Hailsham and the Pevensey Levels

The accommodation is situated at the foot of the Pevensey Levels, just one mile from the centre of the market town of Hailsham, which has a full range of shops including the supermarket Waitrose. There is also a modern leisure centre offering a full range of facilities including a fitness centre, and a swimming pool complete with flume.
Hailsham also boasts its own restored Art Deco cinema which screens all the latest films.

The Pevensey Levels are 3500 hectares in size, and although some of the land is given over to sheep and cattle farming, they are a designated SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest), and have been declared the 134 th wetland of international importance in the UK. Part of the Levels is a designated a Nature Reserve.

In keeping with the conservation approach, landowners on the Pevensey Levels are paid by English Nature to build gates, sluices, scrapes and fencing to protect wildlife; they are also paid not to use fertilisers and chemicals.

This careful management results in the Levels being home to 21 out of the UK’s 28 species of dragonfly, and home to various rare beetles and molluscs. They are one of only two sites in Britain where the Fen Raft Spider can be found, and they support more than 70% of all the indigenous species of flowering water plants.

There are a considerable number of birds which can be seen or heard in or around the Levels including Reed Warblers, Heron, Skylarks, Cormorants, Shags, Mute Swans, Grebe, various species of geese, ducks, Moorhens, Coots, Lapwings, Snipe, the Cuckoo, Owls, Kingfishers, Swallows, Swifts, Green and Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Thrushes, Tits, Sparrows, Finches, and Buntings.

Obviously the Levels offer tremendous opportunities for walkers and bird watchers. In addition there are a number of lanes and tracks which cross the Levels which offer safe and quiet cycling.

The village of Pevensey with its Norman castle and church is just five miles distant, and Herstmonceux village and castle are four miles.

Other attractions within easy reach include the towns of Eastbourne (9 miles), Brighton (20 miles), Hastings (15 miles), Battle (7 miles), Lewes (16 miles), and Tunbridge Wells (20 miles).

For cyclists the villages and lanes of East Sussex offer tremendous opportunities for rides of any distance and level of difficulty. There are numerous tearooms and pubs which offer excellent fare.

The South Downs Way starts at Eastbourne, and there are also amazing views along the coast, inland and across the Channel from walks along the Seven Sisters.

The port of Newhaven is fifteen miles distant and from here in the summer months a high speed catamaran offers a two hour trip to Dieppe.

For those who would like a guided cycle tour or walk this can be arranged at a reasonable cost.