The poshest villages in Sussex revealed; more Birling Gap lunacy

The best curated guide to East (and West) Sussex. What's on in your county, news, food & drink, sport, miscellaneous, history, humour and recommendations

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News: On the agenda

The poshest villages in the country have been named and two Sussex villages feature. Judging by The Telegraph’s annual survey, the countryside property market is booming as people turn away from towns and cities in search of their ideal rural bolthole.

Kingston-near-Lewes in East Sussex, above, with an average house price of £835,071, and West Itchenor, West Sussex, with an eye-bulging £1.48m average house price, were named as one of the newspaper’s 48 poshest villages.

Here’s what they said about Kingston-near-Lewes:

Just one mile from the South Downs Way, and two miles from Lewes, this village is green in more ways than one. There’s a community energy project under way and a pavilion with a living roof. The calendar is packed with yoga classes, bridge nights and whisky tastings. There’s a 13th-century church and the Juggs makes for a great second living room.

Posh Appeal: One mile from South Downs Way | Yoga, bridge and whiskey tastings | ‘Green’ community | Classic country pub, The Juggs

And on West Itchenor, The Telegraph wrote…

West Itchenor is a renowned sailing village at the mouth of Chichester Harbour. Within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, cycle routes like the Salterns Way provide beautiful views of the countryside and coast and make The Ship Inn, a pub at the heart of the village, a natural stopping point to enjoy lunch and a pint. The village is small and can be quiet during the winter, but comes alive in the summer months when sailing conditions are at their best.

Posh Appeal: Sailing community | Chichester Harbour | Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

Frances McDonald, director of research at Savills, said: “Our latest research indicates that proximity to a train station, place of work and family has become much more important for those searching for a new home – particularly as individuals are more likely to be commuting to the office multiple times a week.”

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Keep it British, says Sussex farmer

Over 150 farm vehicles staged one of the noisiest protests Westminster has witnessed after our last issue was published. Steve Bell, 39, who has an organic farm in Hellingly, East Sussex, with 50 beef cattle, said he wants the public to appreciate what farmers do and purchase British. 

“We are organic, we are a regenerative farm, and we try to sell our meat locally. We have the means of producing good food here, but we are being undercut by imports because it is more expensive to produce good quality food to the standards that are expected of us. I just want people to understand that, and keep it British.”

News: What else we’ve read in the media

• Inside the secret Sussex commune that preaches celibacy and hard labour to Gen Z 

• Garden wars in suburbia: The couple feeding seagulls and foxes in their re-wilded paradise

• MP welcomes £40 million levelling up boost for East Sussex

• East Sussex hosts vintage tractor charity road run

• 'It's massive for the track' - Plumpton breaks new ground as ITV shows live race for first time

• Tiny plot of Brighton wasteland, below, sells for almost £250,000

Sussex in bloom…

Finn Hopson, who owns the excellent Brighton Photograph Gallery, with a video from on board the atmospheric 79 bus to Ditchling Beacon…

Meanwhile, the sun comes out and the annual pictures of stupidity emerge…

On the market

Hurstpierpoint - A contemporary Sussex home, below, with a cinema room taken from the First Class section of a Jumbo Jet. Northbrooks is currently on via Hamptons for £3.5m

Country house with over 23 acres and first class equestrian facilities in Warnham, West Sussex. £5m with Savills

Cuckfield Road, below - This beautiful house is coming to the market for the first time in over 20 years. On at £3.9m with Jackson-Stops Lindfield

A Brighton mews home named "one of Brighton's most historic buildings", was once two workman's cottages surrounded by farmland before it was turned into one home. On the market at £1.5m

Detached House with 5 bedrooms, Cade Street, Heathfield, with South Downs views. On at £1.1m Fine & Country

A substantial, detached Victorian House in Hadlow Down, below, with over 5 acres of garden. Offers £1.5m, More at Rightmove

On your doorstep

OPERA The Merry Widow A new staging of Franz Lehár's lively 1905 comic operetta is a departure from the upmarket Glyndebourne repertory, writes The Telegraph. The effervescent Danielle de Niese is ideally suited to the role of Hanna Glawari, and the talented John Wilson conducts the production by clever director Cal McCrystal. Until July 28

ART Bloomin' Brilliant: The Life and Work of Raymond Briggs The Snowman creator's gift lay in his ability to tackle loss, loneliness and the fear of death - in something as apparently simple as a children's book. This intimate show draws on more than 100 works from the late author's 60-year career. Until Oct 27

• The poshest picnic in the UK: why it’s worth booking Glyndebourne 2024

Food, Drink & Hotels

Tillingham is featured in Britain’s 20 best restaurants with rooms…

While most know Tillingham first as a winery, the restaurant stands on its own. Estate chef Brendan Eaves used to work at Hackney’s zero-waste Silo and so his ethos matches that of the biodynamic low-intervention vineyard.

The flavours centre exclusively around the meat reared on Tillingham pastures and fish caught daily on Rye Harbour. The five-course tasting menu might include homemade focaccia with labneh, plates of fine-sliced coppa circled around a pile of pickles and Dungeness crab with nasturtium and turnips. Outside, there’s a low-key wood-fired oven dishing up goat’s cheese, pea, mint and garlic pizzas every lunchtime. And in a former hop barn are 11 elegant bedrooms to stumble into after you’ve tasted all of the house wines.

Doubles from £175, tillingham.com

• South Lodge hotel review: a West Sussex stay with a spa and gorgeous gardens

What's on: music, comedy

April 12: Kaiser Chiefs, Eastbourne
April 13: Jah Wobble, Lewes Con Club
April 14: Happy Mondays, Brighton Dome
April 19: Frank Skinner, 30 years of dirt, Theatre Royal, Brighton
April 20: Paloma Faith, Brighton Centre
April 22: The Zutons, Chalk, Brighton
April 27: Johnny Hates Jazz, Trading Boundaries 

Sussex sport

Cricket: Sussex v Gloucestershire, Fri April 19 (County Championship day 1, 11am)