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Virginia Woolf was the first member of the Bloomsbury group to land in East Sussex, on the southeast coast of Britain. In the winter of 1911, she rented what she described as “a hideous suburban villa” in the downland village of Firle, a swift walk from the stone facade of the local manor house, Firle Place. But Woolf could overlook the house’s shortcomings because of the location: at the foot of a big-sky, grassy escarpment with views to the sea, a cinematic half-day’s walk along the coast to Cuckmere Haven and the Seven Sisters cliffs. Letters were sent to friends in London, only an hour and a half north by train, inviting them to come and have a look for themselves.
Soon Woolf’s older sister, the painter Vanessa Bell, leased Charleston Farmhouse on the outskirts of the same village, and more of the group followed: the painter Duncan Grant, Bell’s lover, moved in and planted vegetables; the art critic Clive Bell, her husband, shot game birds and kept a stash of Charbonnel chocolates in the study. John Maynard Keynes, the economist, wrote in the garden, before marrying a Russian ballerina and moving only a few minutes away to his own house, also in Firle. Lytton Strachey, the biographer, reclined at Charleston during bouts of ill health, and TS Eliot turned up to eat grouse.
The down-from-Londoners were enraptured by this backwater in rural East Sussex, now within the South Downs National Park. Today the Bloomsbury neck of the woods—loosely from Lewes to Eastbourne—is just as scenic and much more of a cultural hub than it was in the early twentieth century, thanks in part to the philosophical legacy of the group. It’s also rangier and less scene-y than, say, the Cotswolds. If the only shoes you travel with are hiking boots, nobody will blink. Here’s what to do over a long weekend.
Where to Stay
The vineyards at Rathfinny cover a handsome swath of the South Downs, and propped in the center of them is the two-bedroom Rathfinny Cottage. The standalone house is surrounded on all sides by a busy working winery, separated by a courtyard from the estate’s main guesthouse and restaurant, where you can buy breakfast if you would prefer not to cook yourself (do—the shakshuka is reassuringly spicy and will set you up for the day). Inside, there’s a wood-burning stove and a big bathtub, plus a kitchen and laundry room.
On the high street of medieval Alfriston, which sits alongside the Cuckmere River, The Star’s village location is useful for first-time visitors. The ballyhooed local bookstore, Much Ado Books, is a few minutes away on foot, as is the village shop (stock up on Sussex Crisps) and the Singing Kettle Teahouse, which is ordinarily packed with walkers sitting down to wedges of lemon drizzle. The charismatic pub in the front room of The Star has an open fire and a reliable Anglo-Italian menu, and the rooms upstairs are spotless.
Where to Eat
Book Sunday lunch at The Ram Inn, the village pub in Firle. Then, if you’re staying in Alfriston at one of the places above, consider walking there via the South Downs Way, over the ridge, with the English Channel on your left and the Sussex Weald on your right (it will take around 2 hours). A Sunday roast with all the trimmings (Yorkshire puddings, cauliflower cheese, greens, gravy, roasted and mashed potatoes) will spur you on. There are a handful of bedrooms above the pub too, which is a stone’s throw from the hiking trails.
This micro-brewery on an industrial estate near Lewes, overlooked by chalk hills, has a rotating roster of food trucks on the weekends. Come for the hoppy pale ales (the Parade is the fruity crowd-pleaser to start with), stay for the California-style smash burgers from Chuckaburger and the mezze boxes from Kabak.
Directly next store to Beak Brewery, Pharmacie roasts its beans on site. There are tables in the front of the warehouse where you can sit down with your sixth-wave flat white and nibble one of the puck-sized cookies for sale by the register. The coffee is typically single origin, and beans are available to buy in both espresso and filter roasts.
Tucked inside a converted Victorian candle factory, Squisito has an open kitchen, so you can watch the chef-owners grating hillocks of Pecorino over your carbonara before someone slides it under your nose. The menu rolls with the seasons, but leans to sure-footed comforts—homemade pastas with plenty of acidity and texture, cured meats, and vegetable sides that come dressed in gremolata, or chili and almonds.
