Sussex Downs

Where Sherlock Holmes retires to keep bees.

The Sussex Downs are where Sherlock Holmes spends his retirement. In His Last Bow the reader is told that he has retired to a small farm there and taken up beekeeping as his main occupation.

Quick Facts

Associated story: The Adventure of the Lion's Mane
Holmes' role: Retired Beekeeper
Time period: Late Career; Retirement Era

Lore & Background

Only one other adventure, The Adventure of the Lion's Mane, takes place during the retirement, and Holmes narrates it himself. In 1907, some time after his move to the Sussex Downs, he goes for a walk and meets his friend Harold Stackhurst, headmaster of a local preparatory school called The Gables. In that story Holmes says he is living with his old housekeeper, whom some readers take to be Mrs. Hudson.

Reader's Guide

His Last Bow, set in August 1914, has Holmes and Watson come out of retirement to aid the British war effort; it describes Holmes as sixty years of age.

Did You Know?

Beekeeping becomes Holmes's main occupation after he retires to a small farm on the Sussex Downs.
The 2015 film Mr. Holmes is set primarily during his retirement in Sussex.