LAST month’s Joy of Sussex feature celebrated everything that makes our county so great.
On Christmas Eve we published our 25th – and final – joy and now we want you to vote for your favourite. It could be the man-made beauty of our Victorian piers and bandstands or the natural splendour of the South Downs and our wonderful coastline.
Others may think the top joy is our beach huts, the Lewes Bonfire celebrations, the fine produce available or our resident seagulls.
All 25 joys help make Sussex the place we love – but we want your favourite.
1. Pebbles
THERE are more than 600 million of them on our shore and tens of thousands of them are now in back gardens and on mantelpieces all over the world as reminders of happy days.
Others formed the foundations for the garden makeover anti-lawn craze a few years back when decking and pots full of yuccas were the fashion.
Tough, unyielding, beautiful and varied, pebbles are a perfect reflection of the communities that border them.
2. Murmurations
AS THE nights draw in, the Sussex coast gets to see one of nature’s great displays.
Thousands of starlings from Russia and Scandinavia arrive at these shores for the supposed warmth of the UK.
They congregate with their native cousins on the rusty beams of the West Pier, heading out in the day to the farms of the South Downs to pick off tasty insects.
But in the evenings they take to the skies en masse and swoop, dive and soar with the English Channel as their backdrop.
3. Eccentrics
PERHAPS it started more than 200 years ago when the king built a giant Indo-Saracen party house in a seaside town and decorated it with ornamental dragons and palm trees.
Or maybe it really took off when Magnus Volk built the Daddy Long Legs railway running on stilts through the sea from Brighton to Rottingdean, an audacious dream soon foiled by the weather.
Whatever the alchemy of cause, effect, sea air, sunshine and salty water that made it so, the city’s reputation for screwballs, kooks, off-beats and misfits is now pretty concrete. And we wouldn’t have it any other way.
4. South Downs
A BREATHTAKING expanse with no end of inspiration for exploration.
It is what gives us the wonderful experience of being able to live by the sea, in or near a city and within footsteps of rolling countryside all at the same time.
Sussex and the South Downs go hand in hand. They always have and they always will.
5. Sea
IN RUDYARD Kipling’s much-loved poem Sussex, his final stanza closes with “In a fair ground – Sussex by the sea”.
There is nothing quite like the view of the rolling green of the South Downs giving way to the towering cliffs and the expanse of the English Channel.
The sea gives us everything from a family day out, to fantastic views and in some cases even our livelihoods.
6. Piers
THE National Piers Society says we in Sussex have a fine selection of piers, with five still operating in the county.
Starting from the east, they can be found in Hastings, Eastbourne, Brighton, Worthing and Bognor.
There are also the remains of the iconic West Pier, casting long shadows at sunset off Brighton beach.
7. Beach huts
THERE’S little doubt the beach huts along the Sussex coast are a real institution.
They are lovingly cared for by their owners and the long waiting lists to get one are testament to their enduring popularity.
Whether along busy locations such as Hove seafront or quieter areas such as Ferring, near Worthing, the huts are often painted in bright colours and stand out even on the dullest or wettest of days.
8. Seagulls
LOVE them or loathe them, Sussex without seagulls would be unthinkable.
The distinctive birds, more accurately known as herring gulls, are as important a part of the county as beaches, the South Downs, candyfloss and piers.
They are so synonymous with the area that the county’s largest football club, Brighton and Hove Albion, is known by the nickname the Seagulls.
9. Castles
IN SUSSEX we have everything from the Roman foundations of Pevensey Castle to the fairytale-like Herstmonceux, most of which was built in the 20th century.
So if you are in to your baileys, drawbridges, moats and mottes, then Sussex is the place to be.
Most are Norman in origin as when William the Conqueror came over in 1066, he ordered the building of numerous castles along the Sussex coast to act as a defensive line.
10. Bonfires
THERE are bonfire nights, there are Sussex bonfire nights and then there is Lewes bonfire night.
While most of the country might think bonfire night is just a couple of hours on November 5, for Sussex, bonfire season starts in October and runs right the way through to the end of November.
And when it comes to the big night on November 5, there is only one place the nation’s eyeballs swivel to, Lewes.
Each year, prominent leaders and public figures from around the world get the Lewes treatment with David Cameron, Sepp Blatter and Jeremy Clarkson all feeling the fiery wrath last year.
11. Quirky traditions
THERE are a host of quirky traditions in Sussex, including Apple Howling in Bolney, the World Pea Throwing championships in Lewes, bath tub races and the Jack in the Green event in Hastings on May Day each year.
These kind of events – seemingly from a different age – used to be held across the country.
For whatever reason, they have endured in Sussex and we are all the better for them.
12. Produce
OUR sunny climes make us the envy of the English wine industry and we have thrown down the gauntlet as a firm rival of cheesemakers across the country.
Sussex is oozing with so much delicious local produce. There is something for everyone, from Harveys beer to Bolney Wine and South Downs lamb.
13. Retail
WHETHER it is fashion victims perusing the retro boutiques of Lewes or hoarders finding knick-knacks in Eastbourne’s gift shops, Sussex shoppers have their pick of retailers.
