DAY TRIP ADVENTURES FROM LONDON

(3^rd of a series)

        That ethereal community, the imaginary perfect English village—what would its components be? There would surely be a village green. Of course, the greengrocer will display the freshest fruit and veg along the footpath in front of his tidy shop. All the call boxes will be painted with the traditional red lacquer and the pub must have windows of leaded glass and a mahogany interior. Shouldn't the stone church tower be the highest structure in town? And flowers! There must be climbing roses of all colors at all times of year, and lilacs and others to festoon the roof eaves and drip over the garden walls. But the architecture—what should it be? Half-timbered Tudor? Honey-golden limestone? Thatched gingerbread? Elizabethan? Georgian? Edwardian? Regency? Medieval?

        Join us as we again stalk the perfect English village. This, our third nominee, is:

        Rye is a quiet gem, full of hidden history. Cobblestone streets and smugglers’ inns give away the past in this once important port, now two miles from the Sussex coast. Rye (population 2,700) is small, quaint, and very walkable. Rye is partially walled (discouraging auto traffic). You can stroll the streets, stopping at the baker, greengrocer, or dairy. Local folks practice this, not as a daily chore, but rather as a way of catching up on local happenings, chatting as they go. The resulting rural pace and friendliness of the town presents a stark and welcome contrast to the anonymous hurry of modern English urban life.

ONE THOUSAND YEARS OF HISTORY         Rye is located on England’s county of East Sussex, which is on the English Channel directly north of France. It was in 1066 at nearby Hastings that William of Normandy's invaders overwhelmed English King Harold's tired army to make William the Norman conqueror of England. Some ninety years later, Rye—then a busy coastal harbor town—was made one of the Cinque (Five) Ports designated to help defend southern England against further invasions from France. RYE LONGBOWMEN

        Rye has important buildings: the impressive medieval St. Mary’s Church; an Augustinian Friary (1379), now housing one of Rye’s celebrated potteries; the Lamb House, residence of Henry James when he wrote Turn of the Screw; and Ypres Tower (1249), a former fortress which now houses part of the town’s Rye Castle Museum. The Ypres Tower is a medieval fortress with views over Romney Marsh and Rye Bay. Over its long history it has been a fort, house, jail, and mortuary. The second part of Rye's museum, located on East Street, contains the majority of the museum's collection, including a wide range of items from Rye's past. Here you can see pottery from Rye, old military uniforms, tools, fashions, even Rye’s old fire engine.

THE 'PRETTIEST STREET IN ENGLAND'?
        Descending west from Henry James’s Lamb House is cobbled Mermaid Street, itself lined with Elizabethan houses and inns, and often called "the prettiest street in England". The street leads to what had been the thriving town harbor, before the River Rother silted up and the English coast moved two miles east of town at about the time of American independence.

        In 1420 the Mermaid Inn was rebuilt, and has little changed in the six centuries since, remaining the principal inn of Rye. At that time, Mermaid Street had 20 feet of water at high tide, and there was room to moor 100 ships off Rye’s quay. Ships’ timbers and local Sussex oak beams were used in the Mermaid’s Tudor framework. Several fireplaces were carved from the stone ballast of French ships from the harbor. If you look closely at the fireplace in the main room of the Mermaid Inn, you will see a hidden staircase in the back of the hearth. This was the smugglers’ escape route for when the authorities came.

        At the bottom of Mermaid Street—on the no longer accurately named Strand Quay—one can visit the Rye Town Model, a locally-produced multi-media look at the history of Rye that helps you imagine the place surrounded by water long ago, with pirates and smugglers escaping with ease to the safety of the open sea.

GETTING TO RYE AND BACK FROM LONDON
        Rye is an easy day trip destination from London by rail. Hourly trains from London’s Victoria Station connect via Ashford to reach Rye in two hours. Rye’s train station is less than 200 yards outside the town’s walled entrance. A return rail journey with a change at Hastings permits a different route back to London (Charing Cross Station). Connections at Hastings are usually about 30 minutes, but some are as close as 4 minutes. The last practical train back to London departs Rye via Hastings before 8PM.

You can stalk Rye and many other perfect English villages
from your home base in London. Click here for information
on HOME AT FIRST's travel program to LONDON.