As winter takes hold and the temptation is to tuck under the duvet and stay there until spring, here are 25 wonderfully wintery things to do in Sussex that will get you out and about and enjoying the best of what is on offer.
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Go to a museum
Most of our Sussex towns have their own museum. Some of these are free, and some you have to pay a small entrance fee, but they almost always provide a wonderful snapshot of local life and a diverse selection of exhibits and collections. Our favourites include Horsham, Littlehampton, East Grinstead, Bexhill and the many museums of Hastings and Brighton.
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Afternoon tea
Afternoon tea is a wonderful way to indulge and in Sussex you have lots and lots of options. But why not head to one of the luxury hotels in the county for champagne and afternoon tea set before an open fire or with views across the countryside.
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Enjoy a pint in a Sussex pub
It doesn’t get much more quintessentially Sussex than an afternoon spent in a good local pub with a pint of craft beer or a glass of local wine. Add in a walk, followed by a lingering lunch and a pub, and you are winning!
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Take a break
Winter can be a perfect time for a mini break as the crowds of the summer have gone. Pack a bag and try one of our “48 hours in” itineraries, or just head to the cobbled backstreets of Rye, Petworth or Lewes and enjoy atmospheric winter scenes and great local produce.
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Try a beach sauna
Sussex has a growing number of beach saunas. Proven to have many health benefits, you can head down to the beach and sweat it all out whilst doing nothing! There are beach saunas for hire in Southwick, Seaford, Bracklesham Bay, Brighton, Worthing, Hastings and Eastbourne. And if you love the experience, you can even buy your own!
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Wassail
If you haven’t been wassailing yet, make this winter the year that you do! Wassailing is a Twelfth Night tradition with pagan roots meant to encourage the spirits into ensuring a good harvest the following season. It normally takes place in an orchard and involves singing, dancing, drinking and merrymaking. You’ll find it practised all over Sussex, including at Michelham Priory. There is still just time to do some wassailing this year.
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Wine tasting
These days, Sussex is almost synonymous with wine, so get yourself to a vineyard and start sniffing, sipping, slurping and spitting! If you don’t like wine, then there are plenty of taprooms, breweries and distilleries as an alternative.
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A wild walk on the South Downs
Winter isn’t winter without a wild walk on the South Downs. Take your pick of spots from wintery scenes at Harting Down and Duncton to wild and windy walks at Seven Sisters and Hastings Country Park. Grab your hat, scarf and gloves and prepare to feel alive!
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Visit a ruin
If it’s atmosphere you are after, then why not go ruin exploring! We have plenty of charismatic ruins in Sussex from the impressive Cowdray Park ruins, haunting Bedham Church near Petworth and Boxgrove Priory near Chichester to Lewes Priory, Bayham Abbey, the abandoned village of Tide Mills near Newhaven.
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Visit a local market
Stock up on local cheese for National Cheese Lovers’ Day on 20 January and maybe add a little local gin to your basket – for medicinal reasons, of course! There are markets in Horsham, Shoreham, Lewes, Brede, Rye and Crowborough.
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Stargazing and night walking
The Dark Sky Festival takes place in February, but South Downs National Park is an International Dark Sky Reserve, so it’s always a great spot for some stargazing. If you don’t want to head out alone, there are local organisations which offer organised tours or walks, like Pied a Terre Adventures or Rural Strides.
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Get cooking
If the great outdoors is not for you, stay in and get cooking. You could sign up for a bread-making course with the Artisan Bakehouse near Steyning, head to Hastings for a fish cookery course or get stuck into some chocolate making with the Chocolatician in Worthing.
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Trig bagging
Trig bagging is when you walk, hike, or run to find triangulation points and then tick them off a list. You can get books that list all the Sussex trig points, or just use an Ordnance Survey map. Alternatively, make up your own “bagging sport” like windmill bagging (visiting all the windmills in Sussex), vineyard bagging, castle bagging … you get the picture.
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Read a Sussex book
Of course, you don’t have to stop at one. Whether you want facts and information or good old fiction and a rip-roaring yarn, there are hundreds of great Sussex books and authors, like The Sussex Downs Murder by John Bude.
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Watch the sunrise
The joy of winter is that the sun rises late, so if you want to watch dawn break over Sussex, you don’t have to get up too early. Great spots for a Sussex sunrise include Chanctonbury Ring, Chichester Harbour, Ashdown Forest and Beachy Head.
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Bird watching
With so many nature reserves and wetland sites, Sussex is a great place for some winter birdwatching. From small local nature reserves like Warnham near Horsham to large reserves like Rye Harbour, many have lots of information and purpose-built hides. It’s also the RSPB’s Big Garden Bird Watch from 23 to 25 January.
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Watch a show at the theatre
From Chichester Festival Theatre, right across the county via Brighton, Eastbourne and Hastings, the theatres of Sussex put on diverse and compelling programmes throughout the winter.
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Wellness
Winter is a time for wellness! Whether you want to book yourself into one of the county’s top-end spas, book yourself on to a winter forest bathing session or check into a wellness retreat, winter is a good time to take a moment for you.
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Ice skating
We might not have much snow in Sussex, but we do have ice skating with the pop-up rink at Worthing open until 22 February.
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Go on a cultural trail
You might want to follow in the footsteps of William the Conqueror, learn about Lee Miller and Surrealism or tuck into a food trail, but you have lots of choice in Sussex and you can cram a trail into one day or weekend, or stretch out visits over the course of the winter.
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Learn a new skill
Sussex has a number of centres of learning where you can book onto a course and learn a new skill. In West Sussex, head to West Dean for courses that range from metalworking to interior design or in East Sussex, try one of the New School of Art courses in Lewes or Brighton.
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Try a new Sussex experience
Immersive experiences are all the rage at the moment and lots are popping up in Sussex, whether you want to step out into the universe at the South Downs Planetarium, try an escape room at Tulleys Farm or an adrenaline-fueled adventure at Hounds in Crawley – they even have an “Accid Bath Murderer” experience based on the true story of John Haigh!
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Listen to the music
Winter is a time of evocative music. Chichester Cathedral have a great programme of concerts, including candlelit concerts. Lancing Chapel also has a candlelit concert this winter. Lewes-based Musicians of All Saints perform contemporary classical music and have a winter programme, as do the Lewes Saturday Folk Club. And let us not forget the Hastings Philharmonic Orchestra.
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Get into poetry
Sussex has a flourishing poetry scene. There are Open Mic Poetry events in Chichester, Brighton and Hastings, and there is a South Downs Poetry Festival which kicks off in February. Or, just find a quiet corner and compose something for yourself.
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Visit a winter garden
We have some fabulous winter gardens in Sussex, perfect for crisp winter mornings and the first of the NGS reopen in February.
Above all else, wrap up warm and have fun this winter!
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