The old church stands at the top of Friston Hill, high in the Downs beside a small pond, with a tile-hung bell-turret at its west end and a Norman nave that keeps Saxon work in its north wall. St Mary the Virgin was formerly listed as St James, and the two names still trail a small confusion behind them; St James may have been the original dedication, with St Mary applied at first only to an altar. The north transept, the newest part, went up in 1892 to hold two monuments to the Selwyn family of Friston Place. Inside, the nave roof has moulded tiebeams and braced crownposts, and a grotesque animal-head corbel watches from the north-west corner. Sussex Parish Churches calls it "a welcome survival of a small downland church," which is a fair reading of a small church that has held its marginal ground.
This is Friston: the uphill, north-western part of a joint parish, the stretch of ground where the A259 climbs away from East Dean. The two were separate communities until 1948, when the Friston Parish Meeting merged with East Dean, and the distinction still matters when you go looking for somewhere to eat, because the food is down the hill.
That is where you will find the Tiger Inn, on East Dean's green. It has been there since the 15th century, with an open fire and low oak beams, and its kitchen leans on local supply: Long Man battered fish and chips, Prinkle Farm pork-and-herb sausages, slow-braised lamb shank, a chicken, gammon and leek pie, a Sussex Charmer ploughman's. Long Man Best Bitter is the regular ale, and dogs are welcome at the outdoor tables that run along the front and side. A few doors on, Red Elephant Siam cooks Thai at Blythe House, from miang gung to crispy salmon pla choo chee, char-grilled lamb cutlets in massaman sauce and a "Weeping Tiger" grilled sirloin. Hikers Rest, on Village Green Lane, does homemade breakfasts, lunches and baking. On market days more than forty stalls set up around the village hall, selling lamb, organic pork pies, cheeses, bread, gin, honey and Indian food.
The reason most people come is the walking, and Friston sits on top of it. Friston Forest covers about 850 hectares on a south-facing slope, nearly three-quarters of it beech, above the Seven Sisters Country Park. Forestry England waymarks the Butchers Trudge and White Horse View trails, along with an easy cycle route for families; there are picnic areas and toilets, dogs are allowed, barbecues are not. From the Tiger you can strike out on the National Trust's three-mile circuit to Birling Gap, following old droving and smuggling routes over chalk grassland, or take the parish council's seven-mile Tapsell Gate Walk from East Dean, through Friston and Jevington and back.
The forest is younger than it looks. The land is held on a 200-year lease from South East Water, first taken up by the Forestry Commission to keep agricultural pollution out of the water catchment.
Getting here is straightforward. Eastbourne station is three miles off, Seaford five, and the 12 and 12X buses run the coast road every twenty minutes or so on weekdays, though it is worth checking a timetable before setting out. East Dean's recreation ground keeps a tennis court that is free and permanently open, its nets left up through the summer.