East Sussex by campervan: overnight rules and campsites

Last checked November 2026.

East Sussex runs along the Channel coast from Brighton and Hove to Camber Sands and the Kent border, with the chalk cliffs of the South Downs in between and the woods and heath of the High Weald and Ashdown Forest inland. Newhaven has the ferry to Dieppe, so it’s also a handy way into Normandy. For a campervan the catch is overnight parking. Nearly all the council car parks in the county either ban sleeping in a vehicle or keep vans out with height barriers, Brighton and Hove and Rother have orders against overnight stays in vans, and the old free spots by the sea have gone. Plan your nights on campsites.

Where you can and can’t stay overnight

There’s no general law in England against sleeping in a legally parked van on a public road, but local rules are common and you have to read the signs. Council car-park orders, traffic orders and public spaces protection orders (PSPOs) all restrict it, and a council can direct people living in a vehicle on a roadside or other land to leave; ignoring the direction, or coming back within three months, can mean a fine of up to £1,000. There’s no right to wild camp in a vehicle anywhere in England, the South Downs included: you need the landowner’s permission. The National Trust doesn’t allow overnight parking at any of its places, and Forestry England doesn’t allow it in its car parks, such as Friston Forest above the Cuckmere. More in wild camping and free camping.

Breaking a PSPO is a criminal offence. Since 26 October 2026 councils can set the fixed penalty at up to £500; Brighton and Hove and Rother use £100. Breaking a car-park order gets you a penalty charge notice.

Council by council:

Brighton and Hove: in September 2026 the council’s cabinet approved a PSPO banning unauthorised recreational overnight stays in campervans, motorhomes and other vehicles adapted to be lived in, across all council land in the city, with a £100 fixed penalty. It is aimed at visitors, not people who are homeless. The consultation named Roedean, Black Rock and other seafront spots and car parks as the problem places. Check the council’s website for when the order takes effect. Since 12 October 2026 motor caravans can’t wait on Greenways, the road up from the coast at Ovingdean, between 8pm and 8am. The council’s seafront car parks at Black Rock, the King Alfred in Hove and Marine Cliffs in Rottingdean only take vehicles up to 1.99 m high, for up to 12 hours.
Lewes district (Lewes, Newhaven, Seaford, Peacehaven and Telscombe): the county council’s car-park order, in force since February 2026, bans using a vehicle for sleeping, camping, cooking or eating in any of its car parks, and limits them to vehicles up to 2.1 m high, 5.5 m long and 5 tonnes. That covers the town car parks in Lewes, Friars Walk and Spring Gardens included, the cliff-top car park at Telscombe Cliffs, and the High and Over and South Hill Barn car parks above the Cuckmere.
Eastbourne: the council lets motorhomes use its downland car parks at Beachy Head, Butts Brow and Warren Hill by day, but not overnight. Several seafront car parks, including Fisherman’s Green East, Princes Park, Redoubt and Sovereign Park, have 2 m height barriers.
Wealden (Pevensey Bay, Polegate, Hailsham, Uckfield and Crowborough): the council’s car-park order bans using a parking place, or a vehicle left in one, for sleeping, camping or cooking.
Hastings and St Leonards: the council’s car-park order bans sleeping in a vehicle between 10pm and 8am. Rock-a-Nore, Pelham Place and the Marina car park have 2.2 m height barriers, and Rock-a-Nore and Pelham Place are locked from 11pm to 7am. Motor caravans can’t wait between 10pm and 8am on Grosvenor Gardens and Sea Road in West St Leonards.
Rother (Bexhill, Battle, Rye, Camber and Robertsbridge): Rother’s PSPO, in force from 1 February 2025 for three years, bans sleeping in a vehicle in any public space in the district, car parks included, without the council’s permission; the first time, you get a warning. It also bans parking or staying in a vehicle on the district’s beaches and on the paths, promenades, roads and hard standings next to them. The fixed penalty is £100. The Camber car parks don’t allow overnight stays and charge £80 if you do.
Ashdown Forest: the Conservators’ byelaws ban camping on the Forest “in cars, campers, tents, caravans or sleeping bags”, and no vehicle may be parked on the Forest between midnight and 6am.
Seven Sisters and Birling Gap: the Seven Sisters Country Park car parks are locked overnight and overnight parking is banned. The National Trust car park at Birling Gap doesn’t allow overnight parking or camping.

