Rambling Round Rye – A memoir of a summer’s evening
A cause for celebration took us to Rye that night. It was a hot evening, hot for England, that ‘different kind of heat’ that we get. We’d been enjoying, or possibly enduring for some, unusually warm weather for what seemed like weeks in the summer of 2018. An endless summer where the days sprawled out to fill as much space as possible, leaving little room for the cool of the night.
Back to that night in Rye in early August. We ventured out for a bite to eat to celebrate our wedding anniversary (don’t panic, that’s as gushy as I’m gonna get). It always feels like such a treat to be able to eat outside in the evening in England, and this evening, in particular, was the perfect night for it.
We started off at The Globe Inn Marsh.
Their terrace was a-buzz with the clattering of plates and clinking of glasses, friends in conversation, the soundtrack of shared food together. I love this noise and I love the way cooking smells carry so well over the warm air. We begin with Gin – from the Gin Bar – with cucumber and black pepper. How trendy is Gin now with all its avant-garde mixers and garnishings?
If you’re passing The Globe, it’s worth a look in at the bar. They have this set up as not so much of a bar but rather an arrangement of sorts of bottles and taps and snacks and glasses. It’s enticing, interesting, lots to see and sample.
The evening’s food was a sharing platter of seafood to start – perfection. A platter of whitebait, calamari and smoked salmon. I won’t go into too much detail about all the food we had as, on this occasion, the food was secondary, incidental, as we soaked up the atmosphere on that terrace on that summer’s evening.
Aware that by the time we’d finished our food, the night was still young, we walked on into Rye in search of coffee and cake or possibly ice cream. What were we thinking? This is England, you can’t possibly go out for coffee in the evening!
Unaccustomed to the warm weather, Rye shut down early as usual and the throngs of people meandering round still as the light began to fade had nowhere to go other than walking past dark-windowed shops and cafes closed up for the night.
We walked across the cobbled roads as the sun slid down, turning corners and passing people in the streets and open windows as darkness fell. Up to the famous Mermaid Street, around the church, past Ypres Tower (Rye Castle), too. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been to Rye. Living in Tenterden, it’s not far to go, a short drive away. But that night, wandering around in the balmy heat, I felt like an accidental tourist, soaking up the sights, buildings, places, so familiar though now seen in a different light.
We eventually found a place for a final coffee in the courtyard of the Kino cinema, as this was the only place still open. A cappuccino and a Daim bar in the half-light neon glow of the cinema sign, and this was a perfect spot and the perfect way to end the evening.
Visiting Rye
If you’re not familiar with Rye, it’s a beautiful medieval town in East Sussex. Aside from the cobbled streets with plenty of shops and places to eat and drink, there’s lots to do. A castle, a nature reserve at the nearby Rye Harbour, guided ghost walks. And being not far from the coast, the nearby beaches of Camber Sands with its beautiful sandy dunes and quieter Winchelsea, are a stone’s throw away.