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8 Take litter home

9 Help to keep all water clean

10 Protect wildlife, plants and trees

11 Take special care on country roads

12 Make no unnecessary noise.

It was Octavia Hill, that indefatigable Victorian champion of the countryside and a co-founder of the National Trust, whose words sum up the spirit of the Country Code:

‘Let the grass growing for hay be respected, let the primrose roots be left in their loveliness in the hedges, the birds unmolested and the gates shut. If those who frequented country places would consider those who live there, they would better deserve, and more often retain, the rights and privileges they enjoy.’

The very substance of the Downs is revealed in the chalk cliffs of the Seven Sisters (Walk 5)

WALK 1

Eastbourne to Birling Gap and East Dean

Start/FinishDukes Drive, Eastbourne (TV 600 972)Distance9½ miles (15km)MapsOS Explorer 123 Eastbourne & Beachy Head 1:25,000RefreshmentsRefreshment kiosk at start of walk, café at Birling Gap, pub and café in East DeanAccessBy local bus. Dukes Drive is on B2103ParkingStreetside parking nearby

A scenic, but quite strenuous, circular walk with some steep ascents and descents. The first half, as far as Birling Gap, is mostly clifftop walking overlooking the sea, while the second half explores downland ridges and valleys inland. Beachy Head, that icon of the Sussex coast, is a major feature in the early stages, and there’s an opportunity to make a diversion onto the foreshore to view it from below.