Lewes

I went today to Lewes, East Sussex-London was boiling was I decided to do a day away-without hoards of tourists!! Lewes is about five miles inland, not terribly far from Brighton. One of the first Norman castles was built here. The town is one of the "jewels" of East Sussex-many of the buildings are left from the 17th and 18th centuries.

The Barbican-the castle is in ruins
The Barbican with the chalk hills in the background-all of Lewes is built on a steep hill

A view from the castle to the South Down Hills

A view of the chalk cliffs from one of the Castle windows

Lewes and the chalk cliffs from one of the castle towers

The Barbican from the top of the castle towers

The castle tower-(previous photo was taken from the top of it)

The castle tower from the top of the Barbican

The castle keep

A closeup of the chalk cliffs-(they are nowhere near Dover, most of the South Coast has them)

The cliffs from a nature reserve

Part of the Anne of Cleves House- she never came here, it was part of her divorce settlement

The kitchen of the Anne of Cleves House

Beams in one of the rooms

Southover Grange and Gardens-an 18th century manor house, the gardens are open to the public though the house is now offices

Flowers in the garden

The 15th century bookshop

Looking up one of the streets, it is much steeper than it looks in the photos, quite a hike especially as I was in my ballet flats!