Rye and Winchelsea local information guide
Information about the facilities at Strand House itself are found on this page
Shops
There is a general store and post office in Winchelsea High Street about 5 minutes walk from the house where you can buy a newspaper and other daily items and has a coffee shop. It is called Winchelsea Farm Kitchens. Down at Winchelsea Beach there is a Co-Op which sells a good range of supermarket items and has a Post Office and a Cash Machine. There a wide selection of shops in Rye, a Post Office and all four major banks and several building societies in the High Street all with Cash Machines. Rye is well known for its Antiques shops and has a number of interesting shops such as old fashioned sweet shops, interior design and fashion shops.
Pubs
The nearest pub to Strand House is 5 minutes walk and is called the New Inn - Winchelsea and serves food every night until 9pm except on Sundays which is till 8pm. One of our favourite pubs in the Ploug at Cock Marling (Udimore) as it serves Spanish tapas every evening and does a wonderful home cooked roast for Sunday lunch. Another good country pub is the Queens Head at Icklesham which is always busy and serves food until 9.30pm but please do book as they get very busy. There are two good pubs that we recommend in Rye for food, the Ship Inn beside the harbour and the Globe Inn Marsh which is on Military Road off the A268 (towards Appledore). All these pubs are dog and child friendly.
Restuarants
There is a wide selection of restaurants in Rye and these are just a few of our favourites. Webb's Fish Cafe is good for fish and seafood, the Ambrette is a modern Indian fusion experience, Tuscan Kitchen is a traditional trattoria and Simply Italian is good for children.
If you fancy a trip a bit further out, the Curlew at Northiam is a high class restaurant.
Likewise Hastings has some really good places to eat but for something a bit more unusual try A.G.Hendy Homestore for Saturday and Sunday lunch (and a bit of old fashioned shopping.)
Tenterden has quite a number of chain eateries such as Cafe Rouge, Pizza Express and Pressos
For veggies: for the gournet dining experience Wild Mushroom, Haydens, and the Ship inn.
Doctors and Chemists
GP surgeries are now referring patients to the Hastings Medical Centre if they require a GP or nurse or to go to the Conquest Hospital if they require Accident and Emergency hospital treatment.
Motor vehicles
Strand House has it own car park which is suitable for parking, cars and motorcycles and this is floodlit at night. A car is a good way to get around the area as it is quite rural and many of the attractions are 'off the beaten track'.
Railway trains
Winchelsea has a station which is about 20 minutes walk from Strand House and has about 2 trains an hour into Hastings, Rye or Ashford. Timetable information and journey planning can be done from the National Rail Enquiries site. You can join the High speed rail service to London at Ashford or the Eurostar to travel to Europe or Dover. The easiest way to go to London is to take the train from Winchelsea or Rye, to Ashford and then change onto the High Speed train to go to London - St Pancras which has excellent Underground links to reach other parts of London. A useful site for planning your trip around London is Transport for London
Buses
We have a bus stop outside our front door with the Wave 100 bus travelling to Rye and Hastings with 1 bus an hour and 1 bus every two hours on Sundays. Local buses can be caught at Rye to travel to Tenterden, Ashford, Lydd, Dungerness, Folkestone and many attractions can be accesses from these services. Stagecoach have a route planner available here
Ferries
Strand House is 1 hours drive from the ferry terminal at Dover where P&O Ferries and DFDS Ferries sail to Calais and Dunkirk.
Green travel
As part of our Green Tourism Business Award we like to promote Green travel using public transport and can help with your route planning and journeys both to Strand House and then to visit the many attractions in the area. On our own holidays we try to do green travelling so we are always happy to help you.
Churchs
Church of England - St. Thomas' Winchelsea, St. Mary's Rye, St. Richards Winchelsea Beach
Catholic - St. Anthony of Padua Rye
Methodist - Winchelsea Historic Methodist, Rye Methodist Chapel
Baptists - Rye Baptist Chapel
