The Ultimate Summer Books!

The long-awaited summer holiday season is now upon us but not everyone will be making the traditional dash to an airport in 2009. According to latest figures from the enticingly named Confederation of Passenger Transport, twice as many people will be holidaying at home in Britain this year than last. Financial uncertainty, low exchange rates and environmental concerns are all making the would-be traveller consider staying closer to home, rather than journeying to far-flung destinations. So widespread is this becoming that the ever-alert media has coined a term for the phenomenon, ‘staycations’, a less than poetic conflation of ‘stay’ and ‘vacation’.

For those of us fortunate enough to live in the lovely county of Sussex there is little privation in holidaying at home, while those who live a little further afield will find a warm welcome if they venture over our county borders. Whether a Sussex native or an incomer, let the slim and elegant volumes from Snake River Press become your indispensable guides to all the best that the county has to offer. And what better place to start than with our two latest titles, Old-Fashioned Family Days Out in Sussex and Bird Watching in Sussex? Let their authors’ enthusiasm and knowledge inspire you to discover some truly wonderful times to be had in the great outdoors.

But why stop there? Snake River Press has indispensable guides to the coastline, wildlife, walks, gardens and churches of the county, not forgetting the occasional eccentric jaunt not normally included on the tourist trail. To help you enjoy the very best of Sussex this summer we are offering the following titles for the very special price of £6.99 if you quote: SRP4 when placing an order. This offer is for a limited period only. Enjoy your summer!

Old-Fashioned Family Days Out in Sussex
Susan & Gina Jamieson, with introduction by Jane Hissey
If you're on a tight budget, or if you simply want to have fun at a slower pace, mother-and-daughter team Susan & Gina Jamieson show you the way. Old-Fashioned Family Days Out in Sussex contains 20 fun-filled family outings around the county that everyone can enjoy for free. They cover coast, forests, countryside, grand houses and intriguing little local museums and parks. Some of our ‘days out' need more energy and stamina than others, some are rainy-day treats, but each one will engage hearts and minds. To help make the outings more hands-on, Susan & Gina have included the occasional nostalgic recipe, games to play and tips on how to create your own props at home before setting out. Get ready for some genuine old-fashioned fun that you can treasure forever.

Bird Watching in Sussex
Rob Yarham, with introduction by Chris Packham
Even if you can't tell a hobby from a handsaw, the sight of a soaring bird over the Sussex Downs always lifts the heart. That's what seasoned bird-watcher Rob Yarham believes, and to help the rest of us to get more out of these life-affirming moments, he has chosen his top 20 Sussex birds and written an affectionate personal tribute to each of them. His descriptions of the birds and his encounters with them will inspire you to go out looking with new eyes. The second-half of Bird Watching in Sussex is devoted to a review of the best sites and places to find Rob's top 20, and many other fascinating birds: Sussex natives, incomers and birds of passage.

An Eccentric Tour of Sussex
Peter Bridgewater
Connoisseurs of the peculiar need look no further. An Eccentric Tour of Sussex is a guidebook to the county’s left-field. It signposts the way to some of the weird, wacky and gobsmackingly silly places, people and events that can be found in Sussex. Whether it’s the seedy pleasures of Brighton, the pyrotechnic excesses of Lewes, the smoky and beguiling atmosphere of the Bluebell Railway, the heavenly Sistine Chapel replica in Goring-by-Sea or the lesser-known and rather sinister delights of Thorney Island, prepare yourself for a roller-coaster excursion full of fun, whimsy and a little erudition. However well you think you may know Sussex, this book is guaranteed to throw a revealing light on some of the more unconventional and quirky destinations sitting on your doorstep.

20 Sussex Walks
Pat Bowen
A good walk should do more than exercise your heart, lungs and muscles; it should enhance your mood, refresh your soul and leave you knowing a little bit more about your world. There’s no better way of getting to know the land than by walking it until you feel it in your bones – even if these do ache pleasantly after one of the more challenging outings. These 20 original walks have been designed by Sussex walk expert Pat Bowen to let you experience every aspect of the rich Sussex landscape from coast to high heathland, and on the way entertain you with historical titbits, anecdotes, nature notes, folk stories, and the kind of insider knowledge that only locals have.

20 Sussex Churches
Simon Watney
Expand your ecclesiastical horizons by getting up close and intimate with some of the most remarkable parish churches in Sussex. 20 Sussex Churches takes the visitor on a fascinating and illuminating journey, revealing along the way the rich religious, social and architectural history that lies behind each church façade. From the grand to the humble, the rural to the urban, the ancient to the more modern, each landmark church offers something unique and uplifting. If your knowledge of church furniture and architecture stops at ‘font’ and ‘spire’, here is an opportunity to explore the history of Christianity and church-building in Sussex and discover why churches still matter in the modern world.

Sussex Snippets

Here are just a few eclectic items garnered from the Sussex Bookends pages of The Argus newspaper. Snake River Press contributes to the paper a weekly celebration of all things Sussex and past issues can be viewed in full at www.snakeriverpress.co.uk.