Vans used to stay overnight on Madeira Drive in Brighton, behind the King Alfred in Hove, in the Friars Walk and Spring Gardens car parks in Lewes, in the A22 pull-ins on Ashdown Forest, by the A21 at Robertsbridge and on the sea wall at Jury’s Gap. The Lewes car parks, Ashdown Forest and Robertsbridge are now covered by these bans, and Brighton’s seafront is where its new PSPO is aimed. The coast road from Camber to Jury’s Gap is now a clearway, with no waiting at the Gap, and on the Rother side the PSPO’s beach ban covers the roads and hard standings by the beach.

Campsites

There are campsites right along the coast and in the Downs and the Weald, but many close in winter; the Brighton Club Campsite is open all year. Members of the Caravan and Motorhome Club and the Camping and Caravanning Club can also use the clubs’ small certificated sites, which take up to five vans and are often on farms. Since 2023 pop-up sites in England can open for up to 60 days a year and take motorhomes and campervans as well as tents. Brit Stops members can stop a night at farm shops, pubs and vineyards that host self-contained vans.

Area	Campsite	Details
Brighton	Brighton Club Campsite (Caravan and Motorhome Club), East Brighton Park, BN2 5TS	Tel: 01273 626546. Open all year, non-members welcome. Vans up to 10 m. Buses into town
Lewes and the Downs	Blackberry Wood, Streat Lane, Streat, near Ditchling, BN6 8RS	Tel: 01273 890035. Woodland site with campervan pitches with hook-up and water
Cuckmere valley	Alfriston Camping Park, Pleasant Rise Farm, Alfriston, BN26 5TN	On the Seaford road opposite Deans Place Hotel. Grass pitches for campervans, hook-ups for motorhomes. Book online
Pevensey and Eastbourne	Fairfields Farm Caravan and Camping Park, Eastbourne Road, Westham, BN24 5NG	Tel: 01323 763165. 1 April to 31 October
Normans Bay	Normans Bay Camping and Caravanning Club Site, BN24 6PR	Tel: 01323 761190. Across the road from the beach. Late March to late October
Battle	Battle Normanhurst Court Club Campsite (Caravan and Motorhome Club), Stevens Crouch, TN33 9LR	Tel: 01424 773808. Mid-March to early November, non-members welcome
Hastings	Shear Barn Holiday Park, Barley Lane, Hastings	Tel: 01424 423583. Touring field above the town, by the country park. The lane in is very narrow, so take care in a big van
Pett, near Hastings	Fairlight Wood Club Campsite (Caravan and Motorhome Club), Watermill Lane, TN35 4HY	Tel: 01424 812333. Members only. Mid-March to early November
Bodiam and Robertsbridge	Park Farm Caravan and Camp Site, Junction Road, Bodiam, TN32 5XF	Tel: 01580 831982. Campervans, motorhomes and campfires. Reopens in April 2027
Ashdown Forest	Crowborough Camping and Caravanning Club Site, Goldsmith Recreation Ground, Eridge Road, TN6 2TN	Tel: 01892 664827. Late March to late October. Many pitches slope, so bring levelling ramps

For Rye and Camber, the nearest campsites in this list are Fairlight Wood and Park Farm.

Getting there and driving

Newhaven to Dieppe. DFDS is the only operator on the route, with up to six sailings a day in the season. The crossing takes about four hours, or five on some overnight sailings. Newhaven isn’t one of the ports with French border controls on the UK side, so you go through the EU’s Entry/Exit System checks (passport scan, photo and, for anyone 12 or over, fingerprints) on arrival in Dieppe. In Dieppe, traffic from the port is being diverted while the Colbert bridge is restored. See ferries and Normandy.

