Lewes tops poll, latest houses on market
The best curated guide to East (and West) Sussex. What's on in your county, news, food & drink, sport, miscellaneous, history, humour and recommendations
📰 In the know
Lewes has topped a year-end list of some of the prettiest and ugliest of the 1,250 towns in the UK.
The Sussex town scored 46 out of 50, based on shop fronts, historic architecture, litter and traffic, views and greenery. Lewes was praised for its “handsome half-timbered medieval streets” and the 17 pubs in the centre helped to cement the score.
For the record, Britain's ugliest towns are, says the newspaper, Stanley, Newton Abbot, Lowestoft, Cumbernauld, Telford, Merthyr Tydfil and Slough.
Sussex garden centre Haskins Snowhill in Copthorne has been named among the best in the UK. It was featured alongside 24 others in a list from the Daily Mail and hailed for its ‘beautiful displays’ and….
"Expect a perfect latte as restaurant supervisor Adam Kelly recently won the regional heats of Costa Coffee UK's Barista of the Year competition."
East Sussex Fire Authority says the station in Mayfield, which relies on on-call firefighters, is the lowest-activity station in the service. It has now made the decision to shut the station for good.
The discovery of prehistoric teeth has revealed that groups of meat eating dinosaurs stalked the East Sussex coast 135 million years ago, reports the i. The research, led by the University of Southampton, found that a "whole community of predators" would have been found in the Bexhill-on-Sea area.
Change our name to Brighton, urges petition
❓ Sussex Trivia
In 1973, which Beatle bought the 160-acre Blossom Wood Farm near Rye?
👎Bad press
Crawley has ranked fourth in analysis by Public First of the worst-affected towns for shoplifting offences. Hartlepool in County Durham was top culprit, with 224 shoplifting offences per 10,000 people in the 12 months to September. Followed by Lincoln, Mansfield in Nottinghamshire, and Crawley.
West Sussex drivers have been found as the second worst in the UK (behind Hampshire) when it comes to vision-related road accidents, a new study has revealed.
🥘Food & Drink
Restaurant worth travelling for? Former Bibendum chef leads new French restaurant in Rye
🏨 Close to home
First look: Britain’s most storied seaside hotel gets a £16m facelift
The Grand Brighton, above, is in the midst of a luxurious refurbishment, to be completed by Easter 2025. More in The Telegraph.
Number 124 Brighton: the boutique hotel bringing a breath of fresh air to the seafront. More from The FT
🎁 At home - Buy local
Cocktail decoration - £13.95, Scribble & Daub
Illustrator Caroline Kent has created a collection of high quality card decorations that could double as gift tags or place settings for the table, writes The Telegraph. From an original dip pen and ink illustration, each one is then letterpress-printed on a vintage Heidelberg press in Kent’s family-run East Sussex workshop, hand painted in bright candy colours inspired by Andy Warhol’s favourite palette from the 1950s, and strung with Swiss satin ribbon.
🏡 On the market
Lewes - Elegant period house in a superb semi-rural setting with far-reaching views. Savills, £1.9m
Barcombe - Impressive family home ‘in enviable village with spacious entertaining spaces’- Cubitt & West, £1.3m
Danehill - 4-bed beautiful, detached family home set in a charming village location. Hamptons, £1.2m
Mayfield - Grade II listed country residence, believed to date back to the 16th century. Knight Frank, £2.5m
Pulborough - Charming Grade II listed cottage. Hamptons, £695,000
Haywards Heath - Superb four bedroom detached house with large gardens and swimming pool. On at £1.2m
📆 What’s on
The Jungle Book Christmas at Bateman’s - Until Jan 5
Head for a glimpse of Christmas in a warmer clime. The joyful books of former resident Rudyard Kipling are being brought to life by a display of new illustrations, dotted throughout the home.
Glow Wild - Wakehurst
Not to be outdone by its big sister at Kew, Wakehurst is throwing the switch on a mile of illuminated wonderland, writes Metro. Flying owls meet dragons by the light of thousands of lanterns and, of course, there's an amazing Christmas tree.
Dec 16 - Plumpton Race meeting
Quiz answer
A: Paul McCartney