Visitors Guides:
It's all happening
Throughout the year, East Sussex hosts some very special events, many in the great outdoors and many free.
In February, sample local produce at the Sussex Beer and Cider Festival in Hove. Easter sees Easter egg hunts in gardens and castles, and Battle's Easter Bonnet parade. In Spring the gardens of the Sussex Weald show off with flower festivals and Hastings holds the traditional Jack in the Green Morris dancing festival. Bexhill's Concours D'Elegance features classic cars, and all year Brighton hosts runs and rallies for classic cars from Minis to Jaguars.
In Summer there's so much going on, from country fairs and colourful carnivals to fireworks and laser concerts in the gardens of historic houses and castles. See the Royal Air Force's famous Red Arrows at Eastbourne's Airbourne air show, and visit steam fairs and agricultural shows, kite festivals and sailing regattas, horse trials and medieval jousts. Have a day at the races at Brighton or Plumpton, and before Wimbledon, tennis fans can enjoy the International Ladies Tennis Championships at Eastbourne.
Throughout Autumn the county's Bonfire Societies hold torchlight processions and firework displays, a tradition begun over 300 hundred years ago to commemorate the burning of martyrs and Guy Fawkes' Gunpowder Plot. In November Brighton hosts the famous Veteran Car Run. In December, Alfriston's old-fashioned Village Christmas is a Victorian Christmas card come to life, complete with crinolines, craft stalls and carol singers. And you can even meet Father Christmas on the Bluebell Railway's delightful Santa Special, with mince pies and mulled wine for grown-ups.
