We’re standing in the living room of a new-build Eastbourne apartment (no, really).
Lucya is moving in a circle, asking the spirits of the four quarters to protect us from evil as we cast spells.
Sure, I might be shuffling awkwardly behind her in my socks, but depite the less-than-mystical location, it’s honestly bloody spooky.
The room is dark but for the candles, and in the corner sits a cauldron, spellbooks, a broomstick and a huge pair of cast iron owls who are watching the proceedings with wide, gaping eyes.
This, I think, has got to be as supernatural as you can get in a town better known for retirement holidays.
Lucya is a practising Wiccan, and has opened up her seaside home to wannabe witches through holiday rental site wimdu.co.uk so she can show them the rudiments of spell-casting, read their tarot cards and share some of her magical abilities.
I don’t know what I was expecting – warts and a mouthful of children’s bones a la Hans Christian Andersen, or baldness and square feet like Roald Dahl’s The Witches – but it turns out Lucya is neither.
Instead she rocks a modern kitsch-witch look, with long, burgundy hair and a funky dress covered in an owl print.
“Most of my spells are for healing,” she tells me earlier over tea and thick chocolate biscuits.
“I wouldn’t say curses never happen, but I don’t do that myself. Bad magic can rebound on you. Anyway, cursing is really rather anti-social behaviour.”
Wicca, a pagan religion, is thought to be the only faith of English origin.
Established in the 1950s, it is steeped in older history – believers say the practice is based on ancient arts.
As for black magic, Lucya says: “Cursing is from the Middle Ages when there was no real justice system, so going to a wisewoman and asking to curse someone was perhaps the only way people could feel that justice was being done.”
Now she and I are casting a spell for making dreams come true. In the flickering darkness, we carve wishes onto the base of floating candles and place them, lit, in a bowl of water as Lucya chants. My candle blows out straight away.
“Does that mean something bad?” I ask anxiously.
“No,” she says soothingly. “Don’t worry, candles just go out sometimes.”
Ah yes, so they do. I wonder if I’m losing it. Next we make a winter solstice potion.
Lucya is a fan of kitchen witchcraft, which means she uses everyday ingredients for potions – cinnamon for love, for example, or nutmeg for health.
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Over the kitchen stove, she mixes these ingredients with orange zest into a bottle of Merlot and stirs it in a clockwise motion.
Sound remarkably similar to mulled wine? Absolutely right – this is exactly my kind of witchcraft.
As we sip our magical tipple from stone goblets, she tells me that contrary to perceptions, Sussex is a very supernatural place.
Druids meet near the Long Man of Wilmington, a mysterious chalk figure carved in Windover Hill and Eastbourne hosts the annual pagan Lammas Festival in July.
The fest has a witch in residence too: Lucya herself.
She’s part of a coven who meet regularly for rituals to celebrate season changes or honour gods and goddesses and it seems she has magic in her blood.
“My grandmother used to say she could see astral travellers.
In school everyone used to say we were like the Addams family!” Emboldened by the potion, I get up the nerve to ask her the ultimate question: “Do your spells actually work?”
“Years ago I devised a Christmas spell,” she says. “I wrapped a coin in layers of gift paper, to represent a present to myself.
Then I put it on a windowsill where the moon shone on it by night and the sun by day. I bought a lottery ticket…”
“Oh my god!” I shout. “You won?“ “Well, I won a tenner… “ She bursts into laughter, a real witch’s cackle. “So it must have worked a bit!”
Eat, drink, sleep
For a decent Thai meal, head to Thai Marina, at The Waterfront at Sovereign Harbour. All the staples are on the menu here, from green curry to tom yum soup. Mains from £8.
Splash out on dinner in a very grand, formal setting at The Mirabelle Restaurant, where you’ll get a slap-up, three-course set menu of gourmet British and European dishes for £40 per head. grandeastbourne.com
Swanky(ish) cocktail bar The Loft gets busy at weekends. Try their signature drink, the Loft Raspberry Revolution, for £6.95.
Bucaneer is a traditional pub serving British cask ales in a relaxed atmosphere. Swig pints priced at about £3.50. dodropinns.co.uk
In addition to the Supernatural Stay (see article, right) you can also book Cosy B&B through Wimdu. Housed in a Victorian terrace, a double room costs from £154pn.
There’s a very good value branch of backpacker fave YHA here, which is only one mile away from the seafront. Dorm beds start from £13pn.
Getting there
Take the train from London Victoria to Eastbourne from £30 return with Southern Railway.
A Supernatural Stay is available through wimdu.co.uk for £69pppn
Photos: Simon Eldon, Thinkstock
