Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
A half-mile west of Westerham (10 min. from M25 junction 5 or 6).
&
01959/562345.
www.squerryes.
co.uk. Admission to house and garden £7.50 adults, £7 students and seniors, £4 children 15 and under,
£16 family ticket; garden only £5 adults, £4.50 seniors, £2.50 children 15 and under, £9.50 family ticket.
Apr 1-Sept 30 Wed, Sun, and bank holidays, house 12:30-5pm, grounds 11:30am-5pm. House and
grounds closed Oct-Mar. Take the A25 just west of Westerham and follow the signs.
6
RYE & HASTINGS
Rye: 62 miles SE of London; Hastings: 63 miles SE of London
Rye
was once an important port and a smugglers' haunt, but the sea receded and it
was left high and dry 2 miles inland. It was occupied by the French after the Norman
invasion of 1066, but reclaimed for England in 1247 by Henry III. It was all but lev-
eled in 1377, only to be rebuilt in Elizabethan style. Today you come here to wander
narrow, twisting cobblestone streets and admire the ancient buildings, which prop
each other up like a house of cards.
Just along the coast is
Hastings,
the site (roughly) of the Battle of Hastings in
1066 where King Harold was defeated by the invading troops of William, Duke of
Normandy. From this point England's history became entwined with that of France
and nothing was the same again. The battle actually occurred at what is now
Battle
Abbey
(8 miles away), but William used Hastings as his base. The town itself is a
rather faded seaside resort, a pale shadow of Brighton, 35 miles to the west.
Essentials
GETTING THERE
From London, there are hourly Southeastern trains to Rye and
Hastings from Charing Cross Station, changing at St. Leonards. The trip to either
takes just over 2 hours and costs about £28. Battle is a stop on the line. The South-
eastern journey from St. Pancras takes about 1
1
⁄
4
hours, with a change at Ashford
International; the trip costs about £33.
If you're driving to Rye from London, take the M25, M26, and M20 east to Maid-
stone, going southeast along the A20 to Ashford. At Ashford, continue south on the
A2070. To Hastings, head south on the A21. To Battle, cut south to Sevenoaks and
continue along the A21 to Battle via the A2100.
Hastings is linked by bus to Maidstone, Folkestone, and Eastbourne. If you're in
Rye or Hastings in summer, several frequent buses run to Battle.
VISITOR INFORMATION
Rye Tourist Information Centre
is at 4-5 Lion Street
(
&
01797/226696;
www.visitrye.co.uk), open daily April to September 10am to 5pm,
October to March 10am to 4pm.
Rye Heritage Centre,
on Strand Quay
(
&
01797/226696;
www.ryeheritage.co.uk), houses a sound-and-light show of 700
years of history (£3.50 adults, £2.50 students/seniors, £1.50 children 15 and under).
Hastings Tourist Information Centre,
Queen's Square, Priory Meadow
(
&
01424/451111;
www.visit1066country.com), is open Monday to Friday 8:30am to
6:15pm, Saturday 9am to 5pm, and Sunday 10:30am to 4pm.
Battle Tourist Informa-
tion Centre,
at Battle Abbey Gatehouse (
&
01424/776789;
www.visit1066country.
com), is open daily April to September 10am to 6pm, October to March 10am to 4pm.
Exploring the Area
In
Rye,
the old town's entrance is
Land Gate,
where a single lane of traffic passes
between massive, 12m-high (40-ft.) stone towers. The top of the gate has holes
through which boiling oil used to be poured on unwelcome visitors, such as French
