Stella McCartney went to school in Rye. Spike Milligan is buried near here. Rye’s celebrity count, per cobblestone, must be the highest of any in England.
Sensible-shoes novelist Radclyffe Hall lived here too and Tom Baker also lives nearby. The evidence is in the local charity shop, where a signed photograph of him is in the front window for £20. Don’t tell the daleks.
Rye is best visited by train – the old-fashioned way to approach a sigh-making, old-fashioned village. Take the fast train to Ashford from London St Pancras then change for the short trip to Rye.
On the train, admire all the sheep bottoms (they make a point of showing them to you, as you gaze through the carriage windows) and the stunning English countryside.
In and around the green hills and white windmills, lie the homes of the rich and famous.In the 1920s the chap of the moment was novelist E.F.Benson who wrote the Mapp and Lucia series, set in a cleverly disguised version of Rye – a fictional village called Tilling. Alexander McCall-Smith and Armistead Maupin are fans and so was Nancy Mitford.
Read one of the Benson books on the train and the village will seem even more intriguing. Based on two bitchy middle-class ladies at war with each other, it’s a tale of stolen recipes, men called Georgie, women with problems, village fetes and Sussex floods. Guided walks are available from June to September. Benson has a cult following.
Much of Rye’s literary history is centred one place – Lamb House. Benson lived there (he later became Mayor of Rye) and so did Henry James. It’s now owned by The National Trust and open to visitors. Lamb House itself is disguised as ‘Mallards’ in the book. Just look for the black door to enter literary wonderland. You can walk from The River Haven Hotel (below) which we found for around AUD/US $158 per night. Just click left on our hotel search engine for your twin room.
The Mermaid Inn, a short walk from Lamb House, is haunted. A camera crew from Most Haunted visited a few years ago, with medium Derek Acorah and found the spirit of a man murdered by smugglers. A closed door opened on its own – on camera too.
When I dropped in, The Mermaid Inn was haunted by far too many people lining up for a drink, but there were plenty of seats near the huge fireplace, which is the size of the average London hotel room.
There is some good vintage clothes shopping in Rye. You won’t need a map – just wander around and you’ll soon trip over a hatbox in the street. Halcyon Days, on Strand Quay, is one of a number of small vintage and retro shops. High Society, close by, has secondhand Cath Kidston and Laura Ashley tea-dresses for the princely sum of £25.
Rye was once visited by Queen Elizabeth I and retains the odd Tudor building. It really belongs to Britain as she was in the 1920s, though, and perhaps the 1970s.
Rye has always been a fishing town and the seafood at Webbe’s Fish Cafe is superb. Find it at 17 Tower Street, for dinner before the train back to London. Want to stay longer? Rye is within a train-ride of both Brighton and Canterbury, so if you want to explore the best of Sussex and Kent, this is also a tempting place to land. Story: Jessica Adams.
