The horse’s blunt white nose pointed towards the sea. Its tail streamed backwards in the direction of Alfriston, the charming, teashop-laden village where we’d parked our red Beetle. As we made our way up High and Over Hill, our way barred momentarily by occasional buffets of sea-scented wind, the horse cantered silently, chalkily, across theDowns. The hillside was shadowed, but as we stood on the crest, the soft sweeps of land below us were highlighted by a mellow late summer sun. The river Cuckmere meandered unconcernedly across the marshes of theSevenSistersCountryPark. At the end of its journey, a few miles south, it would spill out onto the beach at Cuckmere Haven, a pebbly cone at the foot of the first of the austere white Seven Sisters, the famous chalk cliffs that form part of the Sussex Heritage Coast. (more…)