Alfriston Clergy House

Alfriston Clergy House was the first building saved by the newly formed National Trust, bought as a restoration project in 1896, an early 15th-century thatched Wealden hall-house built for the priest of St Andrew's church and standing beside it on the Tye, the village green. Octavia Hill called it tiny but beautiful, with an orchard and a sweep of lowland river behind, and after restoration it was let to tenants with Arts and Crafts connections such as C. R. Ashbee and Sir Robert Witt. The cottage garden is laid out in Arts and Crafts garden rooms and the orchard still grows old and rare apples including the local Alfriston Apple. Dogs on leads are welcome in the garden and, kept on leads near livestock, on the Trust's moderate 5.7-mile Vineyards and Views Trail from the front gate through farmland and a vineyard. Reviewers find it small but full of history, are surprised by the height of the hall, and say a visit with the children's trail lasts as long as one to a far bigger property. Tips from visitors: there are no toilets, and parking is at the village car park 500 yards away, which fills on sunny afternoons.