Rye's Water Cistern from the 1700s (with level gage)
The trains are so clean, quiet, and smooth-riding… You can get to lots of interesting towns from Royal Tunbridge Wells, including the town of Rye, where we lunched at Fletcher’s, originally a vicarage dating back to the 15th century. Across from Fletcher’s there’s a shop window promoting the local environmental group and displaying typical shorebirds found on the “shingle”, British for a riverbank covered with water-worn pebbles. Rye was a fishing community in the 11th century. Since then, the sea has retreated two miles. Now sheep graze where the waves once broke on the beach. Walked about the town, including the water tower from 1733, Ypres Tower (1249) and Church of St Mary (early 1100s). Another train to Hastings for tea and a look around.
