Tunnels of Green: October 2020

Famed Mermaid Street in Rye

Well, here we all are. Still labouring under the weight of the pandemic.

In anticipation of another lockdown, or at the very least a tightening of restrictions on movement, last week I took myself off towards the East Sussex coast for a couple of days.

I had the leave from work booked already - the deferral of my trip to Bruges that should have occurred in March, but was moved to October in the hope that the world might have returned to some kind of normality by then. Ha!

The Landgate (dating from 1340) is the only survivor of four gateways to the town.
The portcullis was removed in 1735

All along the southern side of the town, which is perched high,
are narrow steps leading down to the land between the Rivers Rother and Tillingham

I should state up-front that I knew absolutely nothing about Rye prior to driving there. My interest had been piqued in a vague kind of way over the years by various pieces of literature and their film interpretations.

Firstly, Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons, which novel I have read and re-read multiple times, not to mention countless viewings of the film adaptation featuring a very young and sometimes half-naked Rufus Sewell *swoon* (if you're interested, a fan has put together 3 minutes and 32 seconds of Rufus from the film, set to Adam & The Ants' Prince Charming - here). The dialects featured in both the novel and film are influenced by East Sussex, and the chapel scene in the film, featuring Ian McKellen's mad preacher, was filmed in a chapel in Rye.

Secondly, I'm a great fan of the Mapp and Lucia books by E F Benson. The author lived in Lamb House (now a National Trust property) for a number of years, and his fictional village of Tilling is a thinly-disguised Rye, right down to the crooked chimney mentioned many times in the books. I adored the 2014 BBC TV adaptation starring the always wonderful Anna Chancellor, Miranda Richardson, Steve Pemberton and Mark Gatiss, and I've stumbled across a website that appears to let you view at least the first episode for free - if you are interested, hopefully you can access it here. It was filmed extensively in Rye.

The house with the crooked tower, which features in the Mapp and Lucia novels

The same building was the home of Henry James for nearly 20 years from 1898, and it was here he wrote some of his best work, including What Maisie Knew and The Golden Bowl. Many renowned authors visited him over the years, including Rudyard Kipling and H G Wells.

Just my luck, Lamb House remains closed due to the pandemic so all I got to see was the garden wall and front entrance.

But it was an email from Sawday's last year, advertising a luxury B&B in Rye, that drew me. Jeake's House is situated in Mermaid Street - probably the most photographed spot in Rye with its cobbles, quaint cottages and 15th century pub.

Sadly Jeake's House had no vacancy, so I ended up staying in an acceptable B&B (actually more like a little boutique hotel) in the high street.

Jeake's House in Mermaid Street, where there was no vacancy :-(

The Mermaid Inn in Mermaid Street - 're-built' in 1420!!!

The Mermaid Inn

Thank goodness I was wearing boots with thick soles - those cobbles are murder to walk on!

Mermaid Street at sunset

'The House Opposite' (opposite The Mermaid Inn)

Decorative semi-circle bay window on Mermaid Street

What a delight this town is!

It has a very rich history, being only 30 minutes' drive from Hastings, and because of its maritime connections. Whilst the town itself is no longer right on the coast (it was almost surrounded by the sea in mediaeval times, but the sea has now retreated), the Rivers Rother and Tillingham meander through it on opposite sides and Rye Harbour is 5-10 minutes away. Smuggling was rife through the centuries, and much of the traditional local vernacular - sadly being lost in our modern age - stemmed from that occupation, some being local interpretations of French words, for example Boco - meaning 'much' and originating from the French beaucoup. There was a cross-channel service to Dieppe for centuries.

Some of the houses also have 'smugglers' windows' - tiny windows at each end of the house, up high, wherein a lighted candle would be placed to indicate that the coast was clear for the transportation of illicit goods.

Tiny, winding streets are filled with houses from various centuries, many of them constructed from white clapboard which gives the town a fresh, coastal look. I spent hours just strolling around being a sticky-beak, admiring people's cosy little homes.

Cobbles and clapboard

Another beautiful house in Mermaid Street

Many of the houses in Rye have gorgeous little lanterns at their front entrances

Half-timbered house on the corner of Church Square and Watchbell Street

This is a B&B - you can stay here!
(https://ryewindmill.co.uk/)

The commercial buildings of Rye are also very appealing, and there's a pleasing number of cafés, antiques stores, small art galleries and providores of local foods.

The rear of the Town Hall

This shrub adorned the front wall of a café in the High Street.
I've never seen anything like it before - the bubblegum colours on those berries... they don't look real!
(my botanical guru, Lesley Williams, tells me it's called Porcelain Berry)

The old Grammar School, constructed around 1633

How groovy is this mid-century salesroom?
This is just one room in a labyrinthine antiques centre near the Strand Quay on the River Tillingham.
I managed to kill an hour here!

