At the end of last week, I visited the South Down National Park’s newest attraction – Sky Park Deer Farm. Unbeknown to me the Harting and Rogate area has a long history of being a deer park dating back to medieval times. The park is a fantastic day out and brings together sustainable farming with tourism. The team there have enshrined localism into their heart of what they do, selling local wines, food and crafts – showcasing the best our area has to offer. Despite the gale-force winds, it was wonderful to visit for their opening with my neighbouring MP, Damian Hinds, and a truly unique experience to be emersed in a rather large herd of very friendly deer and offer them a treat or two.
This week is English Tourism Week, so lots of us have been celebrating and promoting the huge offering we have in our area, with our brilliant theatre, Cowdray, Goodwood, as well as the incredible activities like kitesurfing, mountain biking, wine tasting, scuba diving, sailing, and even flying. This is particularly important for us as tourism normally employs around 15% of people in the Chichester Districts and in 2019 the sector was worth over £2.1 billion to the West Sussex economy. To show your support, I encourage you all to share your favourite places to go and things to do, on social media and tag The Great Sussex Way.
With people planning trips it has also been lovely to see more weddings going ahead. Although still limited to 30 guests, many people have taken the opportunity to tie the knot, including a member of my team, Leanne, who has been serving the people of Chichester for six years. Hopefully, data-dependent, more will follow after June 21st.
On another note, Thursday is the deadline for submissions for my Community Hero Award, which will be sent out next week as part of ‘Volunteers Week 2021’. Over the past year, there have been countless examples of people giving their time and effort to help others, from delivering care packages to supporting our vaccine roll-out. To nominate someone for an award, simply email me, [email protected] and include their name, postal address, the organisation/charity they volunteer for, if applicable, and summarise why you feel they deserve an award. Thank you to everyone who has written already we’re at 140 nominations!
