THROUGH A SECRET 'DOOR'

For local resident Cindy Holmes has commissioned a special outside mural depicting a medieval friar pushing a wheelbarrow.

Friars Walk is named after the Franciscan Grey Friars who had a Friary outside the East Gate of the town until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s.

The view, seen through a 'secret' door depicts a gardener in the medieval garden of the Friary.

Painted by local mural artist Dom Ramos, it also shows a herd of Sussex cows in the middle distance.

The mural fills a false archway on the outside of Cindy's house and was painted by Dom in resilient acrylic.

Lewes-based professional gardener Andrew Hale posed as the friar.

Said Dom: 'I hope visitors and residents will find the trick-of-the-eye mural an interesting addition to the town, marking the history of the friars, who helped the poor and sick before the welfare state existed, and worked in the fields and gardens to provide herbal medicines and food.'

A difficulty Dom had to overcome was to render the perspective to work at street level so that passing people can appreciate it.

Dom normally paints indoor murals for clients. Future projects include painting a mural using natural Sussex pigments.