I have to confess that when our destination for the weekend was first announced I wasn’t overly keen; the promise of lovely dog walks and a shopping trip to Chichester convinced me to give it a go and I’m happy to say I am now a complete convert to the delightful charm of Birdham Pool. I think my biggest reservations came from the almanac’s use of the term “rustic charm”. To me this brings to mind compost toilets and cold draughty wooden shower blocks but I have to say nothing could be further from the immaculate facilities on offer at Bridham Pool.

We had a wonderful sail across from Cowes with the wind just behind the beam, came across the Chichester bar a couple of hours before high water and carried the tide up the harbor past the well loved anchorage off East Head and the picturesque villages of Itchenor and Bosham. The channel is well marked and easy to follow up to the turning point for the channel to the marina. A little more concentration is needed here as you turn on the starboard hand post called appropriately enough Birdham and then have to stick very close to the green posts up the dredged channel to the lock entrance. We had plenty of water in the channel but depth quickly dropped if you edged out at all.

The lock gates opened as we were approaching and Roger came out to hand us warps, then locked us through and guided us to our berth. The berthing at Birdham was another of my concerns but I needn’t have worried. We were allocated an alongside berth for the first two nights but had to move when we decided to stay longer. This meant a stern to mooring but Roger kindly found us a plank to walk and after a first couple of tentative shuffles along the plank even our elderly lurcher got confident trotting up and down it. The other benefit of this kind of mooring is that we weren’t leaning against anything which meant that despite gale force winds outside there were no squeaking fenders and no need to fret about the state of the topsides in the morning.

Bridham pool is in a truly gorgeous setting and is literally teaming with wonderful wildlife to watch. The walking from here is spectacular with walks leading both up and down river and inland in several directions across farmland. Being close to Chichester harbour the area is relatively flat making the views exceptional. But Birdham is nowhere near as isolated and cut off as it looks. A ten minute walk took us to the main road where there are buses every 15 minutes into Chichester which is a very pretty Cathedral town with a huge range of shops, coffee shops, restaurants and pubs. Closer to the marina only 10 minutes walk away is the very well stocked Birdham Stores for those essentials. A little further afield there is the Ship Inn at Itchenor and the Crown and Anchor at Dell Quay both about 30 minutes walk either up or down the harbourside. Closer to hand are the Spinnaker and Chichester Yacht Club at Chichester Marina only a short walk from Birdham Pool.

Birdham pool does currently have berths available. They can accommodate vessels up to 15m length due to the restrictions on the size of boat which will fit in the lock. Currently they can offer permanent berths to boats that draw up to 1.9m but can accommodate visitors with draughts up to 2.2m though you would need to check before hand if you are over 1.9m. Access to the marina is + or – 3 and a half hours either side of high water. The lock is operated between 6am and Midnight in the summer months whenever there is sufficient water. The marina also offers boat yard facilities and storage ashore. They have a crane which can lift up to 15 tons but can use their slipway for vessels up to 20 tons.

It is a truly magical setting and the staff are really helpful. I definitely recommend calling in if you are in the area to soak up the “rustic charm” and benefit from the far from rustic facilities on offer. My only gripe about our whole stay was that the Wifi wasn’t working but this was due to be fixed the afternoon we left!

Boatshed Chichester will be moving to Birdham Pool in September 2010. If you have a boat anywhere in Chichester harbor which you are thinking of selling click here to find out how they can help.
If you are looking for a berth or somewhere to winter your boat click here to contact Birdham Pool
To browse the boats for sale with Boatshed Chichester click here