Introduction
Pilstyes is a Grade II listed village house believed to have
been built around 1575. It is arranged as a main house with
an attached cottage. (The cottage is let as a holiday home
and we let one double bedded room with an ensuite shower
room on a bed and breakfast basis in the main house.)
The house has painted brick
walls on a tall sandstone plinth, partly tile hung with a
roof of mellow Sussex clay tiles and Horsham stone slab
slates. The Pilstyes combines many period features such as
exposed wall and ceiling oak timbers and leaded light
windows to the front elevation. "It is the quintessential
English cottage that everyone dreams about".
The Pilstyes is situated in
the north end of Lindfield in an enviable position close to
all the village amenities. The name The Pilstyes means Pond
in a field. The house next to ours is called Roaches after
the fish in the pond and the house on the corner of the
street is called Spongs which means corner of a field. These
names were given to the houses hundreds of years ago
probably to houses standing here before the present ones and
any trace of its fish, pond and field have long gone.
In fact, the picturesque High Street of Lindfield is well
known for its variety of period houses and cottages. The
High Street has brick pavements and grass verges on both
sides interspersed with lime trees. The village amenities
include an excellent selection of shops, an historic church,
a village pond with swans and ducks and a large common.
Promenading up and down the High Street is a pleasurable
occupation especially on a warm summer’s afternoon
followed by tea in one of the tea rooms.
Even more pleasurable is a
early evening stroll followed by a pint in the Red Lion.
(There are 5 pubs within easy walking distance with three
cooking lunches and suppers.) The shops include butcher,
chemists, supermarket, newsagents, bakers, greengrocers,
bookshop, violin maker, shoe shop, dress shops, toy shops,
pretty present shops, art galleries, florists etc.
