Tell me about Rye...
- Thread starter Biddlybee
- Start date
).
editor
hiraethified
Maggot's your man for local info, but there's tons of info and pics right here! Be sure to check out Camber Sands too!
http://www.urban75.org/photos/rye/index.html
http://www.urban75.org/photos/rye/index.html
)
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
As far as I know, all the old carriages on that line have gone now.
zenie
>^^<
As far as I know, all the old carriages on that line have gone now.
How would one find out?
Orang Utan
Psychick Worrier Ov Geyoor
I went to Rye on the way to Dungeness a couple of months ago - there didn't seem to be much of interest - the train line to Dungeness is cool and there are a few cafes for cream tea and a few wool shops and a nice view from the high street at the top of the hill but there's nothing remarkable about it.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
Here. It looks like editor rode on one of the very last trains with slam-door carriages.How would one find out?
Orang Utan
Psychick Worrier Ov Geyoor
I think I misremembered it - there's no 15 gauge railways to Rye from Dungeness! I can't remember where we got off then.
But I would definitely still go to to Dungeness if I was in the area and ride this:
http://www.rhdr.org.uk/rhdr/home_flash.html
editor
hiraethified
It's a nice walk to Camber Sands - you can walk along part of the old railway line: http://www.urban75.org/railway/camber.html
And Dungeness is always worth a visit!
http://www.urban75.org/photos/kent/dungeness.html
The people who run the lighthouse are famously grumpy.
And Dungeness is always worth a visit!
http://www.urban75.org/photos/kent/dungeness.html
The people who run the lighthouse are famously grumpy.
I used to live down there. It's hard to find a good meal, but it's a good area to explore by car. Lots of pretty stuff to look at. There's tons of interesting history because that area has been our frontline for centuries. Lots of fortifications against Napoleon (e.g. the Royal Military Canal)...that sort of thing. But you'll need to do some reading to get the most out of it.
Winchelsea is nearby - interesting history - perhaps the first planned town built in the UK except for the Roman ones. But I don't think there's a museum or anything. A great butchers though. Occasionally sells squirrel.
The old bit of Rye is good for a walk - the bit with cobbled streets. Lots of antique shops and tea shops and a very old church. But I get fed up with Rye quite quickly - too many tourists and geriatrics for my liking.
I really like Dungeness - very odd atmosphere. Check out the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch railway. And Derek Jarman's house http://www.dungeness-nnr.co.uk/history.php Don't bother with Lydd - it's a shithole.
Camber Sands has the warmest sea to swim in that I know of (in Britain) if you go to the bit behind the golf club. Sometimes it's as warm as a swimming pool. Take a picnic there. You'll have acres of beach to yourself if you walk as far west as you can go. Doesn't take long. I can recommend some crafty free parking to minimise the walk.
For a good long country walk you can do Winchelsea - Udimore - Peasmarsh - Winchelsea. It's lovely. I used to take friends there. You'll need an Ordnance Survey map. It includes a public footpath which goes across Paul McCartney's place and through a wood with wild boar in it. You won't see any boar, but you'll see their hoofprints.
I'm a bit out of date regarding pubs. The Two Sawyers at Pett used to be the best - there was a microbrewery across the car park. But it's had a few problems and may not be open.
To get there (or back) take the M20, get off around Ashford and wiggle your way to Rye via Woodchurch and Appledore. Then follow the Royal Military Canal to Rye. Try to imagine how the area was when the marshes were all sea. There used to be lots of ferries linking all the bits that poked out of the water.
To get back (or get there) pick up the A21 near Hastings. You could stop off at Bodiam Castle. Should you have the misfortune to go through Flimwell, visualise me driving a 3 wheel milk float there every morning in 1980!
If any of the above appeals I can give more details.
Winchelsea is nearby - interesting history - perhaps the first planned town built in the UK except for the Roman ones. But I don't think there's a museum or anything. A great butchers though. Occasionally sells squirrel.
The old bit of Rye is good for a walk - the bit with cobbled streets. Lots of antique shops and tea shops and a very old church. But I get fed up with Rye quite quickly - too many tourists and geriatrics for my liking.
I really like Dungeness - very odd atmosphere. Check out the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch railway. And Derek Jarman's house http://www.dungeness-nnr.co.uk/history.php Don't bother with Lydd - it's a shithole.
