Alfriston, East Sussex

 

Mr Poachie is always encouraging me to find local places to visit to go and photograph. I perpetually moan that there are no decent places nearby and sulk that he doesn’t think it’s a good idea to make the six hour round trip to Rutland (although his daughter is at university in Leicester which is less than an hour from Rutland, so really there is no reason why we can’t visit when dropping her back). 

In the same way that a woman has 'nothing to wear', despite a wardrobe full of clothes, I feel the same about my photos of the same old places and I insist that I need to go out and take new ones. 

So with nothing to do this Sunday we hopped in the car to Alfriston in East Sussex and only 40 minutes from where we live. Visiting anywhere in lockdown is never going to give you the full picture of somewhere but Alfriston had a number of charming things about it which I would recommend to someone wanting to spend a day out somewhere. 

Door porn being one of them. This has to be one of the most impressive I have seen! In some ways the little streets reminded me of Rye or Mayfield. 

There was a small deli, antique shops, pubs, local church on the green and a National Trust building Clergy House (which was the first one owned by the National Trust.)

We were here for about an hour so I could take some photos but I would like to come back and visit when everything is open and bustling. 

Living life in the Sloe Lane. 

Alfriston is only a 10 minute drive from Cuckmere Valley and the Seven Sisters coastal walk, which we didn’t do as I was desperate for the bathroom and nowhere was open! So we did a short loop and then got back in the car and headed home. 

Cuckmere has some incredible views and also has the options for paddle boarding and canoeing, which we have said we'd like to do when the weather is warmer. 

It felt great to have a change of scenery. With lockdown hopefully lifting (I’m too scared to jinx it by writing ‘ending’) in June, I have so many places I want to visit. I have never been to Cambridge or Norfolk so they're top of my list. We bought tickets to Blenheim Palace at Christmas but couldn't go due to restrictions but we have 12 months to visit so that's also on the wish list.