Rather gruesome relics of King Charles I were kept in the village church here until late in the 19th century: the shirt, silk drawers and garters he wore at his execution, the sheet that was thrown over his body, his watch and a lock of his hair. They were held to have healing powers to…

They answered to some strange names here nearly 400 years ago. Baptismal registers began in 1607 and contain more than a ring of Pilgrim’s Progress about them, though the local offspring ceased to be lumbered with the oddities before Bunyan was born. Some of the more choice examples are: Morefruit Stone, Sin-Deny Earle, Zealous Foote,…

The price of being picturesque can be a high one. Alfriston, at the head of ‘millionaire’s valley’ where the Downs give way on either side to the meandering course of the Cuckmere, has the sort of olde worlde charms that make it a magnet for visitors, but their presence means a massive traffic snarl-up in…

Plenty of energy is required if you come here on a Good Friday because you may be required to join in the village’s tradition of skipping outside The Rose Cottage pub. Not the conventional sort of solo skipping either … here the participants form a line while a long rope is swung over their heads…