Rye
“And when love speaks, the voice of all the gods makes heaven drowsy with the harmony.”
After leaving our flat in Canterbury, we made a quick stop by the UK version of Will’s first job at TJ Maxx.
Rye
The interactive map below shows Rye with the pin (you can zoom in and out and pan around).
Lamb House—The home of author Henry James from 1898-1916, is in Rye.
Wonderfully romantic Tudor-style homes can be found throughout the postcard-perfect city.
Look at the size of the front door: Will’s head is almost at the bottom of the upstairs window!
Rye has so many beautiful buildings.
Rye Castle
Boy oy boy were we more brutal just a few hundred years ago.
The Knights Who Say "Ni!"
Mermaid Inn
Romantic can refer to an expression of love and it can also refer to an idealized view of reality. In the second sense, England is very romantic…and Rye may be one of her more romantic cities…and the Mermaid Inn may be one of the most romantic buildings we’ve ever visited! Even in the dead of winter with no flowers blooming, the building is gorgeous.
You can read about the history of the building here, but the short version is that 72 years before Columbus sailed the ocean blue, the current version of the Mermaid Inn was rebuilt following a fire (that’s 1420 if you don’t want to do the math). So it’s old and it’s super cool: with sloping wood-beamed ceilings, creaking floorboards, leaded windows, staircases that lean to one side, crooked hallways, hidden passageways, and massive fireplaces. You can take a virtual tour of the hotel here.
The leaning staircase from the lobby to our room (on the right at the top of the stairs).
One of many crooked hallways.
We stayed in room 15, named “Dr Syn’s Bedchamber.” (The Reverend Doctor Christopher Syn is the smuggler hero of a series of novels by Russell Thorndike. Rye and the Mermaid Inn have a long history with the Hawkhurst Gang, local smugglers in the 1730s and 1740s, who frequented the hotel’s bar.) Room 15 was also the room where the Queen Mother stayed in 1982. Here’s a video tour of our room: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpkUbWltNT8
The room is allegedly home to a pair of specters as well, so hopefully we survive the night.
Relaxing in our room.
We ate dinner just down the street at the historic Old Bell Inn pub.
Built in 1390, the Old Bell has a turbulent history and was once used for smuggling by the infamous Hawkhurst Gang in the 1730s and 1740s who moved goods along a secret tunnel from the nearby Mermaid Inn through a revolving cupboard in the Old Bell for a quick getaway. Amazing!
The pub’s name originates from Rye’s history, when in 1377 a French raid resulted in the theft of the bells from St Mary’s Church and a town fire. Much of this loot was recovered the following year when Rye and Winchelsea men sailed to France and returned with the church bells and other stolen items.
So atmospheric at night.
We then moved the party back to the Mermaid Inn. Having a drink in the Small Lounge, which overlooks the cobbles of Mermaid Street.
Next we shifted over to Dr Syn’s Lounge to sit closer to the fire. Those blasted sweet chili Doritos are addictive!
We finished up in the Giant’s Fireplace Bar because…well…just look at this amazing giant fireplace!
The hotel’s front door look like straight out of The Hobbit.