Camber Sands has the warmest sea to swim in that I know of (in Britain) if you go to the bit behind the golf club. Sometimes it's as warm as a swimming pool. Take a picnic there. You'll have acres of beach to yourself if you walk as far west as you can go. Doesn't take long. I can recommend some crafty free parking to minimise the walk.
For a good long country walk you can do Winchelsea - Udimore - Peasmarsh - Winchelsea. It's lovely. I used to take friends there. You'll need an Ordnance Survey map. It includes a public footpath which goes across Paul McCartney's place and through a wood with wild boar in it. You won't see any boar, but you'll see their hoofprints.
I'm a bit out of date regarding pubs. The Two Sawyers at Pett used to be the best - there was a microbrewery across the car park. But it's had a few problems and may not be open.
To get there (or back) take the M20, get off around Ashford and wiggle your way to Rye via Woodchurch and Appledore. Then follow the Royal Military Canal to Rye. Try to imagine how the area was when the marshes were all sea. There used to be lots of ferries linking all the bits that poked out of the water.
To get back (or get there) pick up the A21 near Hastings. You could stop off at Bodiam Castle. Should you have the misfortune to go through Flimwell, visualise me driving a 3 wheel milk float there every morning in 1980!
If any of the above appeals I can give more details.
danny la rouge
More like *fanny* la rouge!
Very surprised to see anyone getting excited about that train! My Dad commuted on it from Etchingham for decades, and I joined him for a few months when I had a stoodent job in a drawing office. It was reputedly the last diesel main line in Britain. They couldn't electrify it because the electric trains were slightly too wide for the bridges and tunnels and it was too expensive to do anything about it. The train was SO SLOW. We had to get up at 6 to get to Marble Arch by 9.
This is going back a few years though - maybe things have improved.
*Edit. Just been reading editor's words accompanying the train photos and I see he took them on the Ashford-Hastings line, not the London-Hastings Line. So I've done a little trainspotty research. The train is one of the original extra narrow ones used by benighted commuters to get to London from 1957 to 1986 when the line was electrified. Most were scrapped but one was kept by www.hastingsdiesels.co.uk and used on the Ashford-Hastings line until 2005. It's been preserved and is bookable for outings!
This is going back a few years though - maybe things have improved.
*Edit. Just been reading editor's words accompanying the train photos and I see he took them on the Ashford-Hastings line, not the London-Hastings Line. So I've done a little trainspotty research. The train is one of the original extra narrow ones used by benighted commuters to get to London from 1957 to 1986 when the line was electrified. Most were scrapped but one was kept by www.hastingsdiesels.co.uk and used on the Ashford-Hastings line until 2005. It's been preserved and is bookable for outings!
corporate whore
oh, thought you were dead
Rye is the business. As is Camber Sands.
editor
hiraethified
We walked from Rye to Winchelsea. It's a pleasant stroll.
http://www.urban75.org/photos/rye/rye059.html
http://www.urban75.org/photos/rye/rye059.html
Maybe a drive to Rye then walk to Camber Sandsdon't have a map we could borrow do you?
That's a bit of a bleak walk - completely flat, nothing to see but sheep and marsh and gravel pits and a golf course.
I've got all the maps but I think they're in Ramsgate - sorry.
corporate whore
oh, thought you were dead
Eat at Haydens. Drink at The Mermaid. Take time to bumble around the antique market. Go to Camber Sands & have an ice cream.
We walked from Rye to Winchelsea. It's a pleasant stroll.
http://www.urban75.org/photos/rye/rye059.html
Spike Milligan used to live at the top of the lane in a bloody ugly house. He was asked to recommend a local restaurant and review it for the Times so he picked the worst one in the area for a laugh and made it out to be brilliant. I couldn't resist checking it out. It was Italian. Everything in it was so filthy and so cheap that when you went for a piss everyone in the restaurant could hear you splashing through the paper thin wall. I had the lasagne and could only describe it as being similar to the scab that one might pick off a Winchelsea cow's arse if it were to trip up and slide down Winchelsea Hill to Rod Hull's house. (Where he died trying to fix his TV aerial.)
According to my Dad, who grew up in Udimore, Dumb Woman's Lane used to be used by smugglers. Smuggling was the biggest industry there once upon a time. A cartload of contraband was coming up the lane, this woman looked out of her window and saw it, so they cut her tongue out. It's a great lane for scandalously fast motorcycling. I went into the hedge there once.
Reminds me of the time when I drove at Janet Street Porter when she was filming in the middle of the road in one of Winchelsea's gates. Those were the days!
