Heritage Open Day

Heritage Open Days started in 1994, granting free access to a range of properties either not normally open to the public, or that charged a fee for entry. By 2006, more than one million people were visiting sites around the country. Lewes, as it did last year, is, throwing open a whole range of doors to invite the public in. One is the Crown and County Court on the High Street. I went last year and was amazed by the scale and grandeur of a building, which I normally pass ten times a day without giving a second glance. We toured a wide selection of rooms, ranging from the courts themselves to the cells in the basement. We were also offered the chance to have our fingerprints taken (voluntarily), and to meet a pair of hawks normally employed keeping pigeons away from the roofs of the court and the prison.

There’s more to see and if you want to try and see it all, we suggest that after your brush with authority, you head to the Town Hall to view the oak-panelled Mayor’s parlour and its 14th-century cellars which confined the Protestant martyrs. After that it’s down School Hill to visit Lewes House before heading on to Chapel Hill at the end of Cliffe High St to see the recently restored Chinese lacquer panels on show in The Lamb House. Afterwards, head to St John sub Castro church, before finishing off at Southover Grange with a tour of the house, and a drink and a sarnie in the magnificent gardens. Still not had enough? On Sunday (3-5pm) there’s always Chailey Windmill. NW