Coates lies to the Southwest of the village of Fittleworth, mainly within Fittleworth civil parish. It is a downland hamlet between the Rother Navigation and countryside that includes several Sites of Special Scientific Interest (partly to protect the habitat of a rare field cricket).

Coates has recently been in the national news, after Bronze Age Barrows were discovered in a field to the North of Coates, where it has its boundary with the Rother Navigation. Five or six circular ditches, which would have surrounded the barrows, can be seen from aerial photos. They would have been used by the living for ceremonies and as burial sites

There are some interesting buildings in this peaceful area. The church, 900 year old St Agatha’s, is in a benefice with Sutton, Burton, Barlavington and Bignor. There is the Elizabethan, Coates Manor and once a large house,Coates Castle, is now divided into several homes. It was built in 1820 by John King, in the style of Stawberry Hill. Winston Churchill and Kaiser Wilhelm are reputed to have visited the house and an ancestor of Princes William and Harry, Louisa Hamilton, Duchess of Abercorn, died there. Coates Castle was used during WWll by the army and Lieutenant- colonel Stewart Blacker invented the Spigot Mortar or Blacker Bombard there.