Rye is one of our fave places on earth. It’s near to Dungerness and Camber Sands. Here’s a bunch of things to do when there…
If you can recommend other things then post me a comment and let me know. I’ll post them and they’ll go straight into our retirement plan : )
stay (farm cottage #19966 – fab, cosy place just renovated 5mins from harbour)
drink (with huge big fireplace and a ghost)
eat (well)
deli (treacle tarts & clotted cream – mmmm)
sausages (try the chilli ones)
art (funky)
buckets (& spades)
books (lovely shop – lots of local things)
spike (he ended up in rye – lovely bio by his agent. ps: they sell it at the local bookstore)
dungerness (the one and only – if you see a shack up for sale, tell me!)
derek jarman (he had a shack – it’s lovely)
And here’s more shizzle from Clive:
chuff – The Romney Hythe & Dymchurch railway is a miniature steam railway that makes its way up and down the coast beyond Dungeness. It brings out the railway enthusiast you never knew was hiding within you. RH&DR runs in the opposite direction to Rye, but is the best way to arrive at the wonderfully eccentric Dungeness, so well worth the detour.
coffee The Apothecary does lovely coffee in a quirky shop with big comfy sofas. They do B&B too, I’m told.
greenery – Next to the deli Roger mentions above is a very friendly helpful greengrocer that’s good to visit if you’re self-catering. The only drawback is the punny name: ‘Fruitique’. Ouch.
cobblers Simply wander around the winding cobbled streets, finding pubs, churches and unexpected views over the surrounding landscape.
stay – Pump Cottages, in Wish Ward. Very nice, if slightly twee, fully-equipped cottage. Fairly central. Sleeps three. Not online, but let me know if you want details.
17 responses so far ↓
gerrywarner // March 15, 2009 at 3:41 pm |
Rye Art Gallery is the place you’re thinking of:
http://www.ryeartgallery.co.uk/
Clive Andrews // March 16, 2009 at 9:00 am |
Ooh – Good list, Roger.
May I add the following?
chuff – The Romney Hythe & Dymchurch railway is a miniature steam railway that makes its way up and down the coast beyond Dungeness. It brings out the railway enthusiast you never knew was hiding within you. RH&DR runs in the opposite direction to Rye, but is the best way to arrive at the wonderfully eccentric Dungeness, so well worth the detour.
coffee The Apothecary does lovely coffee in a quirky shop with big comfy sofas. They do B&B too, I’m told.
greenery – Next to the deli Roger mentions above is a very friendly helpful greengrocer that’s good to visit if you’re self-catering. The only drawback is the punny name: ‘Fruitique’. Ouch.
cobblers Simply wander around the winding cobbled streets, finding pubs, churches and unexpected views over the surrounding landscape.
stay – Pump Cottages, in Wish Ward. Very nice, if slightly twee, fully-equipped cottage. Fairly central. Sleeps three. Not online, but let me know if you want details.
Anna Carlson // March 16, 2009 at 10:07 am |
Fantastic lists which I shall be printing off and packing for my weekend in Rye, and maybe even adding to it when i get back!
Roger Warner // March 16, 2009 at 10:07 am |
Hey – good calls Clive! Forgot about the grocers. It’s great isn’t it? A proper greengrocers! And the railway is a must… Thanks for chipping in.
Clive Andrews // March 16, 2009 at 2:59 pm |
Oh, and Roger, I forgot to mention:
You may recommend Ashbee’s for their delicious sausages, but I had to scurry quickly past their shop. The punctuation was just too upsetting.
Clive Andrews // March 16, 2009 at 3:00 pm |
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cliveandrews/3306622367/in/set-72057594112831466/
Clive Andrews // May 19, 2009 at 10:26 pm |
Last weekend we returned to Rye for another weekender.
This time, we left the car behind and went by train. Fairly hassle-free, despite a surprisingly long journey time (Over 2 hours from London via Hastings, Brighton or Ashford).
We took our bikes, which was a great move. Although Rye itself is set on a hill, the surrounding area is virtually flat, so there’s easy sightseeing to be had.