Main roads. The M23 and A23 run from London to Brighton. The A27 runs along the foot of the Downs from Brighton past Lewes to Polegate and Pevensey, and the A259 follows the coast all the way from Brighton to Rye and Camber. The A22 comes down from East Grinstead over Ashdown Forest to Eastbourne, the A21 from Tunbridge Wells through Robertsbridge to Hastings, and the A26 from Crowborough to Lewes and Newhaven.

Clean air zones. There are none in East Sussex. If you come through London, the ULEZ covers all the London boroughs but not the M25. See Britain by campervan.

Speed limits. A motorhome or campervan up to 3.05 tonnes unladen can do the same as a car. Over 3.05 tonnes, it’s 50 mph on single carriageways and 60 mph on dual carriageways, with 70 mph still the limit on motorways.

Parking a bigger van by day.

Seven Sisters Country Park (Exceat, BN25 4AD) has a motorhome rate: £10 for up to three hours or £20 for the day. The south car park has a 3 m height barrier at weekends, on bank holidays and in the peak season, and a 7.5-tonne limit on Litlington Road stops big vehicles reaching the north car park. The car parks open at 7am and close at 9pm in summer and 6pm in winter.
Birling Gap (National Trust) charges motorhomes £10 for up to two hours or £20 for the day; members park free.
Beachy Head: Eastbourne council allows motorhomes in its downland car parks by day.
Camber Sands: the Central, Old Lydd Road and Western Road car parks open 8am to 7pm. From April to September they cost £6 for an hour, £12 for up to three hours, £24 for up to six and £30 for longer; in winter, £1.50 to £8.25.
On-street bays in Lewes and Rother districts are only for vehicles up to 2.28 m high and 5.25 m long, so a high-top van can’t use them.

Brighton and Hove

Brighton is the classic British seaside city: the Palace Pier, the Royal Pavilion, the Lanes and a long seafront that runs west into Hove, with the Volk’s Electric Railway running along the beach towards the Marina. When Darren moved to a flat in Hove in 2012, the van lived on the street outside on a residents’ parking permit. For a visit, it’s simplest to stay at the Brighton Club Campsite in Sheepcote Valley, about 2 miles east of the centre, and take the bus in. The council’s seafront car parks only take vehicles up to 1.99 m high.

East along the A259, after Rottingdean and Saltdean, the cliff top at Telscombe Cliffs has views back to Brighton Marina and along the coast towards Worthing, and the coast buses run into Brighton. The car park there has a height barrier and is covered by the county’s car-park order, so it’s a stop for the day, not the night.

Lewes

The county town sits in a gap in the Downs on the River Ouse, with a castle, steep lanes and good walking on the hills around it. The town car parks ban sleeping and are limited to vehicles 2.1 m high and 5.5 m long, and Friars Walk is now a two-hour short-stay car park. Blackberry Wood near Ditchling and the Brighton site are the nearest places to stay.

Seaford, Cuckmere Haven and the Seven Sisters

East of Seaford the Cuckmere river winds out to the sea at Cuckmere Haven, with the Seven Sisters chalk cliffs rising beyond it towards Birling Gap. Seven Sisters Country Park at Exceat, on the A259, is the base for walking down to the beach and along the South Downs Way, and you can hire bikes and go kayaking. The 12, 12A and 12X buses between Brighton, Seaford and Eastbourne stop at the visitor centre. The car parks at Seaford Head (South Hill Barn) and at High and Over, the viewpoint above the valley, are council car parks where sleeping is banned. The campsite in the country park itself is car-free, for groups with tents; stay at Alfriston Camping Park, a few miles up the valley.

