During Celebrating Firle Place we are pleased to offer our guests lunch in The Riding School itself, provided by one of nearby Lewes’s best small restaurants, 
The Buttercup Café. This on-site catering for you is an optional (but very lovely) extra for which we must plan in advance. If would you like lunch at The Riding School on one or both days, please book your lunch ticket(s) in advance through our on-line ticketing office, or let us know if you are paying by post (click here to email).
 Click for Saturday Lunch |
Click for Sunday Lunch |
Lunch places
will be fewer in number than there are seats for talks and discussions, so advance booking is very important.
As well as lunch, coffee, tea and pastries will be available for purchase on-site all through each day. Wine and beer will also be available from lunchtime onwards.
Our menu for The Riding School is being created at this moment by Claire Waller, the Buttercup’s proprietor and creative chef, but will contain at least this in the form of a set menu:
- Hearty and tasty soups, including a vegetarian option
- Hand-crafted, generous sandwiches, made with locally-baked bread
- A variety of creative salads, some quite novel, for which the Buttercup is famous
Local Pubs and Restaurants
You can also go off-site for lunches, and here is a list of places that your event organisers are all personally familiar with. Please remember to allow time for service and travel as well as eating.
- The Ram Inn At Firle
- This
is the ancient public house of Firle, catering for travellers for over five hundred years. Its offering has a down-to-earth style but its ingredients are of high quality and, therefore, above the price of some other establishments. It is by far the nearest lunch venue to The Riding School. Advance booking is necessary - The Rose Cottage Inn at Alciston
- Three miles east of Firle, easily
accessible along the A27 then by taking a turning to the village of Alciston, is Rose Cottage. Traditional pub meals and excellent beers are available in its old, wood-beamed dining rooms. The parakeet is friendly, and will sometimes talk to you. Advanced booking required - The Trevor Arms at Glynde
On the other side of the A27 from Firle is the village of Glynde. Next door to its railway station you will find the Trevor Arms, a pub with a familiar selection of lunches, not at all expensive, served efficiently in a number of comfortable rooms.- The Sussex Ox
Further east along the A27, signposted with a brown tourist sign, you will find the Sussex Ox. This is a pub definitely ready for serving meals, with a large dining area available away from the bar. It has broad views to the South Downs, with Firle Beacon clearly visible, and its kitchen takes pride in using high-quality local ingredients. Advanced booking required- Charleston Tea Rooms
Still within the bounds of the Firle Estate is the house beloved of the Bloomsbury Group, Charleston. Light lunches are served in their tea-rooms.- The Snowdrop, in Lewes
If you are willing to drive the four miles to Lewes, there is always a friendly welcome and a wide choice of lunches available at The Snowdrop Inn. This is a mostly traditional English pub menu, and is always reasonably priced for this part of the country.