Snow turns Royal Eastbourne Golf Course into Winter Sports venue
![The first early morning 'sledgers' on Royal Eastbourne Golf Course, 12 December 2022](https://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/webimg/b25lY21zOmMzOWVhODAwLTE1ZjItNGRiYy04YzRkLTVlNGIzYzY0ZWJmMzo4Y2ViOWNhNS05Mzc5LTQ1ZTYtOGU2OS0wZjM5MjFjYzkyMDc=.jpg?crop=3:2,smart&width=640&quality=65&enable=upscale)
![The first early morning 'sledgers' on Royal Eastbourne Golf Course, 12 December 2022](/img/placeholder.png)
On the morning of Monday 12 December 2022, the roads up onto the South Downs from my home being inaccessible due to the previous evenings snowfall, I took my dog onto the Royal Eastbourne Golf Course. Being a rescued Moldovan 'street-dog', for him it was a blast from his past. Sussex had been transformed into his wintry homeland. Then, by 9:00am the first 'sledgers' had arrived (photo), and as the day progressed the Course became a Winter Sports venue. By the afternoon it was like a scene from a Pieter Bruegel painting. By then the snow on the main 'runs' had become hard-packed and very fast. Parents with small children used the 15 degree, 10 mph nursey slopes. Adults and older children used the main Paradise slope a 30 degree, 20mph, half-mile run. The madcap older teenagers hurtled down the 45 degree, 30mph, scarp slope af the end of which some took off over a 4 metre drop, landing on the softer snow below. Bruises but hopefully no broken bones. What a day, Aspen comes to Eastbourne.