Seaford station serves - unsurprisingly - the small Sussex seaside town of the same name. Opened in…read more1864, it was originally intended to extend the line along the coast to Eastbourne, but this was never undertaken, and it has spent its life as the terminus of a short branch line from Lewes. The station has an attractive main building in the Italianate domestic style favoured by the London Brighton and South Coast Railway, with two wings, with an elegant awning on the street side, and a long canopy supported on iron columns on the platform side. It is listed at Grade II as an example of an unaltered small Victorian terminus, complete with its canopies. In its heyday, it was busy with summer excursions, and had a direct service to Haywards Heath with peak hour trains to London, two platforms and extensive carriage sidings. Now has just a half-hourly shuttle to and from Brighton via Newhaven and Lewes, and the line has been singled beyond Newhaven Harbour. Only one platform is in use. The station still has a ticket office open part-time, a small car park, cycle rack, and a pasty shop and art gallery in the station building. Nevertheless, patronage is increasing, and the station now handles over three-quarters of a million passengers. The station has level access to and from the street.

It was great to be ble to get a taxi from the train station without any problems. The lady who…read moredrove me to a friends house was very polite and talkative.

Newhaven is a quaint, old train station located at the port area of New Haven. Although the…read moreNewhaven Harbour station is closer to the port proper, this station is very convenient to those passengers needing access to the DFDS ferry port office at New Haven. Served by Southern, the station has two platforms, a ticket machine, ticket office, and a free to use toilet. The mid 1800's station serves over 300k passengers each year and is served by the Seaford Branch Line of Southern's East Coastway Line. If you are arriving by boat from Dieppe, France, this makes it very easy to hop over to Brighton in no time. During off-peak times, there are two trains heading westward to Brighton. There is also a morning train that connects to London Victoria Station. The ticket counter staff are very friendly, and the inside waiting room has three quite comfortable leather couches. Overall the station is a nice place to lounge in while waiting on your train and is a significant foil to the bare bones bus stop and ferry terminal located nearby.

Newhaven Town is the larger of this small Channel port's stations, and is a short walk from the…read moretown centre across the swing bridge over the harbour. Opened from Lewes in 1847 by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway, the aim was to turn Newhaven into 'the Liverpool of the south'. Although it became a bustling port, with regular ferry services to Dieppe, it never quite grew as early promotional material suggested. The town eventually had three stations, Town, Harbour and Marine, the largest of which, by far, was Marine, used for passengers transferring to the ferry service to Dieppe. This is now closed and in a very sorry state, and Harbour station - used by foot passengers for the ferry - is just a halt. The station has a small stone building on the London-bound side with a short canopy, although it only has rather mean pedestrian access, owing to work under way on the port area behind. The Seaford platform has a basic bus-type shelter. There is a footbridge, but many choose to cross using the busy level crossing at the Lewes end. (This also provides level access to both platforms). The basic off-peak weekday service is every half hour on the Brighton to Seaford, with a few through London trains in the peaks. Aside from level access, the station has a mornings-only ticket office - and that's about it for facilities.

This is the ferry company I use each time I go to Normandy because it is cheaper and faster than…read moreBrittany Ferries (Brittany Ferries from Portsmouth to Ouistreham: 6 hours - Transmanche from NewHave to Dieppe: 4 hours). It costs me about £30 return without a cabin and £53 return with a commodore cabin. It's a big cabin with a 3/4 bed. It is supposed to be for one person only, but my girlfriend and I always shares it because the bed is big enough for two and it is always better than a cabin with two separate beds :-). It is actually the best cabin they've got as it has its own showroom and toilet, a desk, and a WINDOW. I advise you to travel at night (departures are around 11 in winter). You will arrive at 6 am French time and will have time to rest before you arrive.

I think this service is terrific, it may not be the most modern and the terminal at Newhaven is…read morelong overdue for modernisation, but the staff are friendly and very helpful. If you count the cost of travel their fares are economical, travelling to Dieppe from the South of France or Spain is much cheaper with much lower road tolls and volume of traffic. On the UK side you can be at the M25 just as fast as from Dover, without all the hassle. For me I will give them my full support and wouldn't consider using another route. p.s If you are a pensioner and ring the terminal direct rather than use DFDS website they will give you a 10% discount if you are a pensioner. Beat that !