Our favourite places to eat and drink near the East Sussex cabin
East Sussex has a particular way of hiding good things. The best pub is down a footpath through a farm. The best coffee is in a town most people don't think of as a destination. The craft brewery with the views is two miles across the fields with no signpost telling you it's there. Once you know where to look, the area around the cabin is genuinely well-stocked and almost everything worth going to is either walkable or a short drive at most.
These are the places we send guests to most.
Pubs
- The Six Bells, Chiddingly (half a mile on foot)
Start here. It's half a mile from the cabin on a footpath through the farm (we will share on Komoot) and it's exactly the kind of pub East Sussex does well. Old school, big beer garden, good food for lunch and dinner and live music on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings. If you're there on a weekend night it has a proper crowd. It's the most-used recommendation we give out and the one guests mention most when they get home. Walk there, walk back, get the fire pit going. That's a good evening.
- The Gun Pub (3 miles, walkable via footpaths or 7 minutes by car)
A gastro pub with a country garden and dining room, proper seasonal food and local ales. You can walk there from the cabin via footpaths (we'll share the komoot) or drive if it's later and darker than you planned. Either way it's worth it. Good for a longer lunch or a proper dinner out if you want something a bit more considered than the Six Bells.
- Gun Brewery and Taproom (2 miles, walkable)
A working craft brewery with views over the East Sussex countryside, 2 miles from the cabin through the fields. They brew their own beers on site, there's wine, and occasionally a food truck depending on the day. Closed Monday and Tuesday, so plan accordingly. The walk out and back is 8km and makes a very good reason to leave the cabin mid-morning. Sit in the sun for an hour, drink something local and walk home.
Cafes and delis
- Laughton Village Shop and Cafe (on the way in from Hailsham)
A small deli with local Laughton produce for cheese, cold meats, bread, proper coffee to take away. Good for stocking up on the way in rather than doing a full supermarket run. The kind of place that makes the weekend feel more deliberate. It's in Laughton, just off the route from Hailsham towards the cabin.
- Chiddingly Village Shop and Cafe (at the village)
Tiny village shop with a cafe serving fresh cakes. Easy to miss because it's small and quiet, but worth knowing about for a morning stop or if you need a few basics without driving to Hailsham.
- Taith Coffee, Lewes
Lewes is 15 minutes from the cabin and worth a couple of hours on its own - independent shops, good pubs and the kind of high street that rewards wandering. Taith is a small, good coffee shop right in town. Go here for coffee and something to eat, then spend an hour looking around before you head back. There are walks along the canal too if you want to earn the coffee first.
The Six Bells and the Gun Brewery between them cover most of what you'd want from a stay out here - a walkable local and somewhere worth making a proper day of. Everything else fills in around them nicely.
