Michelham Priory and Gardens

Michelham Priory is peaceful & romantic. There is something for everyone, old & young, from the minute you arrive in the Medieval gatehouse. Steeped in history it is a wonderful day out. The house is fascinating with a range of furniture and artefacts on display tracing the religious & working farm origins. I love the kitchen equipment and there are beautiful tapestries.
The gardens are superb & immaculate, including a walled Physic and Herb Garden, a Cloister Garden, a working Kitchen Garden, borders crammed with perennials and water lillies on the moat. There is a well-​stocked Shop with unusual gifts and a reasonably priced self-​service restaurant. There are also picnic areas.
Disabled access is good for most of the site although the Moated Island is not a good idea and there are stairs to the first floor of the house.
There is a working watermill which holds regular dispays, the staff are very informative and sell the flour. (Check for times),
a working forge that occasionally a blacksmith demonstrating (who very kindly made me a hook that I had been wanting) and
an interesting small rope museum.
I believe they hire the Elizabethan barn for Weddings & corporate events.
There are many events & festivals through out the year and we recently went to the Medieval Fair with wonderful village set up, everyone in costume, jugglers, battles, armoury. The participants, all experts in their fields, were more than happy to spend time & explain things. I even had a chainmail copper bracelet made, very heavy !
I have only covered a fraction of what is available here & all for £6.25, it is terrific value for money.
Michelham Priory is twinned with Les Jardins de Valloires near Somme Bay in France. These spectacular gardens are situated in the grounds of the 12^th Century Cistercian Abbey and are also well worth a visit. I will write a seperate review.

My in-​laws got married here 3 years ago and the facilities available were second to none.
It helped that it was on a fantastic summer day but it was a wonderful day.
There’s not really much else I can add to DMJ1962’s fantastic review.

Michelham Priory is a delightful place to visit between Lewes and Eastbourne: a Tudor House set amongst lovely gardens, within England’s longest extant water-​filled moat, situated in the wonderfully-​named village of Upper Dicker.
Founded as an Augustinian Priory in 1229, it thrived until the Dissolution in 1537, when the church was dismantled and the stone used for building in the surrounding area. A few years later, the estate was bought by a local nobleman, and a substantial Tudor House was built utilising the remaining monastic buildings, chiefly the Refectory and the Priest’s apartments. To-​day, the house — an odd mix of ecclesiastical and Tudor domestic architecture — contains an undercroft, kitchen and a range of domestic rooms, filled with antiques, tapestries and exhibits telling the story of the inhabitants over the years.
But there is plenty more to see, before walking around the grounds and exploring its impressive and picturesque moat. There’s a mediaeval Gatehouse, Elizabethan barn, a small replica of an Iron Age village, a working watermill and a Blacksmith’s Forge, for starters.
The water mill has been rebuilt many times over the years, but is recorded as early as 1434, and possibly existed before that. You can watch the mill at work, and buy some of the resulting organic wholemeal flour. Close by are two reconstructed Iron Age houses, built by the East Sussex Archaeology and Museums Project, to demonstrate experimental archaeology.
The barn is mainly used for functions, with weddings and Civil Partnerships a specialty. Next door is a small and reasonably-​priced tea-​room and restaurant, and also a Forge where, on selected days, a blacksmith is at work, making ornamental ironmongery. Finally, there’s a shop, selling all sorts of items with a countryside theme, such as preserves, lavender, garden ornaments, stationery and books — perfect for presents for Great Aunts. The staff throughout were exceptionally jolly and friendly — all a bit less formal than the National Trust.
The Priory hosts events all year round: on our visit, there was a small rally of vintage cars and motor-​cycles. See web-​site for details. Much of the main site is accessible by wheelchair, although neither the paths around the northern part of the moat nor the upper rooms or the undercroft of the house are accessible.