Sussex

This new, thoroughly updated third edition of Sussex (Slow Travel), Bradt s much-praised guide, features the South Downs, High Weald and coast, and offers a greater, more personal selection of places to explore than any other guide. Author Tim Locke and updater Emma Gregg, both expert residents, take a leisurely, detailed approach that teases out Sussex s special qualities. The result is highly personal and honest, encouraging you to slow down and gain a deep understanding of what makes this stunning region tick and why it deserves repeat visits. Sussex may be less than 50 km from the fringes of London (and easily accessed from the capital), and only minutes from Gatwick s international airport, but is a very different world thanks to its irresistible blend of history, archaeology, seaside towns, thatched villages, centuries-old buildings, world-class gardens, literary connections and quintessentially English scenery. Sussex offers much scope for `Slow travel with or without a car, including ten meticulously described walks, pottering around on bikes, steam trains, volunteer-run buses, or on small boats (including a solar-powered craft in Chichester harbour). The writing team directs expert eyes on places and experiences that deserve savouring to the full the very best (if sometimes delightfully obscure) sights. Their choices take in the heights of the South Downs, encounter the primeval landscapes of the High Weald and pick out the best of Sussex s long coastline. Their selection includes easily-to-miss gems, from a full-size replica of the Sistine Chapel ceiling in an obscure modern church to a unique Hastings factory providing cloth flowers for movies and theatres. New or expanded coverage in this edition includes the Tolkein-like ancient yew forest of Kingley Vale, stoolball (a Sussex-special alternative to cricket), Sussex viniculture (particularly champagnes), Roman baths and mosaics, the world-class gardens of Leonardslee, the painstakingly restored saloon in Brighton s Royal Pavilion, the WWII Wings Museum, renovations on East Brighton beach, and Knepp s groundbreaking rewilding project. From beaches to castles, cathedrals to modern art, restored mansions to vernacular architecture, Bradt s Sussex (Slow Travel) is the essential guide for discovering this popular region.

CONTENTS

GOING SLOW IN SUSSEX

The Downs, Weald & coast, Skylarks & dragonflies, Learning the slow way, Digging up the past, A taste of Sussex, How this book is arranged, Walking & cycling

1 CHICHESTER HARBOUR TO THE ARUN

Getting around, Chichester Harbour & Chichester, Sussex's westernmost Downs, The Rother Valley & the north, Into the Low Weald around the upper Arun, The lower Arun Valley

2 BRIGHTON & ITS HINTERLAND

Getting around, Worthing & the west, Brighton & Hove, East of Brighton, Away from the coast

3 LEWES DOWNS TO BEACHY HEAD

Getting around, Lewes & the lower Ouse Valley, From the Ouse to the Cuckmere, Cuckmere Valley: from Hailsham to the sea

4 THE WESTERN HIGH WEALD

Getting around, Wealden gardens & the Forest Ridge, Ashdown Forest & around, Towards the Kent border

5 EASTBOURNE, HASTINGS & 1066 COUNTRY

Getting around, The 1066 coast, Into the Weald

INDEX