A historic pub recommendation - the Red Lion in Snargate. Not like modern pubs. well worth a look. http://www.coffeebeer.co.uk/pintpleasures/romneymarsh4.html
Biddlybee
making knots with sticks
Sounds like a plan, although after reading nick h's posts, I'm now quite interested in going to Dungeness and Winchelsea tooEat at Haydens. Drink at The Mermaid. Take time to bumble around the antique market. Go to Camber Sands & have an ice cream.
....hmmmm, not sure where to do a walk now. Maybe Rye to Winchelsea and back, then drive to Dungeness stopping off at Camber Sands.
Anyone got an OS map I can borrow?
Maybe the tourist office can help? www.visitrye.co.uk
Turns out there is a museum in Winchelsea after all: http://www.visitrye.co.uk/pages/vie...ges/whattoseeanddo/attractionsoutsiderye.aspx
Looks like I lived 20 yards from it and never noticed it.
Turns out there is a museum in Winchelsea after all: http://www.visitrye.co.uk/pages/vie...ges/whattoseeanddo/attractionsoutsiderye.aspx
Looks like I lived 20 yards from it and never noticed it.
If you go on Thursday you can hunt for Beach Beasties! www.wildrye.info
Here's a really useful site: http://www.winchelsea.net/visiting/eating.htm#near_winchelsea
Masses of good historical info too.
One of the recommended eateries is the Pilot Inn at Dungeness. It's not that special really - just a big pub with good fish and chips. But it's fun to sit outside on the shingle (which some say is the UK's only desert) in the shadow of the nuclear power station.
I once had a fish there which was so big it was flopping off each side of a very large plate. I was told that Dungeness is known for its huge fish. Allegedly the power station uses sea water for cooling, and you get a very rich marine environment near the pipes that let the warm water out of it. Allegedly.
You might like to know there's never been a radioactive leak there. Have a look at the Location section of this wiki page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeness_Power_Station Interesting stuff about the movement of the shingle bank. It used to run all the way from Fairlight to Hythe but the sea breached it in the 13th century and washed away Winchelsea. That's why Winchelsea was rebuilt as a planned town. It was so important to the economy that the King ordered it to be replaced. Hard to believe it now that it's a village with a few old bats in it.
Masses of good historical info too.
One of the recommended eateries is the Pilot Inn at Dungeness. It's not that special really - just a big pub with good fish and chips. But it's fun to sit outside on the shingle (which some say is the UK's only desert) in the shadow of the nuclear power station.
I once had a fish there which was so big it was flopping off each side of a very large plate. I was told that Dungeness is known for its huge fish. Allegedly the power station uses sea water for cooling, and you get a very rich marine environment near the pipes that let the warm water out of it. Allegedly.
You might like to know there's never been a radioactive leak there. Have a look at the Location section of this wiki page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeness_Power_Station Interesting stuff about the movement of the shingle bank. It used to run all the way from Fairlight to Hythe but the sea breached it in the 13th century and washed away Winchelsea. That's why Winchelsea was rebuilt as a planned town. It was so important to the economy that the King ordered it to be replaced. Hard to believe it now that it's a village with a few old bats in it.
Orang Utan
Psychick Worrier Ov Geyoor
There's nothing alleged about it, nick! Marine life loves warmth
editor
hiraethified
It was a similar story for Dunwich near Southwold:
Here's the church tower about to topple into the sea.
More here: http://www.urban75.org/photos/suffolk/dunwich-village.html
lights.out.london
Black Flag
Me and the g/f are going back in September. We had a really good time there a couple of weeks back. We stayed at the Hope & Anchor but are staying at the Apothecary next time. Cheaper.
e2a we ate at a place called the Monastry, on the main drag. It seemed a bit cheaper than the usual 15/16 for a bit of fish everywhere else was charging. The dining room looked like something from Abigail's Party, but the food and service was really good (I had liver and she had a steak). The woman waiting on our table could have been your fave auntie.
JDs tattoos is good for those that do (I had one done last time and another to come next). He came highly recommended by my 'usual' ink merchant.
e2a we ate at a place called the Monastry, on the main drag. It seemed a bit cheaper than the usual 15/16 for a bit of fish everywhere else was charging. The dining room looked like something from Abigail's Party, but the food and service was really good (I had liver and she had a steak). The woman waiting on our table could have been your fave auntie.
JDs tattoos is good for those that do (I had one done last time and another to come next). He came highly recommended by my 'usual' ink merchant.
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