Plumpton, East Sussex

Plumpton Place is a Grade II* listed Elizabethan manor house in Plumpton, East Sussex, England. The house is on the English Heritage register.

Clayton to Offham Escarpment is a 422.5-hectare (1,044-acre) linear biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) which runs from Clayton in West Sussex to Lewes in East Sussex. Its ownership and management is divided between over fifteen landowners and farmers. Parts of Ditchling's Downs, e.g. TQ 323 133, and the scarp between Blackcap and Mount Harry, e.g. TQ 378 124, are owned by the National Trust. What remains of Ditchling Tenantry Down common (24 hectares (59 acres)) at Ditchling Beacon is leased to the Sussex Wildlife Trust.Unlike the scarp top, the steeply sloping chalk grassland of the escarpment has been spared modern farming ploughing, fertilising and spraying of herbicides. Instead the area has been used for traditional low-level animal grazing and as a consequence the site is still pristine chalk grassland, which has created a ten kilometre stretch of wild flower meadows. Such areas have been described as Europe's tropical rainforests and the National Trust tell us, "They're home to an incredibly rich and diverse range of plant and insect life". Up to 40 species of flowering plants can be found in one square metre of chalk grassland.The particular character of this range of hills is their north facing aspect, meaning they can be shadowy and receive less sunlight. There is glaucous sedge, autumn gentian, marjoram and squinancywort. There are several species of wild, native orchid and the area is rich in mosses and liverworts. The botanical richness means it also supports biodiverse fauna. There are also areas of ancient woodland and ancient scrub and the site has a rich community of breeding birds, and a number of red listed bird species in the highest conservation concern category.

Plumpton College is a Further and Higher education college in Plumpton, East Sussex, England, with courses in a variety of land based and related subjects. The college provides a range of full-time and part-time land-based courses, FE courses to Foundation Degree and BSc courses. The college degree courses are provided in association with the Royal Agricultural University.The main site of the College is in Plumpton, with satellite centres, termed 'Outcentres', elsewhere in East Sussex at Netherfield, Flimwell and Stanmer Park, and further afield in Bwlch Mwlchan, Snowdonia. The current principal of the college is Jeremy Kerswell. The range of courses cover land-based provision including Agriculture, Horticulture, Floristry, Greenkeeping, Hard Landscaping, Equine Studies, Agricultural and Horticultural Machinery, Metalsmithing, Animal Care and Veterinary Nursing, Countryside Management, Forestry and Arboriculture, Sports (Outdoor Education), Viticulture and Oenology, and Rural Business Management. The college was visited by The Princess Royal in March 2008 to open a new Children's Rural Education Centre marking the Year of Food and Farming.

The Laines is an 18th-century country house in Plumpton, East Sussex, near Lewes in England. It was the childhood home of Queen Camilla. The centre part was built in the 18th-century, with 19th-century additions to the north and south, and was originally a rectory. It was listed Grade II on the National Heritage List for England in 1979. The house sits in over five acres (2.0 ha) of grounds, with an orchard and a walled kitchen garden. There is a swimming pool, tennis court, paddock, and a separate four-bedroom cottage.The Laines was the childhood home of Camilla Shand, the future consort of Charles III. Camilla has stated that her childhood there was "perfect in every way". The house had been purchased by her parents, British Army officer and businessman Major Bruce Shand and his wife, Rosalind Shand (née Cubitt), who also had a house in South Kensington, London. The Shands moved there after the Second World War so that they could be near Sonia Cubitt, Camilla's grandmother. The Laines is believed to be where Bruce Shand asked the young Prince Charles about his intentions with regard to Camilla.The gardens were redesigned by Lanning Roper for the Shands in the late 1960s, Roper worked on the gardens and offered advice to the Shands until 1982. Roper's work at The Laines was featured in the September 1982 issue of Country Life.The Shands lived at The Laines until Rosalind died in 1994, when the estate was sold to the English actor James Wilby. In 2014, The Laines was listed for sale at £3.25 million, the second time in 63 years that it was available to purchase. It was put up for sale by James Wilby.

