I’m almost finished writing my second guidebook, Secret Sussex. Hooray! While its contents must remain top secret, as a little teaser, I’ve picked out 11 of my favourite secret Sussex experiences you may not have thought to add to the bucket list:
1. Fiery feasts in the forest. Sussex is abundant with enchanting places to camp and light fires under the stars, hidden spots for foraging, and wild woodland walking trails. Less available is the opportunity to enjoy all these countryside elements at once – until now. Every few months, a dining company with a twist, Fire + Wild, transform a secret woodland location close to their base in Lewes, East Sussex, into a magical setting for an epic intimate outdoor banquet inspired by nature and the seasons. Adding to the intrigue, dinner guests don’t know the location of their feast until the day. Find out more at Fire + Wild, location: in the woods near Lewes, East Sussex
2. Movie night in an Art Deco cinema. Only a clutch of old cinemas is left in the UK. Few are as beautiful and nostalgic as The Dome Cinema opposite the pier on Worthing’s seafront. Despite falling on hard times over the years, many of the cinema’s original features stayed intact. It’s been restored and looks almost as it did when it first opened in 1900. The auditorium’s ornate original ceiling and the dark-wood ticket booth outside the entrance are its most distinguishing features.
3. Wine tasting in a gallery. Artelium is a boutique Sussex winery, with a twist. Alongside vineyard tours and tutored tastings, they host regular contemporary art exhibitions to browse while sipping pinot noir. They’re open every Thursday, Friday and Saturday, for tastings, wines by the glass and small plates, too. Events like raclette and wine nights are always a winner in cooler months.
4. Candlelight tours of a time capsule cottage. Stepping inside this restored historic home in Hastings’ Old Town feels like you’ve walked into the pages of a Brothers Grimm fairytale book. Food writer and stylist, Alistair Hendy, spent five years giving this unique Tudor house the ‘AG Hendy’ interior design touch to bring out its character. The result is this intriguing time-capsule home which you can visit on a tour at various times of the year. It’s particularly atmospheric at Christmas.
5 Foraging and folklore with Fern. Adults and children alike enjoy these guided foraging events and workshops run by Sussex-based forest-school teacher, Fern Freud. Her aim is to educate the public on safely identifying, sustainably gathering, and using the abundance of wild foods growing free on our doorsteps. Her tours are peppered with forgotten stories and tales of folklore. She also shows you how to transform your foraged finds into wildly beautiful edible creations. foragedbyfern.com/home
6 Art classes in a Tudor tower. Midhurst is home to the charred skeleton of a Tudor mansion house called Cowdray Park, built in 1542, and destroyed in 1793 by a fire. Structural safety issues mean you can only view it from afar. However, there’s an alternative way to get up close to this mystical setting. That’s to sign up for an art class at the Renaissance Art Studio located in the old kitchen tower. It’s the only part of Cowdray Park to avoid fire damage and was refurbished by Viscountess Cowdray in the last decade. The studio’s run by artist-in-residence, David Cranswick, who leads classes exploring techniques and artistic styles developed by the great master painters at work in the 16th and 17th centuries, when Cowdray was in use.
7. Secret Sussex supper clubs. West Sussex local, Sada Ray, hosts atmospheric seasonal supper clubs in unique and unusual venues around the county. Previous Secret Sussex Supper Club events include summer suppers in a nursery amid exotic plants or a rustic, inviting barn for autumn. The menus are planned around seasonal ingredients, too, and Sada’s love of foraging. Guests sit at long trestle tables and share food family-style.
8. Snooping around the farmhouse Picasso had tea. After the Second World War, it was growing vegetables and cooking which helped Vogue war photographer, Lee Miller – famed for the picture she took of herself in Hitler’s bathtub – get over her experience, when she married surrealist artist Roland Penrose and came to live at Farleys House in East Sussex. Miller and Penrose lived at Farleys House for 35 years, during which time they built up a vast collection of contemporary art treasures, many created by their artist friends, including Pablo Picasso, Man Ray, Max Ernst, Paul Eluard and Joan Miró – all of whom were known to have visited Farleys at some point, which led to its reputation as the ‘House of the surrealists’. Find Farleys House & Gallery at Muddles Green, Chiddingly, East Sussex BN8 6HW. It’s open for tours every Thursday and Sunday, 10.30am–3.30pm, April to October
9. Gallery hopping along the coast. The Coastal Culture Trail is an 18-mile designated route that takes in three award-winning art galleries on the Sussex coast: the Towner in Eastbourne, the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill and the Hastings Contemporary. You can explore the trail via three means: by bike, on foot or by train. All three routes offer magical sea views and take you through some of the most stunning coastal landscapes in the UK.
10. Finding a forgotten pyramid grave. Brightling is a tiny blink-and-you’ll-miss-it East Sussex village, home to a giant tomb shaped like a pyramid. This 7.6-metre-high Grade-II listed mausoleum was built in 1811 by an eccentric wealthy local man called John “Mad Jack” Fuller. He built it 23 years before his death. You can’t go inside it, but a sign on the gated entrance of the mausoleum makes a fun distraction from this. It encourages visitors to peek through the grille for a glimpse of Mad Jack Fuller in full dress and top hat seated at a table set with a roast chicken and a bottle of wine. It’s an endearing local legend which has seen several versions told over the years, even though it’s known that Fuller is buried in a conventional manner, in the ground underneath the mausoleum. Find this bizarre grave in St Thomas a Becket churchyard, Brightling, East Sussex TN32 5HE
11. Thai dinner in a bookshop. The charming Boulevard Bookshop in Hastings’ old town hides a spicy weekend secret when it becomes the setting for a secret Thai restaurant. Visit Boulevard Books Thai Cafe, 32 George Street, Hastings East Sussex TN34 3NA
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