Eastbourne Manor House B&B, South Downs, England
Description of Eastbourne Manor House B&B, South Downs, England
Standing as one of Eastbourne’s oldest buildings, this beautiful manor house is located in the middle of a ¾ acre stunning walled gardens, dating back over three hundred years, with flints dating back to the previous millennium.
Upon arrival you will be greeted warmly complete with one of Wendy’s sumptuous homemade cakes. For a fee, Wendy will teach you how to make a selection of her delicious and also homemade breads, which you of course get to sample during your stay.
There is something to suit all tastes within close proximity of the manor house. For walkers, the South Downs Way’s most easterly tip is here, perfect for exploring the Cuckmere Valley and Beachy Head. Glyndebourne stages performances and talks throughout the year as well as a festival that runs from May until August. If you can brave the October cold there is Eastbourne’s Half Marathon that is currently one of few overland marathons in the UK. Another sporting event would be the Eastbourne International tennis tournament, which is a yearly event, held in June. We’re not far from Pashley Manor with its beautiful tulip gardens and Sissinghurst for its roses.
The building itself was built on the former site of a Commandery of the Knights of St. John, from which it takes its name the Manor of St. John of Jerusalem, Ocklynge (which means oak line) Rushlake and Swine’s. In fact, a Roman font was found on the site and is now at the Towner Art Gallery. In 1540 the property was reverted to the crown until it was o...
Rooms, food and facilities
We have:
A twin with en suite
A double with en suite wash basin and toilet, plus private shower room
A suite with a double an adjoining single room with en suite
Our rooms have views over our garden which of course you have access to. Our bedrooms all have egyptian cotton linen and equipped with a TV, a DVD player, wifi, tea & coffee making facilities, a small fridge and hair drier.
Free parking in our gated courtyard is included.
We include breakfast, either cooked or continental including a selection of home made breads and jams as well as bacon and eggs from our local butchers.
It is a minimum of two nights stay at the weekends (Friday-Sunday).
We regret we cannot permit dogs due to allergies.
Travel guides
How to find us
We're a mile away from Eastbourne Station, so 10 minutes by bus (which runs fairly frequently) or 20 minutes on foot.
From Polegate, take the A2270 towards Eastbourne.
Follow the A2021 on Kings Drive towards Eastbourne Hospital A & E.
Continue past the hospital on your left, straight over the roundabout towards Eastbourne town centre,
until you reach a yellow speed camera (about 200 metres).
Turn immediate right up Kings Avenue. Ocklynge Manor is at the top of the road at a T junction.
You will be able to see the blue plaque on the wall.
Turn right into Mill Road and left (10 metres) into the double black gates to park in front of the garage.
Please note, you will not see the main vista of the house from the road, as it is behind a long flint wall. However, you will see a small white owl when you enter the drive.
Responsible Travel
Planet
We are avid recyclers and therefore our waste is very low; glass, paper, plastics are all recycled. All our grass cuttings go on our compost heap that gets used on the garden.I like to encourage birds into our garden using feeders and as you might imagine we have a diverse selection of native English species; woodpeckers, wrens, robins, green finches, bull finches – all of which can be observed by a set of binoculars we keep in the dining room.
The resident bat, affectionately named, ‘Bertie,’ can also been see at one corner of the garden at dusk, we have seen bats for the entire 23 years we have lived here.
Due to the watering demands of our beautiful garden, we are also extremely keen to conserve and collect water, in fact you can count seven water containers collecting rainwater from various roofs around our property.
We have few leftovers, as I tend to use up what we have in my cooking. I also make all my own jam or marmalade - which our guests have with their breakfasts.
People
We are very lucky to have such a fabulous garden. As a result, we host open days during the spring and summer seasons where we happily welcome the public as well as groups in to look at tulips, azaleas and rhododendrons – just to name just a handful. We often do this for charitable causes, for example we have strong ties with the Friends of Eastbourne Hospital, who we invite to sell tea and cake to visitors on open days in order to raise funds for the hospital.We love to recommend local restaurants and businesses. J Heath & Sons is the butchers where your breakfast bacon often comes from and they can be found on Green Street. We’ve been recommending the local Italian restaurant, La Locanda Del Duca, ever since we’ve been here; it is ran and owned by an Italian family who make their own pasta from scratch on site and our visitors all come back with rave reviews.
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