Skip the miles with a local motorhome getaway to Rye
Just because your motorhome is easy to drive, it doesn’t mean you need to eat up the miles in order to have a change of scene. Skylark & Co owners, Vicky and Alistair, took advantage of some free days in early February to head over to Rye.
“Being child-free for a few days at the start of February, we decided to treat ourselves to a couple of nights away in Kestrel. One of the joys of motorhoming is that you can keep it local and have a glorious break, without being more than an hour or so from home. With our new link up with the Caravan and Motorhome Club available to all our clients, we decided to try out one of the Certified Locations (members only sites) near to our base in Canterbury.
Kestrel on the level pitches at River Brede Farm Campsite
We chose to visit River Brede Farm Campsite between Rye and Winchelsea on the edge of East Sussex. For £25/night the adults-only site offers a small number of hardstanding pitches with electric hook up and water. There are no shower/loo facilities but there’s chemical loo and waste water disposal, which is all you need with a well-equipped motorhome like Skylark or Kestrel.
The site is accessed along a private road and is very easy to navigate from the A259, which runs along that part of the coast. If you time your arrival right, you can stop off at Sutton’s to buy some local seafood and essential provisions. Once you’re parked up, you don’t need to drive again unless you really want to as there are beautiful walks and bridleways linking the site with Rye, Winchelsea and Rye Harbour.
Mapping apps like Ordnance Survey and Komoot are great for finding legal rights of way wherever you are staying, or you can follow waymarked trails. We enjoyed a couple of long walks with the dogs from River Brede Farm. Firstly we headed across fields towards Rye Harbour. The walk takes you from green farmland to natural gravel pits and an unmade road used by locals for walking and cycling.
Wet gear storage under Kestrel
If you’re worried about all the walking equipment you might have to bring along on your holiday, we’ve got that covered. Kestrel has a large outdoor drawer under the motorhome which you can use for storing boots and any wet weather gear rather than bringing it inside.
Walking across the fields to Camber Castle and Rye beyond
Rye is one of the South East’s Cinque Ports and is built around a hilltop citadel. Walking from the campsite, we passed Camber Castle (built by Henry VIII) and followed the River Rother into town. We then enjoyed a quick visit to the Rye Pottery shop and a meander up Mermaid Street to The George in Rye where we’d booked a table in The Grill (very dog friendly).
The famous and beautiful Mermaid Street, Rye
If you had longer, this would be a great site to stop at on a tour of the Weald of Kent and you could include visits to the local wineries or head over to Camber for some kitesurfing or a walk on the long sandy beach.
For anyone planning a winter trip the Rye Bay scallops are in season from November to February and Rye Scallop Week is held at the end of February each year. If you’re a scallop fan these are the best scallops in the world - in our opinion! It’s also another great reason to hire our RVs out of season.
