Bird Bonanza in Combe Valley Countryside Park
By David Dennis Combe Valley Countryside Park is a beautiful area of open country, with a winter-flooded Combe Haven river valley as a central feature. Around the valley edges are lakes, ponds, and very extensive marshy reed beds, including the…
Sign up for Sustainability on Sea
Following on from last year’s success, Hastings and St Leonards’ Sustainability on Sea (SOS) Festival is back – and planned to be bigger and better. This year’s event will act as a showcase for local projects and inspire residents of…
Springtime Vegan
Sometimes it’s hard to be healthy and sometimes you just need a mate to say, “Why not try this?”. I spend a lot of time with my family and friends just asking what they’re having for tea. Even if they…
FORAGING: Smooth Sowthistle
By Geoff Dann Spring is just around the corner, and the early spring plants are ahead of their normal schedule due to the very mild second half of February. Throughout Hastings and St Leonards, one of the best-known spring vegetables…
Parklife
Spring has sprung – worryingly early, but that’s a story for another day - and our borough’s parks and gardens are budding and blooming. If you missed the snowdrops and crocuses then be sure to get out into the town’s…
Blame The Cows
Cows are getting a really bad press again. Dramatic rises in levels of methane gas have put ‘farting cow stories’ back in the news. Methane is a big problem in terms of climate change. It’s 84 times more potent than…
The Earlybird Café
by Dan Britten and Dean Whitbread We are Dan and Dean, founders of the extremely brand-new Hastings record label, Rock-a-Nore Records, and this is our favourite café in ; Nestling into between the lower slopes of the fast-rising hill to…
Beer Styles: Bitter or Pale Ale
By David Brumley Perhaps the most famous of British beer styles, Bitter or Pale Ale was originally developed at the end of the 19th century. Pale beers had become possible following the use of coke to roast malts, whereas previously…
Watermelon, Lime, Mint and Turmeric Smoothie
By Holly Johnson Watermelon is an amazing fruit, it really has got it all going on! Did you know that this particular variety of the humble curcubit family is pre-digested? For this reason, it’s best eaten on an empty stomach…
Back To Nature
Friends of Combe Valley is a national charity dedicated to preserving the wildlife and landscape of Combe Valley Countryside Park which lies between Crowhurst, St Leonards and Sidley and includes the coast at Glyne Gap. The Charity Commission has just…