WE all know Sussex is the best place in the world to call home.

We are the lucky 1.6 million.

But sometimes it is difficult to put it into words just what makes our wonderful county so wonderful.

Today we launch our Joy of Sussex feature which will celebrate the things that make our county so special.

From the man-made beauty of our Victorian piers and bandstands to the natural splendour of the South Downs and our wonderful coastline.

From our wild bonfire celebrations and pretty beach huts to our majestic castles and historic houses.

All these and more make Sussex the best place in the world to call home.

Over the next 25 editions we will feature each of our joys of Sussex in the paper along with some of the most spectacular photos from our archive.

Today is all about the humble pebble, millions of which cover our beaches, before we turn our attention tomorrow to the spectacular murmurations over Brighton seafront.

But our list is by no means definitive and we want to hear from you.

What do you think makes Sussex so special?

Is it the wildflowers, the theatres, our beautiful country lanes or even our local beers?

Whatever it is, you can have your say.

Not only that, we want you to pick one from our compilation as the winning joy of Sussex.

Mike Gilson, editor of The Argus, said: "It is an absolute privilege to live and work in Sussex and we perhaps take for granted just how lucky we are.

"I hope our Joy of Sussex feature will help remind us all about what makes this county the fantastic place it is. We have certainly had a tough job whittling down our shortlist to 25 following dozens of suggestions.

"But this is not just about us, we want to hear from you. We want to know why Sussex is so special to you."

To have your say and to vote for your favourite email joyofsussex@theargus.co.uk.

THE JOY OF SUSSEX - PEBBLES

By Mike Gilson

Editor of The Argus

THERE are more than 600 million of them on our shore.

Tens of thousands of them are now in back gardens and on mantelpieces all over the world as reminders of happy days.

Others formed the foundations for the garden makeover anti-lawn craze a few years back when decking and pots-full of yuccas were the fashion.

Technically removing just a single item is against the law as Caroline Lucas found when she clutched one close to her heart while being sworn in as an MP.

There have even been amnesties with the authorities turning a blind eye to people willing to bring them back to their natural habitat.

They are the subject of much misunderstanding even inexcusably by the locals.

For instance many still think they were brought in by man as an army of defiance against Mother Nature.

For others they are a source of constant inspiration, used in sculptures and even humanised with faces by artists.

Yes pebbles are us. Tough, unyielding, beautiful and varied. A perfect reflection of the communities that border them.

No wonder they are the first up in our Joy of Sussex series. For some pebbles will always signal disappointment. Holiday-makers with buckets and spades expecting golden sand will have to get back on the bus and head for West Wittering or Camber Sands.

But for the rest of us they are a source of pleasure. Sand is for softies.

“Pebbles are wonderful”, says Dr Geoff Mead, lecturer in geography at the University of Sussex. “You can sit on them without getting sandy, you can sit on them on a windy day without getting sand blown in your sandwiches.

“They retain the heat of the sun so they’re always nice and warm on a sunny day and the water drains away quickly meaning you rarely get wet.”

Dr Mead won’t mind me saying he’s a bit of a pebble bore and thus ideally placed to tell us why they’re here.

“We have a pebble beach because we don’t have enough sand deposits offshore to be pushed up by wave energy and no sandy rocks onshore to be broken down.

"Where you see sandy beaches such as Newhaven and Camber Sands it’s because deposits of sand have been brought down river.”

If I get this right we also have 75 per cent of the world’s shingle beaches in north western Europe because we were at the edge of the Ice Age which bulldozed screeds of flint into the oceans.

And there are practical reasons we should be grateful for pebbles.

Dr Mead again: “If you hear all that rumble from the beach that is all that shingle absorbing wave energy, it is the best possible sea defence you could have.

“Put it another way if we didn’t have pebbles we wouldn’t have Brighton because of the soft rock we are built on. I live in Patcham and we’d probably have the beach there.”

Artist Raysto who lives a pebble’s throw from Brighton beach, is another with cause to celebrate the hard stuff.

He has an art and photography project called Pebblefaces which is basically just what you’d imagine it to be.

He draws beautifully different faces onto pebbles from what he perceives to see in the stones and posts them on his tumblr and Instagram sites.

He hides his miniature stony-faced portraits hidden in Brighton’s nooks and crannies so they are intrinsically linked with his adopted home town.

Locals in their hundreds took part in his Great Pebble Dash as part of the Brighton Digital festival this year which was a variation on the theme with online clues pointing to Pebblesfaces for people to find all over the city.

Raysto says: "If someone were to ask me what are the things I like best about living in Brighton, the pebble beach would have to be right at the top.”

He admits this wasn’t his initial reaction when he moved here from sandy Cornwall.

“That all changed when I started examining the shapes, shades and patterns of the pebbles more closely. I discovered that most of the pebbles found in this region are formed of flint fused with different shades of petrified chalk, which makes for interesting shapes and a good surface for inks.”

Whether they inspire you to create like Raysto or you just wonder at the vital role they play in our environment like Dr Mead, there’s no doubting pebbles are a crucial part of what makes Sussex special.

As you read this they’re out there now withstanding the waves on our behalf, that familiar reassuring rumble telling us all is well with the world.