Farming in Sussex, growing food for self-sufficiency and to feed livestock, for your local eatery.

Herstmonceux is relatively well catered for, except the village does not benefit from a Chinese restaurant or takeaway, burger, pizza or subway fast food restaurant.

The nearest restaurant serving Chinese food is in Hailsham or Pevensey Bay. You'll have to go to Hailsham for a Subway or pizza, and Polegate is the closest McDonalds. 

If you like traditional pub grub, then you are in luck, you have a choice of three public houses that serve some very tasty meals. Herstmonceux also has a curry restaurant (and takeway), a fish and chip shop and a specialty restaurant if you like French cuisine - as follows:

Eastern Promise
Geo's Coffee House

Sundial
The Brewers Arms

The Horseshoe Inn

The Merrie Harriers
The White Horse Inn
Willows Fish And Chip Shop

See our A - Z of places to stay local to Herstmonceux

In and around Herstmonceux there were eight places to whet your whistle, until recently, when the Horseshoe Inn closed in 2022, the owners of the site, presumably, suffering from Covid 19 loss of business, have taken the opportunity to bulldoze this landmark public house and restaurant, and build houses that are not affordable or sustainable, and will inevitably lead to more congestion along the A271. Given the almost total lack of affordable housing in Wealden, it may have been more appropriate to convert the existing buildings to social housing, flats, etc., with a significantly reduced carbon footprint. What a climate and traffic congestion catastrophe!

FOR THE CHOP - Give us a break, why not be a vegetarian. Red meat is not conducive to a long healthy life. If you saw how cattle are slaughtered, you'd probably be scarred for life. So called, humane butchery, is still killing and chopping up animals for food, like burgers and sausages, that could be made from soya and other high protein plants. Pescetarians fare better, in living longer, but with fish now tainted from plastics, we wonder if Japan will still have so many centegenarians in years to come, as cancer rates begin to creep up.

SUSTAINABILITY - FOOD SECURITY

Fish stocks on the south coast of England are seriously depleted. Seaweed, the oxygenator of the ocean, equivalent of the Amazon rainforest, has been trawled up (illegally) by local fishermen, forcing the creation of conservation areas - that are unfortunately - not well policed. Micro plastics and other fibers have entered the seafood chain along the English Channel via river pollution, with Chichester being one of the worst affected areas from the GRP manufacturing and boat building industries. Fish and shellfish, such as crabs, lobsters, mussels, shrimps, oysters and prawns, are shown to have micro plastic in the gut. Plastic is like a sponge to carcinogenic toxins in the ocean.

Then there is acidification and anthropogenic warming of the oceans, also reducing fishery output. 

To add to that we have desertification, where once arable land has been turned into deserts from climate change, from the burning of fossil fuels in cars and trucks, heating of homes with gas and oil, and rearing of animals that produce methane, to feed a growing world population.

Strangely, much of the seafood that you are likely to eat locally, will be imported. Especially white fish from fish and chip shops. But we have to eat, or starve. There is always the Hannibal Lecter cookery book, if all goes pear shaped, with politicians first on the menu. Sustainability and the 'Blue' or Circular Economy, not being high on the agendas of local authorities. Though we now have towns that are certified Plastic Free, such as Eastbourne. Thanks to the sterling efforts of Oliver Sterno and his crew, and many more teams around the country who organise beach cleaning, and certification of local businesses, under the Surfers Against Sewage banner.

So please eat responsibly. If you can't finish your meal, ask for a doggy bag. Don't waste food. Even better, consider going veggie, or vegan. Or at least try to cut down on your meat intake, with no meat Mondays. Having said that, what is life without the occasional celebration. It's just good to be alive, unlike the dinosaurs, mammoths and even rhinos, that once roamed the British Isles. We killed off such mega-fauna, when we hunted them to extinction, and began farming domestic animals. Mooooo, baaaaa.

SUSTAINABLE BUILDINGS - The use of wood for construction is a sustainable practice, provided that the timber being used comes from a responsibly managed source. The old Generating Station in Lime Park, at Herstmonceux, is mostly built of wood. Wood is a natural carbon sink - meaning we should plant more trees - and build more houses of timber. The use of photovoltaic panels and large (solar) conservatory areas to trap heat, reduces the need to waste electricity or other fuels. Light from our sun pours down on planet earth at the rate of one kilowatt per square meter. The right to light is thus important in a modern age, where every penny counts toward sustainability. The Trust that maintains the buildings, believe that sustainability is key to survival of the human race. Other competing interests, may not be so climate friendly.

FOOD LINKS & REFERENCE

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