Rye and Hastings

On a beautiful spring weekend, we put on our walking shoes and set off to Rye. 

I had never been so thrilled at the sight of cattle grazing. Like a Fernleaf ad.

We stopped on the way to have a picnic on a beach.

I made some early birthday cupcakes for the hubby and packed them for the picnic.

Posing with their initials... :)

We had brought quite a spread as you can see. Our friend very kindly made a brioche and hard boiled eggs which as it turns out is perfect picnic food. Our other friend had managed to get very tasty sandwiches and rolls for £1 each! Brillant.

After stuffing ourselves, the boys kicked a ball around.

A yellow lab soon came along and joined in. There were cute little airplanes flying right over where we were sitting.

We drove on to a heritage spot (I don't really know what it's called) somewhere between Rye and Hastings. We parked and started walking across the stunning green. We could see windmills in a distance.

Blue and green, so calming to the eye.

The paths diverged and we chose a dark cosy hedged path which led out to a steep walk down towards the cliff overlooking the sea.

Bluebell season.

The breathtaking views from the side of the cliff.

We sat on a bench opposite this view for a while. It was silent except for the wind and movements of the water below. Surreal experience. My favourite thing to do.

We drove towards Rye and saw this gorgeous steam train chugging away in front of us. How pretty.

We arrive in Rye and took a walk through the town centre. Beautiful place with historical architecture and cobbled paths.

There was a wedding taking place in the church on the left and we saw the bridal party taking photos after the ceremony. There was a street full of interesting houses: one of them said The House with Two Front Doors (pictured below). 

There were lovely bookshops and gift shops with lovely novelty items with witty designs. We could have spent all day there. 

Upstairs of the visitor centre, there was a whole collection of old arcade games from a long time ago which used a penny each to operate. Half of them were really bizarre! The picture on the right was about spotting 9 things that moved very slightly. :)

After visiting Rye, we went on to Hastings and made it just in time before the seafood bar closed. We got calamari and crab with roe. So so delicious!

We bought a postcard featuring a famous local artist's version of this street view.

We had some lovely fish and chips for dinner by the sea and headed home to rest our weary feet.