The National Cycle Network Route 2 wiggles along this section of coast, combining roadside cyclepaths and unsurfaced farm tracks with some road sections. Pleasant stuff.
On Saturday, we followed NCN2 down to Camber Sands. This is an enormous golden sandy beach – the way beaches should be. On the day of our visit it was sunny but massively windy, meaning the beach was empty except for dozens of kitesurfers. We strolled for ages in both directions, then rode back to Rye for a pint of the Ypres Castle Inn.
After a lazy Sunday morning, we got back on the bikes and rode down to Rye Harbour. This is a short distance away from Rye, at the mouth of the River Rother. There’s not much there except a few houses, a couple of pubs, a cafe, a chandlery and a bright blue lifeboat station. The landscape is dotted with Second World War pill boxes – handy for sheltering from the strong winds.
We rode west along the coastal path, past a historic lifeboat station and, if building materials happen to be your thing, there’s what appears to be an extreme weather building materials test station. Trust me, it looks more interesting than it sounds.
We swung inland, and headed back to Rye off-road, via Camber Castle. This is an impressive-looking unreconstructed castle in prime defensive spot, but it doesn’t open until July, so we couldn’t check out the interior.
We finished off with coffee at the Apothecary before catching the train back to the real world.
I took a pile of photos, but haven’t yet sorted through them. I’ll be back when I have.
Anna Carlson // May 20, 2009 at 7:36 am |
The Ship Inn Stay, eat, or drink. Lovely little pub, exquisite food, lovely decor and atmosphere
Clive Andrews // July 10, 2009 at 12:13 pm |
Some better-late-than-never photos from my second weekend in Rye:
http://tinyurl.com/kv5yl3
Pam Morgan // August 16, 2009 at 12:55 pm |
I am wondering if the shops are open on Sundays in Rye town?
Mika // August 17, 2009 at 9:26 pm |
Off to Rye for the bank holiday weekend. I’ve never been before but v.excited now I found your list! Question: I’m trying to decide between hiring a car to go down and just getting the train down.. Not sure if you need to have a car to get around to all the best bits while there… ?
Roger Warner // August 22, 2009 at 11:33 am |
hello pam / mika
been off for a week expanding holiday horizons in wales (st david’s – fabulous place if you like beer/pies/surf/walking/etc.. worthy of another ‘things to do post…’).
pam – yes, shops are open sunday
mika – def go for the hire car… then you can nip to the beach at camber.
cheers
roger : )
sprite // September 5, 2009 at 10:56 am |
the 80′s retro antique shop; anyone know a name? i can’t seem to find it online.
thx.
Roger Warner // September 5, 2009 at 12:22 pm |
dunno – but i do know its right next to the Ship Inn, if that’s any help
Lou // September 22, 2009 at 7:11 pm |
Just found this. Thanks for the name check Anna! V. pleased to have made it onto your listing.
Love from the people o’ the ship.
phil // September 29, 2009 at 3:23 pm |
what a lovely guide to rye. well done. can I add my two penneth? The Rye Bay Cafe down at Camber. Yes sir, it’s good. It seems to be only open at weekends. Proper, good food – gourmet pies, boulangerie potatoes, the most beautiful plate full of barbecue ribs and fries. Good, interesting juices, smoothies and milkshakes… Monmouth Coffee Company – yes my friends, it’s that good… I once ordered a coke and the guy who runs it apologised that the bottle wasn’t chilled enough despite the fact that he’d given me a glass with ice and lime. He clearly cares and you can’t ask for much more than that…. I’d give em a bell before you go just to make sure they’re open but it’s definitely worth it.
Roger Warner // October 26, 2009 at 9:10 pm |
Dear all,
I’ve migrated this post over to my new Lazy-blog, at: http://therogerwarner.com/things-to-do-in-rye-east-sussex-when-youre-al
(Yes – the url got munched. Since I’ve had such a fab response I wanted to keep it going, and I’m not sure how long this particular blog has left in it.)
Anyways, it’s kind of cludged together – feedback and all, so excuse the crude formatting – and I wasn’t able to get the comments in there without missing Eastenders…
Please do go visit and keep the suggestions going.
Cheers
Roger