During May half term we decided to visit somewhere we’ve heard a lot about but had never been to – Rye. It’s only about an hour away from where we live (near Uckfield in East Sussex) and we knew the weather would be good so having the famous Camber Sands nearby too made it the perfect choice for a last minute getaway!

We found a gorgeous house to rent in an amazing location right in the centre of town and booked two nights.

The kids loved it so much they wanted to move in! It was beautifully decorated with quirky touches, lots of colour and antiques, the kitchen was stocked with snacks and information, including maps of the local area and even games down in the nice cool basement room (although our Scrabble night descended into chaos because I won and P wasn’t happy).

I wish I’d had my wider lens to capture it better!

It was situated right next to the church at the top of the hill, very close to some of the best shops and restaurants and a short walk to pretty much anywhere in town. Because of this, I managed to sneak off to the charity and antique shops a couple of times without everyone else having to tag along and get bored! I picked up some great wee gems including a beautifully shaped £5 vase, a turquoise tie for my collection, a tiny blue bottle, a set of pink bangles for £2.50, a green antique flute glass and a stunning little turquoise glass jug for a fiver each. So many bargains!

For lunch on the first day we went to The George in Rye, enticed by the stylish décor and comfy seats. The lunch menu was quite limited so I opted for the prawn starter and a side of Hispi cabbage, both delicious. Kalyan had the mussels which were the best thing on the table, Nik had steak frites and Priya had the bread with burrata & orange which was sadly pretty flavourless.

Although it wasn’t very busy, service was very slow and a bit odd, one of our servers was friendly and the other the opposite, not a single smile. We ordered more bread so we could all dip it in Kalyan’s broth (with his permission) but it took forever to come, we’d almost given up as we’d finished everything else long before it arrived. Overall it was nice but not an amazing experience.

Dinner at The Fig

In contrast, on our first night we enjoyed an amazing dinner at The Fig restaurant. Service was very friendly and efficient and the place was simple and fresh, letting the amazing building shine. They specialise in “creative, unfussy dining” with delicious sharing plates. A massive hit with all of us, our favourite dishes weren’t the ones we expected. The goat’s cheese with figs, prosciutto & hot honey was so good we ordered a second portion! My faves were the carrot dip, prawn taco and surprisingly the lemony potatoes which were so good I forgot to take a photo before we’d wolfed them all down! I’ll write a more detailed review soon.

Although I’d pre-selected an amazing sounding pudding from the menu online, the dessert menu on the night was different and none of us fancied any of them so we had a wander down to the original Knoops for some chocolatey treats and headed to the park instead. More about Knoops to come in a separate post 😉

Keep reading below to find out about The Fig’s amazing breakfasts too!

Camber Sands

The next day we were up early to grab a takeaway breakfast from the bakery and head down to Camber Sands for our very first visit to this famous sandy beach, our closest non-pebble one down here in East Sussex.

The kids immediately ran off up the dunes for sandy fun and of course I grabbed my camera.

We spent the rest of the morning paddling, finding shells, playing catch, digging in the sand (we found half a dozen mini chess pieces, random!) and I managed to read some of my book too. Oh and of course there was some sibling burying to be done.

After fish & chips for lunch we headed back home for a chilled out afternoon at the house. Dinner that evening wasn’t the best so I’ll skip over that part – slow service, overpriced yet disappointing food, not somewhere we’ll be going back to.

Mermaid Street

The next day I was up early so I snuck out for a wander with my camera while everyone was still sleeping. Of course I made my way to Mermaid Street while it was quiet to grab the obligatory shots with the Mermaid Inn but I also enjoyed exploring the rest of the Tudor buildings and even stumbled upon Rye Castle.

Once everyone else was awake, we headed out for breakfast, back to The Fig!

Again, excellent food – both style and substance in abundance! We all loved it and the kids practiced taking portraits of me with my camera.

Rye Nature Reserve

For our final outing we went for a walk to the nature reserve out past the harbour, intending to loop back around but it was a long walk and we gave up due to the heat and skipped out near The Ship, Winchelsea to get the bus back to Rye.

We saw lots of sheep, a few insects, flowers and Camber Castle before we abandoned the trail.

We had lunch in Ono Poke Bowls before heading home. A great last stop which was quick & easy with customisable, fresh, healthy poke bowls and yummy smoothies.

All in all, it was a pretty amazing trip. We’ll definitely go back to Rye, even for a day trip, and we’re glad we stayed over for a couple of nights to give us time to relax as well as explore. Hit me up with any recommendations for more places to eat when we go back, although we’ll definitely be going to The Fig again!

Top Tips

• We parked at Rye train station, paying for the 3 days when we arrived. After driving up to drop our luggage or taking the car to Camber for the day, we had no trouble finding a space again when we returned.
• Get to Camber Sands early, we’d prepared for this and arrived around 8:30am getting a prime parking spot at Camber Central car park, right next to the beach so we could roll our trusty festival wagon loaded with our snacks and beach paraphernalia right onto the sand without having to climb up and over any dunes.
• Climb the church tower, it’s very narrow in places but so worth it for the far reaching views all around.