A literary hub and a medieval Cinque Port

Rye in East Sussex is a quaint medieval town on the south coast of the United Kingdom. It is just a few miles from Hastings and is part of what the local authority has deemed 1066 country. We did wonder if this meant nothing had happened in the area since 1066. Obviously we were not correct, but I did question the branding!

We decided to visit Rye for a day out because I was feeling a tad nostalgic. I had been there a couple of times with my parents as we absolutely love watching Mapp and Lucia together.

How do you get to Rye?

Rye is easily accessible by car and by train. There is lots of parking in the town too, which is helpful.

Why is Rye famous?

Rye is a Cinque Port (not one of the original five, but still a big deal). It is better known as the home to famous authors including Henry James and E.F. Benson. E.F. Benson is the author I am more familiar with. His books, “Mapp and Lucia” have been serialised twice for television.

Written in between the two world wars, Mapp and Lucia chronicle small-town life in England. They delve into the lives of affluent families and the snobbery which went with them at the time. Personally I prefer Prunella Scales’ rendition of Miss Mapp to the BBC remake.* But that could be because I was bought up on Mapp and LouLou.

What is a Cinque Port?

The Cinque Ports (pronounced SINK) date back to the reign of Edward the Confessor. They supplied ships and seamen to the crown in exchange for tax exemptions and other priviledges. If you believe the Rye Museum, it is only Rye and Ramsgate that still really function as ports.

The name “Cinque Port” comes from the French word for five, reflecting the fact there were originally five ports in the network.

The original five Cinque Ports were in Kent and Sussex: Sandwich, Romney, Dover, Hythe and Hastings. Rye was a later edition and came after Hastings declined in importance. Rye might not be an OG, but it is a better known Cinque Port than Brightlingsea. Cinque Ports have not been asked to provide naval support since 1596 when England was threatened by the Spanish Armada.

When you visit Rye, you can see the economic prosperity which the Cinque Ports bought from the medieval times.

Rye marks its inclusion in this exclusive club with pubs in its honour and a street named after the ports.

Find accommodation in Rye

I have never actually stayed in Rye, but there are a ton of small hotels and guest houses in the town, which you can find on the map below.

What is there to do in Rye?

Visit Lamb House

Lamb House is a new addition to a day out in Rye. It was only opened to the public in the last 10 years. It is owned by the National Trust and is kept in brilliant condition, as you would expect. Lamb House is not a large property by National Trust standards – it took us about 40 minutes to go around – and it has a lovely garden.

Despite the lack of grandeur, Lamb House has seen its share of Royal Visitors. King George I stayed a few nights there after a storm and Queen Camilla visited in 2024 for a tribute to E.F. Benson.

Imagine you are in Tilling

Tilling is the alter ego which E.F. Benson gave to Rye. This means the town is a walking film set. If you are a Mapp and Lucia fan, you step into the set. As you walk around the cobbled streets in Rye you can easily imagine the characters from the book shuffling around in each others business.

As you walk along Mermaid Road, you really do feel part of the action. It is easy to find the Wise’s House, Georgie’s Cottage or even at the legendary Mallards. Grebe is not as easy to find, neither is Quaint Irene’s pad.

Rye has been used by a host of other films and TV shows as a living set. According to IMDB scenes from Dunkirk and Sleepless in Seattle were filmed in the town.

Visit Rye Heritage Centre

Rye Heritage Centre museum is a classic. The brilliance partly comes from the humour which volunteer curators have.

The highlight of Rye Heritage Centre was the “virtual pub crawl”. This really was a pub crawl where the imagination takes you around it. The whole pub crawl is a pin board with two lists. One list is pubs still in Rye, the other list is pubs that have “vanished”. Classic.

The other highlight is the Victorian Arcade Machines which have been taken to film premiers. The photo with Fiona Bruce is amazing. It pales into comparison to the photo of Johnny Depp. Depp is surrounded by photographers and you can just about see the machines in the background.

Treat yourself at Rye’s Independent Shops

Like many small British Towns, Rye has a wonderful selection of Independent Shops. My favourite was Rye Pottery. I have their web page open now as I am kicking myself for not buying a vase. There are also a wonderful range of delicatessens, olde sweet shops and art shops. If you want to be truly independent, then the Rye Bookshop is not for you. It looks independent but is in fact is a very well-disguised branch of Waterstones.

Have lunch at Haydens

One of the things you will learn going round Rye, is if you have not been honoured at Rye in Bloom, you are a nobody. Haydens has been honoured not once but twice. It is easy to see why. We had been tempted to go for one of the more trendy places in the guidebooks. They felt a bit over the top for our day out. As we walked past Haydens we knew it would be perfect. Haydens is a classic British cafe with a great selection of sandwiches, pasta dishes and ploughmans. The food was exceptional, simple and inexpensive. It was easy to see why Rye in Bloom liked them so much.

Head up Ypres Tower

Ypres Tower was another classic. It is thought to date to about the 13th century and seems to have had mixed uses in its time. Let’s start with the outside: there were cannons and shot.

As you wander up the tower, you are treated to some history of punishment in Rye (think a skeleton hanging in a torture device), some maritime costumes and weapons. You are able to pick up some of the weapons (through heavily reinforced plastic) and even see a medieval toilet.

Ypres Tower costs £5 to go around. I think this was good value. The two women behind us refused to pay it (and sat on a bench waiting for their friend). This was on the basis there is another free museum about the tower in Rye. That was however shut so their loss.

Ice cream on Mermaid Street

At the bottom of Mermaid Street there is a wonderful cafe. It has an old fashioned red telephone box that is now a library. More importantly for the sunny day we visited, it sells great ice cream. It even has an Ice Cream bench to enjoy your soft serve.

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