Of the two cities in Sussex, Chichester must surely be the cultural hub, and wherever you may be in the county, when it comes to the arts and spirituality, all roads often seem to lead back to Chi! In fact, the city seems to have an innate ability to weave together history and ancient architecture, with modern art and celebrations in a way that feels seamless. And what better way to explore the web of interconnected threads of the city than with this self-guided and seasonal Chichester art trail themed around nature, flowers and place!
Stop One: Chichester Cathedral: Nature in Full Bloom
From 3–6 June, the cathedral hosts its annual Festival of Flowers, this year marking its 30th anniversary with the theme Nature’s Embrace.
Curated by lead designer Caroline Daines, more than 50,000 blooms fill the space, arranged across 60 individual installations that wind their way through the nave and chapels.
The impact is remarkable. Soft colours blend with cool stone, scent lingers in the air, and the festival elevates what is already an inherently ethereal place into something close to empyrean. These isn’t just a flower festival, it’s a feeling and it’s thoroughly celestial.
Stop Two: Oxmarket Contemporary: A Contemporary Response
Just a few days later, that same theme finds a new expression across the city. At Oxmarket Contemporary, Say It With Flowers: Nature’s Embrace (9–21 June) builds on the ideas of the Festival of Flowers, offering a contemporary interpretation through the work of artists, designers and makers.
Housed within a deconsecrated medieval church, with origins stretching back to the 12th or 13th century, Oxmarket carries its own sense of history whilst it is alos entirely embracing of the present. Oxmarket offers something more intimate than the cathedral and something more terrestrial in a way that is less about immersion, and more about encounter.
Stop Three: Pallant House Gallery: Landscape and the Meaning of Place
At Pallant House Gallery, Landscape: A Sense of Place (30 May – 1 November) brings together the work of more than 60 artists to explore how Britain’s landscapes have been understood, not simply as scenery, but as expressions of identity, memory and belonging.
Artists including Barbara Hepworth, Paul Nash, Eric Ravilious and Thomas Gainsborough reveal something deeper: a landscape shaped not just by geography, but by experience. From pastoral views to coastlines and industrial scenes, the exhibition traces a journey through Romanticism, Modernism and into post-war abstraction. What emerges is a shifting sense of place, one that reflects how people connect to the land around them.
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