Where to stay?

Bed and Breakfast
Large chain-type hotels are few and far between in this part of East Sussex, but there are many highly competent providers of bed-and-breakfast nearby. Please click here for a list

Inns and independent hotels aren’t hard to find, but they fill up quickly. We advise booking as far ahead as possible. Here are some suggestions we know.

The Ram Inn, at Firle
Firle’s village inn has five highly individual rooms above the pub itself. The rooms are spread across the property and therefore across the centuries. They are all different shapes and styles and, the Ram’s manager tells us, have been carefully furnished with a mixture of contemporary furniture and local antiques. Egyptian cotton sheets and duck down duvets are provided on large, comfortable beds and each room has a flat screen TV, armchairs and tea & coffee making facilities. The bathroom attached to your room could be natural stone and solid oak or panelled in painted tongue and groove but it will have contemporary fittings, soft Egyptian cotton towels and a full range of Brighton’s famous Pecksniff toiletries.

Breakfast is included and is always from as geographically close as possible: eggs from the village, bread from our baker in Glynde and some truly delicious locally-made sausages.

Hall Court Farm
Crossing the A27, one finds this magnificent Georgian farmhouse, owned by one family for nearly a century. It was built in the centre of the farm in 1820, and offers you broad views in every direction.

The owners of Hall Court Farm write:

There is ample gravel driveway on three sides of the house for parking. Guests are welcome to spend time in the extensive garden with its outstanding views, and extraordinary peace and quiet.

Hall Court Farmhouse has a wide and welcoming hallway. Off this are two large Reception rooms, both of which may be used solely by the guests, one being the Dining Room for Breakfast and one a Drawing Room with television if required and where tea and coffee may be taken on arrival or on return from a meal out or from Firle Place. The house has central heating and fitted carpets throughout.

The three guest bedrooms (two twin-bedded and one double-bedded) are all spacious, light and airy. The bedrooms have chests of drawers, dressing table, wardrobe or fitted cupboard, easy chairs, good sized tables for trays of china and glassware for guests to make their own drinks. There are always fresh flowers in the bedrooms.

Breakfast is served between 7.00 and 10 a.m on the large mahogany table in the Dining Room. Fresh fruit, grapefruit, prunes, yoghurt, a selection of fruit juices, muesli and various cereals are available. The preserves are home-made and the toast is made from bread from a local bakery. Locally supplied Bacon, fresh tomatoes, fresh mushrooms, boiled, poached, scrambled or fried eggs are available.

The Dairy Farmhouse
Within walking distance from The Riding School (and The Ram Inn) you will find this comfortable farmhouse, originally built in 1744. It offers three double-rooms and one single. A full English breakfast is provided, sourced with the farm’s own, or local, ingredients and served with home-made jams and marmalade. It is served at guests’ preferred time in the Farmhouse’s Dining Room.
Pelham House Hotel
Moving just a few miles west along the A27, we come to Lewes, and a premium hotel within the county town.

Pelham House Hotel offers 31 boutique-style rooms, which they describe as “decorated in a comfortable contemporary style whilst preserving many of the original historic features of the house”. Some of their bedrooms afford far-reaching views over the hotel gardens and across the South Downs National Park. The hotel’s well-equipped bar is open until very late at night, and there is an acclaimed restaurant within the hotel too. Because the front desk is staffed 24 hours a day, room service often meets the greatest expectations.

Premier Inn
We also expect that a branch of the Premier Inn hotel chain will be open in Lewes by the time of our event.