Perhaps best known is the North Laine and The Lanes of Brighton, with high street, designer and independent shops offering something for everyone.
And if you venture down an alley or twitten in one of our market towns, you can be sure to pick up anything from rare antique pottery and glassware to ancient maps and vintage furniture.
14. Fashion
BRIGHTON and Hove is a hotbed for fashion talent, while its Fashion Week is notorious for giving budding designers the chance to make bold statements.
Gresham Blake sells bespoke menswear from his shop and the city also boasts designer Ong Oaj Pairam, who came to Brighton as a teenager.
He was inspired by the city to become one of the top designers in the world with his celebrity fans including Cheryl Fernandez-Versini and Game of Thrones star Natalie Dormer.
15. Football clubs
BRIGHTON and Hove Albion are sitting pretty in the Championship and these days their home, the American Express Community Stadium, would grace any division in the world.
Crawley remain the county’s second highest club, battling it out in League Two while smaller clubs across the county also have great appeal, none more so than Whitehawk, who almost made it to the third round of the FA Cup this season.
Then there’s the likes of Lewes, at their popular Dripping Pan ground, Eastbourne Borough, Worthing United and Peacehaven and Telscombe.
If you like the beautiful game, you are spoilt for choice.
16. Opinions
EVERYONE has an opinion and in Sussex they vary enormously. Our letters page is testament to that.
Those in Sussex aren’t shy about protesting either, with the small village of Balcombe witnessing the UK’s biggest anti-fracking demonstrations.
Meanwhile, the No More Page 3 campaign, which went national was started by 38-year-old Lucy-Anne Holmes from Hove. Democracy is alive and well in these parts.
17. Pub walks
LOVERS of a fine country jaunt and proper pub are so spoilt for choice they could enjoy a different pairing every day of the year.
Attractive though that sounds, few of us have the luxury of so much time but that need not stop us getting out there when we can.
For city dwellers it is easy to forget just how close we are to the countryside - and some walks don’t even require a car.
18. Artists
FROM Picasso to Virginia Woolf, Henry James to Duncan Grant, Rudyard Kipling to Lee Miller – the Sussex countryside has inspired them all.
For a county of just 1.6 million people and just short of one million acres, we definitely punch above our weight when it comes to the creative stakes.
Charleston, Farley Farm House, Bateman’s and Lamb House all becamehomes of great artists and writers.
19. Music
FROM the traditional songs handed down through generations by Rottingdean’s Copper Family to Brit Award-winning former BIMM student James Bay – music has run through the heart of Sussex for centuries.
Today the focus is on the young bands and songwriters learning their trade at venues including Concorde 2 and Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar.
Then there are the festivals such as Wild Life, Shakedown and Fatboy Slim’s beach gigs.
20. Bandstands
FOR many decades they have stood proudly in our parks, lawns and seafronts with their fancy ironwork, polygonal shapes, pointed roofs and bright colours.
They mark a high point in our county’s public architecture, so loved that many have been restored to ensure they remain for future generations.
Of the nine bandstands still standing in Sussex (once there were 36), Brighton’s is just about the oldest, an “all but bomb-proof” structure finished in 1884.
21. Railway journeys
THE railway lines of Sussex are more varied than you might imagine.
WHILE the Brighton to London mainline attracts most of the headlines, it is the likes of the Bluebell Railway and the Kent and East Sussex Railway between Bodiam and Tenderden in Kent that provide the most peaceful journeys.
Then there is Brighton’s Volk’s Railway, which is the oldest electric railway still running. It was pioneered in Brighton in 1883.
22. Cricket
BE it Brunswick Village playing Dormansland or Sussex taking on Yorkshire in Hove, cricket in the county is always special with the grounds some of the best in the world – just think of Arundel and Horsham.
Hove is of course the home of Sussex cricket and on a summer day with the breeze coming in off the sea, the deckchairs out and the seagulls circling overhead, there really is nowhere else like it.
23. Tribes
FOR its diverse array of citizens, Sussex has its fair share of distinct groups of people - the tribes that make up our colourful county.
Lewes has had its bonfire societies since the 1700s, becoming distinct factions that compete year after year to create the best firework celebrations. Meanwhile, more than 20,000 people in the county call themselves pagans.
And you can’t look past the mods and rockers, who famously clashed on Brighton seafront in 1964.
24. Festivals
EVERY weekend The Guide diary is packed with Sussex festivals, ranging from movie celebrations such as Brighton’s CineCity and Chichester International Film Festival to food festivals on Hove Lawns and in New Road, Brighton.
There are also arts and crafts events with Made and Artists Open Houses plus the Brighton Festival and Brighton Fringe.
25. Architecture
IN Brighton, traditional Regency splendour and Victorian Italianate are punctuated by startling one-off structures, from the Royal Pavilion to the Palace Pier to the i360.
Sussex has the finest examples of Modernist buildings in the UK, from the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill to Chichester Festival Theatre and Falmer House at the University of Sussex .
Brighton alone has more than 3,500 listed structures and the city’s gems never fail to impress residents and visitors alike.
Voting has now closed