I purchased a walking guide to Rye from the Town Hall tourist information nook, and was horrified to read of various gruesome episodes in the town's history, including a monk who had an illicit affair with a young local girl and was bricked up alive in a wall of the Friary by his brethren (15th century), and a customs officer who was buried alive by a smuggling gang (18th century).

Sadly, the Ypres Tower was not open to visitors (another victim of COVID), so I had to make do with admiring its exterior and then enjoying a mid-afternoon late lunch at the Ypres Castle Inn - only my third experience of dining out since March this year.

The Ypres Tower, dating from 1250.
Originally a defence against invaders at the time when Rye was surrounded by sea,
it's since been a prison, a courthouse, a mortuary and even a private home for a time

My mid-afternoon lunch venue

If I was going to risk exposure to Coronavirus dining indoors, it had to be worth it!
Delicious warm winter salad with a side of skin-on fries, and a glass of Prosecco

On my first morning I walked out to Camber Castle, about 3.5 kms from where I was staying. I'd woken early and chosen to have breakfast at the socially-distanced / staggered time slot of 8:00am, and most of the shops didn't open until 10:00am, so it was a way of filling a couple of hours. You guessed it, folks - closed due to COVID. All the same, it was a glorious autumn morning and I enjoyed the exercise.

Walking out to Camber Castle, with the town of Rye just visible in the top left-hand corner

Alliteration in action: Camber Castle. COVID. Closed.

I highly recommend a visit to this lovely town if you're ever in East Sussex, and I'd happily return. It's only 30 minutes from Hastings, so if you're interested in English history it's a very rewarding part of the country.

Rye at dawn

Sunrise over the River Rother - taken from the Ypres Tower

After checking out and about to make my way back to Surrey, I took a short detour to Camber Sands, about 10 minutes' drive east from Rye. I felt obliged to so, as the tour guides (and several of my work colleagues) raved about it being a beautiful beach, and it's the only sand dune system on the East Sussex coast. However, I had low expectations, having visited supposedly 'beautiful' sandy beaches in southern England previously.

I'm afraid Australians have different standards when it comes to the quality of beaches. My low expectations were met, and I'll just leave that there - you can judge for yourself from the photos below. Bear in mind you're probably seeing the beach at its best, at around 9am in early October. Imagine it thronged with 25,000 people (that's how many flock there on a really hot day).

Camber Sands.
Fancy a dip? Take a packed lunch. It's a looooooong walk before you reach the water

My attempt to make Camber Sands look appealing

En route to Rye I had made a stop at National Trust property, Bateman's, the former home of Rudyard Kipling. A nice enough property, but sadly only the ground floor of the house was open to the public, with the excuse that 'the upper floor was not easily able to be sanitised' ??? Hmmm... or the National Trust can't be arsed spending the money to do it. That might sound harsh, but we and numerous of our friends have had less than favourable experiences with the National Trust administration this year, and there are whispers that they have no intention of reopening many of their houses, and have treated many of their employees with disdain during the pandemic. It's an organisation that relies heavily on volunteers, and it was news to me to find out that a good proportion of their paid workforce are on zero-hours contracts.

The National Trust is a charity and I understand times are tough, but as a member I'm paying for access to the houses primarily. Yes, I also enjoy the grounds and the non-building NT sites, but it's the houses that really draw me. If I'm to be unable to visit a large proportion of the buildings, I'm going to reconsider my membership.

Bateman's, former home of Rudyard Kipling (now National Trust).
Entry to the house, on the eastern side

Close-up of the entry

Gilt painted leather wallpaper in the dining room of Bateman's

Oast house with dovecote, at the rear of the main house - Bateman's

The pond at Bateman's

Rear entrance to the house, facing the pond - Bateman's

We continue to take brief jaunts in various directions from home, usually no more than an hour's drive away, exploring the plethora of beautiful villages and gorgeous countryside. Last weekend we ventured to the hamlet of Halnaker in West Sussex, just north of Chichester and about 45 minutes by car from home. The drawcards were Halnaker Windmill and the 'tunnel' leading to the windmill - an avenue of trees that encircle the walker.

On the advice of other walkers we parked in the nearby village of Boxgrove and walked for about 20 minutes, crossing fields and passing Tinwood Estate Vineyard before reaching the farm on whose land both the tunnel and windmill are sited.

It was a glorious autumn day, but we've decided the ideal time to visit would be at about 5pm in mid / late October which should be peak autumn colour - so that the low sun illuminates the tunnel, and because there are likely to be fewer visitors at that time of day. We're hoping for the right weather conditions in the next week or so, for a return visit.