrates the people who visit

There is a new piece of art at the start of the Discovery Trail at Devil’s Dyke. The National Trust^1,2 commissioned it for its Changing Chalk project, and it celebrates the landscape and people of the area.

The artist is Bo, an illustrator and visual artist based in Brighton and Shoreham. The illustrations show visitors to the Dyke as well as the view. “Everyone in the illustrations has a little story I’ve made up, based loosely on real people I’ve seen up there,” Bo said. They wanted to show that “the experience of the landscape is not owned by one type of person.”

Bo visited the Dyke at different times of year and worked from photographs too, looking closely at small things such as leaves and the texture of butterfly wings.

The Discovery Trail is an almost circular walk around the Iron Age hillfort. QR codes on posts and benches link to short videos about the dry valley, the Victorian fairground and the chalk grassland. The trail is not paved, and parts of it are on steep slopes.

Changing Chalk was a four-year project led by the National Trust to restore chalk grassland on the Downs and improve access to nature. It was backed by a £2.23 million grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The 77 Breeze bus runs from Brighton up to Devil’s Dyke. Check times on the Brighton & Hove Buses⁴ website before you go.