My pawfect holiday

This year for our annual jaunt, Molly, Seamus and I decided to go to Rye Harbour in East Sussex. We were accompanied by 5 humans, including J1 & J2.

This is the lovely cottage that we hired.



It was located about 5 minutes walk from Rye Harbour Nature Reserve which lies within a large triangle of land over about 325 hectares (800 acres). It has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) because of the many unusual plants and animals that live there.

Here's Molly and I at one of the entrances to the Nature Reserve.





We walked here most days, either along the paths or onto the beach. There was plenty to see and do and lots of interesting birds, plants and my personal favourite, RABBITS! Can you read the label on the plant Molly is looking at? It's hemlock! Because of its poisonous properties it used to be considered an evil plant and was associated with witches and the devil. I wonder why she's so interested? Has she got plans for Seamus and myself?




The building in the background is a Martello Tower. 103 of these towers were built between 1805-1812 as part of the defences against a possible French invasion during the Napoleonic Wars. They were built of brick, 13 foot thick on the seaward side, stood about 30 foot high and were equipped with a cannon on the roof. Only about 45 of them now remain and most of them are in ruins like this one or have been converted.




On one of our excursions we visited the nearby town of Rye, which is very pretty with its cobbled streets, a medieval church and Tudor and Georgian houses.



We also visited Bexhill-on-Sea, home of the beautiful De La Warr Pavilion. Built in 1935, it was the UK's first public building built in the Modernist style. Its original purpose was to house entertainment and conference halls, functions rooms, a library and a terrace restaurant. After a huge restoration project (completed in 2005) the pavilion is now a national centre for contemporary arts.




Enough with the history lesson, I know what you really want to see is more photos of us enjoying ourselves! Here I am with Seamus on the beautiful beach at Camber Sands. The beach stretches for miles and is divided into dog free and dog friendly areas, but even in the dog friendly areas all dogs must be kept on a lead.




The local beach at Rye Harbour was always very quiet and we could be let off our leads.






We all had such a wonderful holiday. I wonder where we'll go next year?