Today I want to bring you my guide to a day trip to Rye, England. This town in East Sussex is one of the most beautiful places in the UK, and it’s worth a visit.
Day Trip to Rye
Yesterday I traveled to the medieval town of Rye on England’s southeastern coast. A two-hour train ride from London, Rye is an intimate, picturesque town near the sea.
I say ‘near’ the sea and not ‘on’ the sea because much of the town’s history hinges on its relationship with the fickle body of water to which it owes its great beginnings and its historic preservation.
Rye began as a successful port city in medieval times. Around the 15th century the town lost favor with the English Channel, who decided to desert the city and move two miles south.
The wily body of water left Rye with nothing but silt and a small river to serve as a cruel reminder of a relationship that once was.
True to the times, the bereft Renaissance Rye reinvented itself as a tourist attraction.
Refurbished in the late 1400’s, many of the buildings in Rye remain frozen in time. From the Church of St Mary with its Romanesque beginnings to the Tudor inn on Mermaid Street, Rye today appears much as it did a century ago.
And the century before that. And the one before that. And so on.
Things to Do in Rye
During my day trip to Rye, I spent a couple hours walking through the town’s small cobbled streets. Everything from the historic Mermaid Inn to the picture-pretty cottages was beautiful.
The low houses with their whitewashed walls and wooden trim were every bit as quaint and charming as one would expect from a story-book town.
Speaking of story-book towns, I’m not the only writer (or the only American, for that matter) to fall under Rye’s enchanted spell.
Among others is the American expat writer Henry James. He lived and wrote in Rye from 1897 to 1914. His home, Lamb House, is now a museum with a beautiful walled garden. Visiting it is one of the best things to do in Rye.
Elsewhere in Rye, I spent time admiring the historic fortifications of the Ypres Tower at Rye Castle. It’s thought to date back to the 13th or 14th century, and it’s stunning to see.
Rye Day Trip
I enjoyed my day trip to Rye, but like the channel, my relationship with the town had to come to an end.
In lieu of silt and a river, in my wake I left the 3 pounds I paid for a mediocre bowl of vegetable chowder at a cafe on the high street (apparently the houses aren’t the only things stuck in the 15th century).
Usually when I leave a place I take a last look, reminding myself that things will be very different the next time I make my way to its nook of the world. I don’t think I have to worry about that with Rye.
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