Inside the quaint Sussex village where Queen Camilla spent her childhood

Camilla is known to share King Charles’s love of the great outdoors, perhaps due to her traditional upbringing in a rural Sussex village.

Despite being born at Kings’s College Hospital, London, the Queen spent most of her time amongst the greenery of the South Downs.

The 76-year-old resided in Plumpton, one of the many quaint villages dotted around the coastal county of East Sussex.

Born to former vice lord lieutenant Major Bruce Shand and his wife, Rosalind Cubitt, Camilla and her two younger siblings were raised in a quintessentially British home known as The Laines.

Owned by the Shands until Camilla’s mother, Rosalind died in 1994, the estate was then sold to the English actor James Wilby.

In 2014, The Laines was listed for sale by the on-screen star at £3.25million, just the second time in a staggering 63 years that it was available to purchase.

The property was surrounded by acres of unspoiled greenery, close to a traditional 19th-century country pub known as The Half Moon Inn.

Plumpton itself is a very small dwelling, overshadowed by the nearby Plumpton Green Parish which is just 6.5 miles in length.

Steeped in history and characterised by its unique charm, the destination is populated by delightful old cottages and grand manor houses.

Situated just to the northwest of Lewes, a larger town in the county, Plumpton isn’t far from the hustle and bustle of modern Sussex either, despite its unique location just above the Blackcap peak of the South Downs.

And with a range of desirable period homes surrounded by tranquil fields and rolling hills, it’s no wonder Plumpton has been called home by a host of other famous faces.

Perhaps due to its “off-grid” appeal, Plumpton has been called home by rock legends and TV presenters alike.

Led Zeppelin star Jimmy Page lived in the village for 13 years in the 1970s and ’80s, while journalist Piers Morgan grew up in a town just a few miles away known as Newick.

Camilla’s idyllic childhood address served as her main residence while attending boarding school at Dumbrells, a school in nearby Ditchling.

She also spent half of her time in London as a student at the all-girls Queen’s Gate School in South Kensington where her family owned a second property.

The Shands’ London abode was a more modest three-storey property – a far cry from their sprawling countryside estate in charming Plumpton.