Wadhurst best in Sussex show again + your Easter guide
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News: On the agenda
Wadhurst has retained its place as one of the best places to live in the UK - although the coastal environs of North Berwick has pipped the East Sussex village to top spot.
Wadhurst, best in show in 2023, and Hove are in the Sunday Times’ annual Best Places To Live Guide.
Judges visited locations and assessed factors from schools to transport, broadband to culture, green spaces and health on the high street.
On Wadhurst, one of the eye-catching stats was this:
The White Hart pub, below, claims to have the UK's biggest English wine list: it's at 156 and growing.
The armies of volunteers are as indefatigable as ever in this village - OK, it's technically a market town (after Henry III granted Wadhurst its charter in 1253) but everyone calls it a village. The Wadhurst Warriors have been busy, the parish church has a new youth group, Carillon Cottage continues to offer vital support and volunteer gardeners recently helped to spruce up the railway station.
On Hove, judges loved the tree lined Regency avenues and cafes.
"Hove has all the advantages of being by the sea and close - but not too close - to Brighton. The beach is dotted with hardy swimmers and ballchasing cavapoos instead of boozy daytrippers. Inland Hove is home to tree-lined Regency avenues, cosy cafés, floating spas and yoga studios.
"As well as a gentler pace of life, Hove also has a better choice of homes than Brighton, from mid-century blocks to neat terraces and grand Victorian houses converted into flats."
Elsewhere in the media
The Phoenix, Lewes: a new riverside neighbourhood that sounds almost too good to be true | Guardian
Brighton and Hove sites at risk of being lost for ever
Southern Water's £600m spending in Kent and Sussex | BBC
Pheasants are ‘queer’, Hastings museum tells visitors
Sussex in bloom
England’s largest rhododendron has flowered ahead of schedule after a hot February. The record-breaking bush at South Lodge Hotel near Horsham is flowering a month earlier than normal. The 120-year-old plant has been dubbbed ‘The Big Rhodey’ and ‘Shrubzilla’. Head gardener Paul Collins said: "It is 25m (82 ft) to 30m high and around 80m long. I have to use a 50m tape twice to measure it in full.
Had trouble with Britain’s archaic planning laws to your property in Sussex? It is becoming increasingly clear that owers looking to renovate or make changes to exisiting properties are being hampered by draconian laws and strict planning officers. We are investigating. Email us confidentially.
Food, drink & hotels
Plans are afoot for Glynde village to get first pub in seven years.
The Port Hotel in Eastbourne has featured as one of the UK’s 100 best hotels, published by the Sunday Times. The hotel, ranked 22nd, was praised for its décor, sea view and dog friendly welcome.
The newspaper wrote:: “The matt-black painted exterior sets the tone at this design-led boutique spot on the seafront in Eastbourne. It’s not like the other old-fashioned Victorian townhouses and hotels it neighbours, because inside it’s a Scandi dream with a muted colour scheme, pale wood furniture and lots of natural light.
Hove restaurant Etch has been voted best wine list in country. The restaurant won gold in the Star Wine List awards and was voted the best medium-sized wine list in the country.
Keeping to the awards theme, Fry Magazine included two branches of Churchill’s Fish & Chips (Eastbourne & Hove) in their list of Top 50 fish and chip establishments.
What’s on
In Midhurst, Cowdray Estate has an Easter Saturday event next week. There’s set to be live music, a barbecue from Cowdray Kitchen, activities like cookie decorating and an Easter egg trail. The event begins at 9 am to 4 pm.
At Petworth House and Garden, from March 23 to April 14, a spring festival will be taking place.
An exhibition of unseen photos of The Rolling Stones from 40 years ago is going on display in St Leonards, East Sussex, from Saturday
Booking now:
Love Supreme - July 5-7, Glynde Place:
“On the surface, Love Supreme is a jazz festival - but in reality it's so much more.” writes the i newspaper. “With multiple stages in a beautiful Sussex location, it's got big headliners (Chaka Khan, Olivia Dean, making her headlining debut, and Sananda Matreiya, formerly known as Terence Trent D'Arby, performing his first UK show in 22 years) and multiple smaller stages featuring the best global jazz acts. Day tickets from £80, weekend camping from £190.”
On the market
A Grade II listed Elizabethan manor house believed to be the oldest in a Sussex town is up for sale.
Hammonds Place, in Burgess Hill, dates back to the late 1400s and is on the market for £1.75m
Shore House and Cottage, below, in the village of Bosham, is in one of the most desirable waterfront locations in the Chichester area, with views across the harbour. On for £4.85m with Savills
Staplefield - Is this the ideal country house with the ideal lifestyle business? Dillions Farmhouse … and Vineyard in West Sussex are up for sale. Strutt & Parker asking price of £3.75m
An 11 bedroom detached house for sale in Blackboys near Uckfield. On at £3.9m. Comes with walled garden and swimming pool. Below…
Spotted in Sussex
TV presenter Holly Willoughby visited Buon Appetito in Burgess Hill for a recent family meal.
Sussex sport
Lewes’ Dripping Pan has been named in the top 15 best football stadiums in UK
Hockey - Did you know that East Grinstead are current Women’s Premier Division champions and indoor title holders? They play their final outdoors match of the regular season at home against Reading on April 6, 2pm. If you’ve never been to Saint Hill, you will likely see a number of Olympians on show and entrance for U18s and seniors is free, rest under a fiver. EG will know whether they need to win or have already qualified for next month’s Finals Weekend at Surbiton.
Football - Crawley v Doncaster, March 29, 3pm | Brighton v Arsenal, April 6, 5:30pm | Lewes v Whitehawk, April 1, 3pm
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