The SOLD OUT 2026 Caught by the River Day Out in Kingston, Sussex is almost upon us, and we’re delighted to share the schedule with you.
Poster: Lally MacBeth
We are also delighted to announce that Jana Nicole will be exhibiting her extraordinarily beautiful work in the Old Dairy at Lovebrook. Jana is a mixed media artist who explores the delicate interconnections between flora and fauna with a particular interest in the world of fungi (she is also the co-founder and artistic director of the All Things Fungi Festival). She made history as the first woman and the first non-French recipient of the prestigious Prix Puvis de Chavannes. Her work has been shown at the Fitzwilliam Museum, the Saatchi Gallery and the National Geographic Society in Paris. Exhibiting alongside Jana is the American sculptor Greg Meyer, who creates plants and animals both real and imagined in metal and stained glass. We are over the moon they both have agreed to join us.
Lovebrook’s food shop selling bread, cheese, pastries etc will be open from 10am as will the tea and cake hatch in Parish Hall. At lunchtime, Lovebrook will be selling beer and cider plus soup and pitta — but the hot food always sells out quickly so please feel free to bring a picnic. The Juggs is open all day serving food.
In the Parish Hall…
MC is writer and antiques dealer John Andrews. Tea and cakes will be provided for the 5th year by Josie (no Stella due to GCSEs). Andrew and Diva will be running the Caught by the River stall. Laurie will be selling secondhand books and Rowan — officially the UK’s youngest record dealer — will be selling some albums.
11am-midday – Alison Hastie in conversation with Sally Domingo-Jones
Alison will be talking about her soon-to-be-published memoir Green Shoes, a book about the role clothes play in our lives and how she set up and ran a workers’ collective producing handmade footwear in Devon. Sally is a leadership coach and Kingston resident.
Then there is a break for lunch until 2pm. The farm shop will be open until 3pm serving quiches, bread, cheese, beer and cider etc.
2-3pm – Michael Smith interviewed by Ali Millar
Michael will be discussing his just-published memoir Strangers on the Shore: a book all about that strangest of towns, Hastings. Ali is an author and journalist that also lives in Hastings.
2.30pm at Lovebrook there will be Beltane celebration and parade to the orchard and then a ritual with special guest Ruth Gleeson.
3-4pm – Paul Frecker interviewed by Dr Hope Wolf
Paul is a dealer in 19th century photography and author of the book Cartomania about the Victorian craze of printed photo portrait cards. Dr Hope Wolf is the author of Sussex Modernism and co-director of the Centre for Modernist Studies at the University of Sussex.
4-5pm – Weird Sussex panel
With authors David Bramwell (The Haunted Moustache and too many others to list) and Sam Reid whose recently published debut novel book is set around Alfriston and written in Sussex dialect. Interviewed by Caught by the River’s own Tallulah Brennan.
At Lovebrook…
Field Systems present: The Gurdy Stone | 539480 (Easting); 108085 (Northing)
A site-specific sound installation, written over the winter of 2025/6 for the CBTR May Day celebrations in Kingston. Four speakers will be placed equidistant to the Gurdy stone each playing a loop tuned to frequencies that are correlated to the precise coordinates of the stone itself. The listener is invited to participate in creating their own mix as they wander between the speakers and the stone, listening to the asynchronous loops locking and unlocking to create a generative sound collage built from processed guitar, synths and found sounds from the village and locale.
Jana Nicole and Greg Meyer exhibition
– Dogs on leads please on the farm
– Please park on Wellgreen Lane (the main road through the village)
– Toilets are in the Parish Hall – no toilets at Lovebrook