Streat is a village and parish in the Lewes district of East Sussex, England, 3 miles (4.8 km) south-east of Burgess Hill and 5 miles (8.0 km) west of Lewes, within the South Downs National Park. The 11th-century parish church has no dedication; the ecclesiastical parish is joined with Westmeston.

Ashcombe Bottom (TQ 373 119) is a 66 hectare (163 acre) woodland valley owned by the National Trust that runs south from Blackcap, East Sussex, England. The area is nested in the South Downs and can only be reached by walking or cycling from Lewes, Falmer, Ditchling Beacon or up the Clayton to Offham escarpment from Plumpton. It sits in the parish of St John Without and East Chiltington. The name Ashcombe refers to a Saxon named Aecci, not ash trees as might be assumed. It is part of the Clayton to Offham Escarpment Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Blackcap has been owned by the National Trust since 1993. It is on a peak of the South Downs, just south east of the village of Plumpton in East Sussex, England and west of Lewes. It is part of the Clayton to Offham Escarpment SSSI. The flatter landscape is made up of open ground with chalk paths, surrounded by thickets. The steeper ground leading up to the ridge is low-density woodland. The top is more open, with patches of pine woodland and gorse bushes, and there is a triangulation point. Because of the height of the hill at 206 metres (676 ft), the top of Blackcap was largely spared the farmers' plough and the ground has not been "improved" for monoculture crop fields as much as the rest of Downs were after the second world war. Unimproved chalk downland is internationally rare and hosts archaic plants and rich biodiversity. As a result, this is an important area on the South Downs. The brow of Blackcap is still described by David Bangs as an area where, "Crows caw, Jackdaws squark, clouds pass, peace still reigns in this old-fashioned place". The hilltop offers some far reaching and impressive views, which encompasses Ashdown Forest northwards, Mount Caburn, Windover Hill (home of the Long Man), Firle Beacon, Seaford Head, Newhaven’s Rushy Hill, Kingston Hill, Hollingbury Hillfort, and Brighton’s high-rise towers.

Plumpton Racecourse is a National Hunt racecourse in the village of Plumpton, East Sussex near Lewes and Brighton. Racing first took place at Plumpton in 1884. It's most notable race is the Sussex National Handicap Chase

Falmer is a small village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England, lying between Brighton and Lewes, approximately five miles (8 km) north-east of the former. It is also the site of Brighton & Hove Albion's Falmer Stadium. Falmer village is divided by the A27 road. North of the dual carriageway are a few houses and a pub, with a footbridge linking to the southern part of the village, where a large pond is encircled by cottages and the parish church, dedicated to St. Laurence. The two halves of the village are also linked by a road bridge just outside this circle of houses. The village pond, home to a population of ducks and geese, and is very likely to account for the name of the village. The village is recorded in the Domesday Book as 'Falemere' which is likely to be Saxon for "fallow mere" and mean a dark pool.The campuses of the University of Sussex and the University of Brighton are nearby, as is The Keep—East Sussex County Council's new archive and record office, which opened in 2013.

East Chiltington is a village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. It is centred four miles (5.9 km) south-east of Burgess Hill and five miles (8 km) north-west of Lewes. It is a strip parish of 3.76 square miles (9.7 km2), stretching northward (south of Plumpton) from the crest of the South Downs. The village church is 13th century in origin; the vicar also has charge of two churches in Plumpton. Near the church there is a pub called The Jolly Sportsman. The Sussex Greensand Way, a Roman road, runs from east to west through the centre of the parish. Eton College owns a 500 acre plot in the parish and in 2021 applied to build 3,000 homes in the area north of the railway line. The proposal has met with resistance from locals, citing amongst other things the risk to the biodiversity of the area.There is no public access to the majority of the banks of Bevern Stream through East Chiltington.

Plumpton railway station serves the village of Plumpton in East Sussex, England. It is 44 miles 42 chains (71.7 km) from London Bridge via Redhill. Train services are provided by Southern. The station neighbours Plumpton Racecourse, which had its own platform at the end of the village station.

Westmeston is a village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England heavily dependent in amenities on larger Ditchling to the near-immediate northwest. It is four miles (6 km) south-southeast of Burgess Hill and (10 km) west of Lewes, on the northern slopes of the South Downs. The name Westmeston comes from Saxon English meaning the most westerly farm, probably from Plumpton.