My Perfect Day in Sussex

Written by Bradt Travel Guides

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The winner will receive a two-night stay for two at the Flint Barns, located on the Rathfinny Wine Estate. These historic buildings in the Cradle Valley lie at the western end of the Estate, and have been beautifully restored and extended to the highest standard. 

 

 

 

Three runners up will receive a copy of Slow Travel Sussex by Tim Locke.

 

The entries will be judged by a member of the Bradt team, who will pick their favourites based on their passion, colour and originality. Read Tim Locke’s own perfect day below. 

My Perfect Day in Sussex by Tim Locke 

It’s a bright early summer morning, with the sun yet to break through the mist hanging over the River Ouse: mountain bike tyres pumped up; panniers equipped with spare bits and pieces, including fare from this morning’s farmers’ market in Lewes – the smoked fish and Sussex cheeses will go nicely with the artisan bread rolls for my picnic somewhere on the Downs.  A leisurely start, but I’ll catch up by putting the bike on the train as far as Berwick. There the volunteer-run Rambler Bus connects with the Lewes train, picking up a few walkers and taking them into the Cuckmere Valley. I cycle over to Berwick Church, where morning sightseers are marvelling at the bohemian transformation wrought on this simple building by the Bloomsbury Set in the 1940s when they painted the screen and chancel in their inimitable style.

A cart track from the back of the churchyard takes me down amiably towards Alfriston, then a peer into the rural idyll that is the thatched Clergy House and its cottage garden. I’m cycling now up past the entrance to comically tiny Lullington Church, tucked away beyond garden fences. A chalky bridleway up onto the South Downs proper: traffic noise recedes to nothing, then stillness in the blue sky, then the swishing of a summer breeze and the song of an invisible skylark, the Downs’ signature tune. I get off my bike to peer over the escarpment edge to see the Long Man of Wilmington, upside-down and nonsensical, but it brings home the ingenuity of whoever etched this giant hill figure, that it works only when viewed from the bottom of the hill. My picnic spot, though, is at the head of Deep Dean, looking down one of the most satisfyingly perfect of South Downs dry valleys, unchanged in centuries.

At Lullington Heath I watch dragonflies sporting round Winchester’s Pond, then swoosh through the delicious cool shade of Friston Forest. Perfect timing for a pint of very locally brewed Beachy Head ale at the Tiger Inn, where I park my bike on the village green and put my feet up. Then onto Birling Gap, for a quick paddle in the sea to refresh those parts the Beachy Head beer couldn’t reach. There’s a grand finale to follow, as the road nearly touches the cliff edge beyond Belle Tout, and after the climb up to Beachy Head, a gloriously effortless glide down to Eastbourne for fish and chips on the beach in the shadow of the Victorian pier, and the train home. 

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Terms & conditions

1. The competition is open to anyone aged 18 or over. Employees, contractors and authors of Bradt Travel Guides (“Bradt”) and the competition partner and members of the immediate family of the above are not eligible to participate.
2. No purchase is necessary. 
3. The competition will be launched in March 2017. All entries must be received by midnight GMT on the closing date, 31 May 2017.
4. There is one main prize in the competition and three runners-up prizes
5. Each entrant may submit only one entry for consideration. Joint entries are not allowed and entries on behalf of other people will be excluded.
6. The competition theme is ‘My perfect day in Sussex’ 
7. Entrants will be sent Bradt’s e-newsletter (providing news and special offers). If you do not wish to receive the e-newsletter, plus put “NO NEWSLETTER” in the message body of the email submission, or alongside the contact information in postal entries. 
8. The winner and runners-up will be selected by a member of the Bradt team. 
9. The judge will consider a combination of factors including originality of idea, quality of writing, adherence to theme and creativity.
10. The First Prize (as defined below) will be awarded to the entry that the Judge considers to be the best. The Judge’s decision is final. The three runners-up prizes will be awarded to the three entries that the Judge consider the next best. 
11. The winner and three runners-up will be notified by 30 June 2017. 
12. The winner of the main prize (the “Competition Winner”) shall win a two-night stay for two in at the Flint Barns on the Rathfinny Estate, with breakfast. http://rathfinnyestate.com/flint-barns/ (the “Competition Winner’s Prize”). Dates of travel are subject to availability and the Competition Winner must give at least one month’s notice in advance of their desired dates of travel. The prize must be taken by 31st December 2017. School holidays, Bank holidays, Christmas and New Year are excluded.
13. Bradt will accept no responsibility for any costs associated with the Prize and not specifically included in the prize description, this includes transport to the prize location. 
14. The winner must communicate directly with Bradt about the Prize. 
15. All elements of the Prize are subject to availability. 
16. The prizes are non-exchangeable, non-transferable, and are not redeemable for cash or other prizes. In the event of cancellation by the Competition Winner, for whatever reason, no alternative prize or travel dates will be offered. Once a confirmed booking has been made, reservations may not be changed.
17. If the Competition Winner is unable to take up his or her prize for any reason, or if we have not been able, after making reasonable efforts, to make contact with the winner, we reserve the right to award the relevant prize to an alternative winner. 18. Your competition entry must be all your own work. It must not contain any third-party content or infringe the copyright of any third party and it must not be obscene, defamatory or in breach of any applicable legislation or regulations. We reserve the right to exclude entries from the competition that we consider, in our sole discretion, to be in breach of this clause. 
19. Bradt shall have a non-exclusive right to publish all entries on its website and in print and across other social media. 
20. Bradt reserve the right to withhold the prize, in whole or in part, if the judge decides in their sole discretion, that there are no entries of a suitable standard.
21. Bradt and the competition partners reserve the right to publish the names of the winner and the winning entries themselves, and the winner is required to give their full co-operation to all reasonable requests by the promoters in connection with publicity for the competition, their entry, the prizes or otherwise. 
22. No correspondence will be entered into or comment issued on any matters concerning the competition and no reasons given for any decision made by the Judge.
23. Bradt shall not be liable for any circumstances beyond our reasonable control that prevent the competition being fulfilled, a winner being chosen, or any prize being taken up or fully enjoyed by a winner. Bradt excludes liability to the full extent permitted by law for any cost, claims or losses howsoever caused that arise by reason of any person’s entry into a competition or the award, or non-award, to them of a prize.
24. These terms and conditions shall be governed by and interpreted according to English law and the English courts shall have exclusive jurisdiction to deal with any disputes arising in connection with them.

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