Two facts make Lewes a good base for a weekend built around drink. The first is that Harvey’s, Sussex’s oldest brewery, is at the bottom of the town, ten minutes’ walk from the apartment, and its beer is in nearly every pub on the way back. The second is that the Downs are chalk, the same seam that surfaces in Champagne, and the vineyards planted on it over the last thirty years now make sparkling wine that wins the blind tastings. Both are best enjoyed by a group of six or eight with a kitchen, a big table and somebody who’s agreed to drive on Saturday.
In Lewes, on foot
Harvey’s Brewery has brewed on Bridge Wharf since 1790 in a Victorian Gothic building that is part of the town’s skyline. Sussex Best is the beer; the brewery shop on Cliffe High Street sells the rest of the range and the seasonal specials, and tours can be booked through harveys.org.uk (they fill well ahead). The John Harvey Tavern next door is the brewery tap.
The Pelham Arms, directly opposite the apartment, brews its own beer on site under the ABYSS name and does the burgers and smoked things to go with it. The Swan in Southover, The Rights of Man on the High Street and The King’s Head are the other pubs in the guest handbook; all keep Harvey’s well. Beak Brewery, a newer Lewes brewery with a taproom on the edge of town, is the modern counterpoint.
Vineyards within half an hour
- Rathfinny Wine Estate, Alfriston (about 20 minutes). The biggest and most ambitious of the Sussex estates, in a bowl of the Downs above the Cuckmere, with tours, tastings, a restaurant and a view. rathfinnyestate.com
- Ridgeview, Ditchling Common (about 20 minutes). One of the pioneers of English sparkling wine, planted in 1995, with a long shelf of awards and a tasting room. ridgeview.co.uk
- Breaky Bottom, Rodmell (10 minutes, and then a long farm track). Peter Hall planted it in 1974 and makes tiny quantities of very good sparkling wine in a fold of the Downs that most people never find. Visits by appointment. breakybottom.co.uk
- Plumpton College, Plumpton (15 minutes). The place most English winemakers trained, with its own commercial estate wine. plumpton.ac.uk
Book tours and tastings ahead, especially at weekends and in harvest season. Each of these does things slightly differently; Rathfinny is the polished visitor experience, Breaky Bottom the pilgrimage.
The designated-driver problem, solved
Tasting means tasting, even with a spit bucket. With a group in one apartment you can rotate drivers, or use the train and the bus: Ridgeview is a taxi from Hassocks station, and the 28 bus from outside the door goes towards Hailsham for the eastern vineyards. Everyone comes home to Lewes, where the last pint is a walk away and the last bottle is in your own fridge.
Take some home
Harvey’s shop for the beer; the vineyards’ own shops for the wine, which is often cheaper at the cellar door than anywhere else; and the Friday and Saturday farmers’ market on Cliffe Precinct for the cheese to go with it.
A weekend
Friday: arrive, walk down to Harvey’s shop before it shuts, then the John Harvey Tavern, then dinner. Saturday: Rathfinny or Ridgeview in the morning, a vineyard lunch, a second stop in the afternoon if the driver’s willing, back to Lewes for a pub crawl on foot. Sunday: Breaky Bottom by appointment or a walk up Mount Caburn to earn a Sunday roast at the Swan.
Last checked September 2026. Opening times and prices change; the links go to the official sources.
Header photo: Hassocks5489, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.