Our nearest town is Brighton, often referred to as London-by-the-sea, which is famous for its landmarks such as the Royal Pavilion, the Palace Pier and Volk’s Railway, the world’s oldest operating electric railway, amongst many others. Brighton has many cultural attractions, including the 200 year old Theatre Royal, and shoppers are very well catered for, including the famous ’Lanes’, and you will find no shortage of clothing stores, antique shops, independent and avant-garde stores, cafés, restaurants and bars.
Sheffield Park and Garden
Sheffield Park has a beautiful 120 acre woodland garden originally designed for the first Earl of Sheffield by Humphry Repton and Capability Brown in the 18th century. In the nineteenth century the third Earl made Sheffield Park famous for country house cricket and also transformed the garden into an arboretum of both exotic and native conifers.
Free entry for National Trust members.
The volunteer-run Bluebell Line was the UK's first preserved standard gauge passenger railway, re-opening part of the Lewes to East Grinstead line of the old London Brighton & South Coast Railway in 1960. Since then it has developed into one of the largest tourist attractions in Sussex, yet it still remains true to its objectives of the preservation for posterity of a country branch line, its steam locomotives, coaches and goods stock, signalling systems, stations and operating practices.
Explore 188 hectares of country estate in West Sussex with ornamental gardens, temperate woodlands and an Elizabethan Mansion. Wakehurst is also home to the Royal Botanic Millennium Seed Bank, to see scientists at work and discover how Kew is helping to safeguard the world's most endangered plants.
Free entry for National Trust members.
Nymans is one of the great gardens of the Sussex Weald. The 30 acre garden was created over nearly three-quarters of a century from 1885 by Ludwig Messel and his son Leonard. During this time they assembled a remarkable collection of trees, shrubs and plants from all over the world. However, they ensured that the garden retained its intimate charm and it is the combination of the rare and exotic with a simple and friendly garden that is so remarkable.
Free entry for National Trust members.
Borde Hill Garden, an award winning garden, is set in 200 acres of spectacular Sussex parkland. This romantic garden, with trees and shrubs from China, Asia, Tasmania and the Andes, was created in the 1890's by Colonel Stephenson Clarke, with botanical interest and garden design playing equally important roles. Intimate garden rooms offer a rich variety of seasonal colour from rhododendron and azaleas to roses and herbaceous plants, as well as offering extensive woodland and lakeside walks.
Uniquely combining a bio diverse landscape with bustling towns and villages, the South Downs National Park is recognised as an area of outstanding beauty. The park is also home to a multitude of vibrant working communities steeped in history and traditional English culture, from the ancient cathedral city of Winchester in the west to the bustling market town of Lewes in the east. Here you can walk, cycle or horse ride along the South Downs Way, visit arts and crafts festivals at Brighton or take in one of spectacular performances at the world famous Glyndebourne.
South Downs National Park
Ancestral home of the Fitzalan family, the castle dates from the reign of Edward the Confessor and was completed by Roger de Montgomery, who became the first to hold the earldom of Arundel by the graces of William the Conqueror. The castle was damaged in the English Civil War and then restored in the 18th and 19th centuries. From the 11th century onward, the castle has served as a hereditary stately home to several families (with a few and brief reversions to the Crown) and is currently the principal seat of the Duke of Norfolk and his family.
