Sussex designer on BBC Traitors; another round of best pubs
The best curated guide to East (and West) Sussex. What's on in your county, news, food & drink, sport, miscellaneous, history, humour and recommendations
We’re back for our first edition of 2025. Enjoy…
On the agenda
A Rye resident has been starring in the latest series of The Traitors on BBC1.
Francesca Rowan Plowden, 44, is an interior designer who runs Rowan Plowden Design in Rye. She has added thousands of followers on Instagram since she decided to apply for the hit show after watching the second series. Inside her Rye home.
Horsham beautician and model Livi Deane is also in the game.
Wivelsfield Green go red at housing plans
A man from East Grinstead has completed his challenge of running a marathon every day through 2024. James Cooper is attempting to raise £703,000 for the Samaritans after his uncle took his own life.
The small village station of Doleham near Hastings is the least used railway station in Sussex, with just 1,038 passengers using the station in a single year.
Radio veteran David Arscott, a familiar voice on Radio Brighton and later Radio Sussex from the 1970s to 1991, has died. He passed away suddenly after playing a game of tennis at Lewes Priory. His wife said:
"He loved the records kept by Sussex vicars of centuries ago, laughing out loud at 'Buried Thomas Winfield, that old fornicator' and the baptism of the daughter of 'Elizabeth Rogers, a very noted strumpet of this parish'."
Out and about
The Telegraph has rated the best pubs in every county in the UK. Here are the two in East and West Sussex they rated as top fayre.
East Sussex: First In, Last Out, Hastings
The last time I was in this characterful place on Hastings High Street, three old geezers were discussing their health regimes in between deep swigs of the beer brewed on-site. It’s that sort of place. A little dishevelled, perhaps, but none the worse for it.
West Sussex: The Royal Oak, Hooksway
Nestled in the gentle folds of the South Downs, The Royal Oak is a former ale-house that has retained at least some of that bygone flavour. Given its location, it’s very popular with walkers, who are drawn as much by the quality of beer as the physical charm of a pub with more than its fair share of stories.
Meanwhile, The Independent says that The Alfriston, above, is one of the hottest openings of 2025.
On the market
Wadhurst - Individually designed 6 bedroom, 3 bathroom country home. Rightmove, £1.95m
Chichester - Beach house? Country house? A spectacular West Sussex home that does both, with views to die for and a private gate on to the shore. More
Friston - Beguiling views of the South Downs and untouched 1970s period finishes. Modern House - £1.5m
Crowborough - Sweethaws Wood was designed in 2013 by the cutting-edge contemporary architect Piers Smerin. Knight Frank - £2.5m
Maresfield - Beautiful park-like grounds with light bluebell woodland. Savills - £2.5m
Brighton - One of Brighton's historic buildings with the original Georgian façade dating back to 1800. Hamptons - £1.3m
Fletching - ‘A great family home’. Watch below…
Book now
The Telegraph looks at two events not to miss…
Parsifal - Glyndebourne
For the first time in its 90-year history, Glyndebourne tackles Wagner's late, great spiritual journey in Parsifal. We are promised 200 people on stage for this epic show. Glyndebourne. May 17-June 24
Love Supreme
Motown icon Smokey Robinson will be performing his first UK show in 15 years, alongside jazz fusion pioneer and Grammy-winning bassist Stanley Clarke, saxophone virtuoso Branford Marsalis and the Pakistani-American singer Arooj Aftab who's electrified the jazz world - all that while glamping in the Sussex hills. July 4-6
Back in Time
The winter of 1881 is famous for the blizzards that occurred between 18 - 20 January. Nearly 50 years earlier, on 27 December 1836, a build-up of snow on a cliff above the tow
(Hat tip: Moosh/X)