This first-rate coffee truck with cheese toasties first popped up to feed the cyclists passing through the village of Litlington in the Cuckmere Valley, and though the clientele is now broader, it still offers amenities including free pumps, a tool station for bicycle repairs, bathrooms, and refills for water bottles. Cadence now hosts several other “clubhouses” in outdoorsy locations frequented by riders and ramblers, like Beachy Head and Cocking Hill.
This walled garden restaurant, surrounded by tangles of flowers for cutting and a productive kitchen patch, is not in the Bloomsbury fiefdom of East Sussex—it’s actually about three miles into Kent, if you want to nitpick—but if you drive from London and stop for lunch on the way, this should be your detour. Simple, appealing food (mutton pie; pear and walnut crumble drowned in cream) is served in a Victorian glasshouse, and there’s a honeypot of a shop 20 feet down the garden selling things like foraging baskets and natural slug repellent.
What to Do
Whether or not you stay the night at Rathfinny it’s worth setting aside an afternoon to tour the vineyard—which has one of the most beautiful locations in Sussex, near Cuckmere Haven—and taste through the different vintages of their sparkling wine. In fine weather, a good option for lunch is The Hut, a metal-sided food truck that serves coffee from Red Roaster based in Brighton, kettle chips, and cheese toasties smeared with chutney. Artelium Wine Estate, a few miles northwest of Lewes, puts on regular raclette nights in their barn, as well as running tours and tastings at the winery. Their shoot-the-moon 2015 Blanc de Blanc was aged on the lees for five years, and won the award for Top Sparkling at last year’s Wine GB Awards.
One of the most scenic walks in the country is over the Seven Sisters cliffs, which drop sharply to the sea (not a route for kids or dogs). Start in the National Trust Birling Gap car park and walk west along the coast towards Cuckmere Haven (around 45 minutes), then turn north at the mouth of the river, following a path through the floodplains, alongside the sinuous Cuckmere River and its oxbow lakes. You can continue following the river all the way back to Alfriston, stopping at the Cadence coffee truck (above) in Litlington for a pick-me-up on the way.
For a circular walk, try the Firle Beacon route, which starts and ends in the village of Firle. At the eastern end of the village, past St Peter’s Church and the Burning Sky Brewery, turn right off the chalky coach road to ascend the steep footpath that will take you directly to the top of the escarpment. From here, you’ll look over fields of grazing sheep to the English Channel. Walk east along the top of the ridge on the South Downs Way, passing the Firle Beacon. There’s a trail just past the beacon to descend the ridge towards Charleston Farmhouse, but you can walk further if you like, and take a downward path into Alciston or Berwick. From there, walk west along the coach road back to Firle.
Until April 2024, the Towner Eastbourne gallery is hosting the 2023 Turner Prize, one of the best-known prizes for contemporary art in the world. Entrance to view the work of the shortlisted nominees (the winner will be announced in early December) is free, as is admission to the permanent collection, which contains work by Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant. Charleston Farmhouse in Firle has been meticulously preserved since the Bloomsbury Group was in residence, and the house is open for tours year-round. There is a new exhibition space, Charleston in Lewes, which will be showing Bring No Clothes: Bloomsbury and Fashion until the beginning of January, curated by the writer Charlie Porter.
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A noteworthy community of artists and makers work in the area, including Camilla Perkins in Lewes, who depicts colorful Sussex landscapes using a mix of pastels and paint, and the painter and novelist Alice Carter, who hikes through the Downs with a travel easel. Tess Newall and Alfred Newall (she’s a decorative artist, he’s a furniture maker) keep side-by-side workshops in Alfriston, where you can make an appointment to view their available stock or discuss custom commissions. Alfred’s handmade bobbin lamps, topped with one of Tess’s painted shades, are mainstays of contemporary British interior design.