Pond Pudding
If any dish can said to be associated with the county then it must be Sussex Pond Pudding – although I musty admit I have lived here for over 30 years and have never even seen it on a menu, let alone been served it! It sounds like real comfort food: a suet crust pudding stuffed with sugar, butter and a whole lemon that, when cut open, oozes a runny confection of buttery, lemony, sugar juices, hence the appellation ‘pond.’

Original early recipes ommitted the lemon, a tropical ingredient most likely unavailable at many small country markets. As Fizz Carr writes amusingly in her book Good Food & Drink in Sussex, ‘The reputation of Sussex as a centre for suet cookery was such that it was said to venture into the county was to risk being turned into a pudding yourself.’ It is doubtless our current preoccupation with trim waistlines and the trend for low-fat desserts that has consigned this delicious sounding pud to near mythical status.

End of the Pier Show
A perennial pleasure for Sussex residents is taking a stroll along the various promenades of our lovely coastline. It is a county blessed with its fair share of seaside piers, although unfortunately not all are as beautiful (or complete) as when first constructed. Here is a comparative list of six Sussex piers that graphically illustrates their changing fortunes.

• Bognor Regis – built 1863-65, original length not know and now derelict

• Palace Pier, Brighton – built 1891-9, original length 533.3 metres, open to the public

• West Pier, Brighton – built 1863-6, original length 337.8 metres, collapsed

• Eastbourne – built 1866-70, original length 303 metres, open to the public

• Hastings – built 1869-72, original length 275 metres, closed

• Worthing – built 1861-2, original length 291 metres, open to the public

Chocolate Paradise
For chocoholics Easter is a dangerously tempting time. As with so many of the pleasures one can eat or imbibe the secret is to consume smaller amounts but of greater quality. Fortunately for the Sussex chocolate lover there is something of an embarrassment of riches right on their doorstep as the county is home to some of the very best new chocolate producers.

The award winning organic manufacturer The Chocolate Alchemist operates from Lodsworth in West Sussex and many top London stores sell their beautifully decorated Easter eggs. Over in Horsham Cocoa Loco also produce organic chocolate delights, including a fabulous range of brownies. In Brighton The Chocolate Empire creates an exotic range of organic chocolates flavoured with such exciting things as ylang ylang and essential oils. Also in the town can be found two wonderful emporiums devoted just to chocolate, Montezuma’s and Choccywoccydoodah. Just remember, with fine chocolate less is more.

Cool Man
Looking to increase your vocabulary? Why not spice up your daily verbal interactions with a few choice provincialisms that were once commonly heard in Sussex. Here’s one that will be particularly useful if the summer of 2009 is as hot as predicted.

Coolthe: meaning coolness.
Example: ‘I left the window open for coolthe.’

Cuckoo Calling
In spring the correspondence pages of our newspapers are full of contenders for the annual race to be the first to hear the call of the cuckoo. Sadly this year there has been much concern expressed about the dwindling numbers of cuckoos. As befits such a traditionally rural county, Sussex is rich in local superstitions that relate to this most recognisable of birds.

For instance, any baby fortunate enough to be born on the day the first cuckoo calls will be lucky all its life. In contrast, if you hear the cuckoo calling while in bed you will have bad luck unless, of course, you remove the sock from your right foot while reciting the rhyme, ‘may this to me, lucky be’. I’m not quite sure what you should do if you aren’t wearing socks at the time! Young girls waiting for a proposal of marriage must carefully count the number of times they hear the cuckoo call; the total being equivalent to the number of years before they will marry. Probably the most popular custom was that known as Cuckoo Ale; on hearing the first cuckoo the listener must go to drink its health immediately at the nearest inn!

A Bouquet of Bethwine and Butter-and-Eggs
The naming of plants is a minefield for gardeners, some species or other is always being renamed or reclassified. One way to get around this is to stick to old local names, which usually sound far more poetic than fussy old Latin. Here are a few examples once common in Sussex.

• Alf Hoof or Lion’s Mouth: ground ivy
• Bethwine or Tombacca: wild clematis
• Bread-and-Cheese: hawthorn buds
• Butter-and-Eggs or Pig’s Pettitoe: bird’s foot trefoil
• Dead Men’s Fingers: purple orchid
• Grandmother’s Pincushion: field scabious
• Kiss-Me: wild viola
• Rabbit’s-Meat: wild parsley

Counting Sheep
In spring the Sussex Downs are alive with the amusing antics of lambs but imagine the difficulties if you were a shepherd and had to count them into or out of a pasture! Various systems for counting sheep have evolved in different regions. This rhyme below is associated with Sussex shepherds and the counting was usually done in pairs (so ‘den’ would be 20 sheep).

One-erum … one
Two-erum … two
Cock-erum … three
Shu-erum … four
Sith –erum … five
Sath-erum … six
Wineberry … seven
Wagtail … eight
Tarry diddle … nine
Den … Ten