Viva Lewes June 2015 Issue #105

on this month: gardens
Southease Open Gardens Fête
Fixing the roof while the sun shines
What do you do when
your thousand-yearold
church needs a
new roof and there are
only 16 households in
the village to pay for
it? In Southease, they
thank the Lord that so
many of those houses
are beautiful and throw
open the gardens for
a party.
For those of us
squeezed into small
terraces and flats in
Lewes, the 10 minute
drive (or one train
stop) downstream to
Southease is literally a
breath of fresh air. In
the Domesday Book
it is listed as home to
46 villagers. Today,
according to the village
website, it has ‘approximately 50’. And you think
Lewes is resistant to change…
Southease’s position where the South Downs
Way crosses the River Ouse made it important
way back even beyond King Alfred’s day, but it
was Alfred’s great-grandson King Edgar who
founded the present church in 966 – the charter
is in the British Museum. Its round tower is one
of only three in Sussex and was added in the
12th century, as were the frescoes on the walls
that you can (just about) still make out today.
So it’s old, and the roof needs fixing at a cost
of £62,000, and the church – which doesn’t get
any money from the Church of England or the
Government – is on a fundraising drive. Enter
David de Mallet Morgan, churchwarden, who
found his faith, he tells me, as soon as he walked
into Southease Church several years ago. Now,
the retired local solicitor is an energetic force in
saving it: “This is our
turn to look after the
church. In the 10th
century it was their
turn and now in the
21st century it is our
turn.”
To fix the roof, David
has organised a programme
of events, the
highlight of which will
be the Open Gardens
Fête. “There will be six
gardens open. Some
are large, up to two
acres, while one is tiny.
Some are formal and
beautifully ordered,
another is a wonderful
mix of vegetables,
flowers and weeping
willows over the lake.
Then you have country
gardens that are very
different to anything you will see in Lewes.
Adrian Orchard, who ran the highly successful
chilli festival in the village, will be opening his
own, highly technical garden”.
As well as enjoying the gardens and quizzing the
owners, you can buy plants, with well-known
gardeners such as Jennie Maillard offering sage
advice. Anyone inspired can buy gardening
implements and other bric-a-brac. There’s a
barbecue too.
David wants lots of children to visit: “We are
having a quiz, where children will run around
finding answers to win a prize.”
Best of all, there will be that quintessential joy
of the English countryside in summer, cream
tea and cakes in a marquee on the village green.
Words and photo by Chris Nye
Saturday, Sunday, 13-14, 1-5pm, Southease. Entry:
£5 donation, small children free.
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