East Dean, England

East Dean

The village of East Dean was the first stop on our week-long road trip through England. With a population of slightly over 200, East Dean is tiny, but what it lacks in size it makes up for ten-fold with character.

Map

East Dean is located on the south coast of England between Brighton and Eastbourne. If traveling by car from London’s Gatwick Airport, it takes only about one hour to get to East Dean. It takes closer to two hours if driving from the center of London and about an hour and a half from Heathrow Airport. For disambiguation, there are actually two East Deans in south England. To be clear, we are referring to the East Dean in East Sussex often referred to collectively as East Dean and Friston (the civil parish is officially called “East Dean and Friston”). The other East Dean is located about an hour to the west in West Sussex. We’re sure it is also a lovely village, but it would be a bummer to drive an hour out of your way.

The green in the center of the village serves as the hub for all activity in East Dean and is surrounded by a pub, a coffee shop, and a Thai restaurant (seems out of place but it was surprisingly delicious). There is also a house on the green that says it is the retirement home of Sherlock Holmes. Yes, we are well aware that he is a fictional character, but apparently the author gives hints that East Dean is where Sherlock settled down and spent the twilight of his life as a bee keeper. And who can blame the guy? He clearly led a stressful life and East Dean is just about as tranquil as it gets.

The Tiger Inn

We spent our first night in the Tiger Inn in the Catherine room located just above the pub. The inn/pub is located directly on the village green in the center of East Dean and it is the quintessential English pub in every way. Even though this was the first pub we visited on our trip, it was without a doubt our favorite. We would never claim to be pub experts. In fact, we’re Americans, which by definition makes us pub novices. But the 15th century Tiger Inn is everything we had imagined when we planned this trip. They served traditional English pub fare, had beers on tap from the Beachy Head Brewery down the street, had multiple wood burning fireplaces, and the ceilings were too low for us to stand without bumping our heads. If you stay at the inn, a full English breakfast is included which was both enormous and delicious. Throughout the course of the day, several groups of hikers stopped by the pub to take a break from their walks along the nearby South Downs Way. The pub also serves as the start and finish of the “Mammoth Challenge”, a 26-mile hike through the South Downs that stops at a few other pubs along the way. In addition to the Tiger, there are only a few other places to stay in town, including the Garden Room where we spent our second night in East Dean. It’s right around the corner from the green and slightly less expensive than staying at the Tiger Inn (although it doesn’t include breakfast).

The Seven Sisters & Beachy Head

While enjoying the relaxing atmosphere of this idyllic village is a perfectly legitimate reason for visiting, the real reason to stay in East Dean is for easy access to the stunning coastline. The village green is only one mile from the ocean and the towering Seven Sisters Cliffs. It is only a bit further to the chalk headland immediately to the east called Beachy Head. Opportunities abound for casual walks along the beach, long hikes along the cliffs, cycling, horseback riding, and boating. We visited during the winter, so the beaches and cliffs were not too crowded; however, the entire stretch of coastline along the Seven Sisters and Beachy Head are extremely popular in the warmer summer months.

East Dean is not generally high on tourists’ list of priorities when planning a trip to England, but this quaint village is absolutely worth a visit. It provides an authentic English village experience while also providing convenient access to some of Englands most beautiful natural wonders.