Birling Gap and Beachy Head

Birling Gap is a National Trust hamlet in a dip in the cliffs between the Seven Sisters and Beachy Head, with a café, steps down to the beach and the Belle Tout lighthouse up on the headland. The cliffs here crumble back by up to a metre a year, so keep away from the edge. Beachy Head, the great chalk headland west of Eastbourne, has its car parks along Beachy Head Road; vans are welcome by day, not overnight.

Eastbourne

A big, traditional resort with a long seafront and a pier, and the start (or end) of the South Downs Way. Several seafront car parks have 2 m height barriers, so in a high-top use the downland car parks, or stay at Fairfields Farm or Normans Bay and take the bus in.

Pevensey Bay and Normans Bay

A long shingle shore east of Eastbourne, with Pevensey Castle just inland. The Camping and Caravanning Club site at Normans Bay is right across the road from the beach. Wealden’s car parks at Pevensey Bay don’t allow sleeping.

Hastings and St Leonards

The Old Town at the east end of the seafront has the fishing boats pulled up on the beach at the Stade, the tall black net huts and the country park on the cliffs beyond. Rock-a-Nore car park, on the beach at the end of the Old Town, takes vehicles up to 2.2 m high and is locked at night. In a bigger van, stay at Shear Barn, on the edge of the country park, or at Fairlight Wood, and come in by bus.

Rye

An old hill town above the marshes, with cobbled streets and the medieval Landgate. The council’s long-stay car park is at Gibbet Marsh. Remember that Rother’s ban on sleeping in a vehicle covers the whole district.

Camber Sands and Jury’s Gap

Camber Sands is a wide sandy beach backed by dunes, and a great spot to watch the kite and wind surfers. It gets very busy on summer days, when the car parks charge up to £30. The car parks don’t allow overnight stays, and Rother’s PSPO bans parking or staying in a vehicle on the beaches and the roads and hard standings beside them. East of Camber, the coast road to Jury’s Gap, on the Kent border by the Lydd firing ranges, is a clearway.

Battle, Bodiam and Robertsbridge

Inland from Hastings, Battle grew up around the abbey on the site of the Battle of Hastings, and Bodiam has the National Trust’s moated castle. Robertsbridge is a village with shops just off the A21. Battle Normanhurst Court and Park Farm at Bodiam are the places to stay.

Ashdown Forest

Over 6,500 acres of open heathland and woods on the High Weald, best known as the Hundred Acre Wood of the Winnie-the-Pooh stories. The A22 crosses it south of Wych Cross, with Forest car parks either side of the road. Parking costs up to £5 a day, the car parks are for day use only, and the byelaws ban camping in vehicles. Stay at the Crowborough club site, just east of the Forest.

Darren’s time in Brighton, and a reader’s trip to Hastings

Darren lived in Hove in 2012. The rules were very different then.

Moved to Brighton (2012)
Wild camping in Brighton (2012)
The Camper Chronicles: Jolly Boys Outing, Hastings, part one (Neil, 2012)
The Camper Chronicles: Jolly Boys Outing, Hastings, part two (Neil, 2012)

More on England

England by campervan
West Sussex, the next county west
Kent, the next county east
Campsites
Wild camping and free camping
UK campervan hire
Normandy, across the Channel from Newhaven

Sources: Brighton & Hove City Council cabinet decision and reports on public spaces protection orders (17 September 2026) and its off-street parking and Outer Areas traffic orders; East Sussex County Council’s Lewes District off-street parking order (2026) and Lewes, Rother and Hastings on-street parking orders (2025); Hastings Borough Council’s off-street parking order and car park pages; Rother District Council’s public spaces protection order No. 2B (2025) and car park charges; Wealden District Council’s off-street parking order; Eastbourne Borough Council’s motorhome parking guidance; Ashdown Forest byelaws and parking page; Seven Sisters Country Park (South Downs National Park Authority); National Trust; Forestry England; Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014; Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994; gov.uk speed limits and EU Entry/Exit System guidance; Transport for London; DFDS; the Caravan and Motorhome Club, the Camping and Caravanning Club and campsite websites; checked November 2026. Know of a change? Tell us in the comments below.