After having visited somewhere new it was back to familiarity with a little jaunt out to our favourite bit of seaside, down Hastings way.

Old Familiar

We arrived on Monday and headed to what has become our traditional arrival stop of the Seadog near the station. Our old traditional stop off was the Wetherspoon, and we found ourselves there for a spot of lunch before heading to the always wonderful White Rock Hotel. There, once we’d deposited cases in our room, we took the chance to relax on the sunny terrace and welcome ourselves to home away from home.

We couldn’t sit on the terrace too long with the whole of Hastings calling though, so headed off in the golden evening light along the sea towards the Old Town, which was very pleasant. We found our way to the Hastings Arms, another old favourite, and as good as ever. For dinner though we abandoned tradition. The Blue Dolphin had disappointed the last few times so we risked somewhere different, taking a shot at The Old Town Fryer nearby. Carrying them back to the hotel room the fish (or scampi in Heather’s case) and chips proved to be okay, but not spectacular. Better than the football I watched though…

Along The Sea

The next day, after Heather found breakfast, we headed away from Hastings after hardly being there, catching a bus along the coast to Bexhill. We’d visited Bexhill a few years ago when we did the duck and it had seemed a pleasant enough place to revisit for a bit. The bus dropped us off at the rail station and we went for a mooch around the little shops (avoiding the medical emergency sadly happening on one of the main streets). That walk around took us down to the sea, and the magnificent De La Warr Pavilion. There we stopped for some excellent lunch, braving the rather windy conditions (and seagulls) to sit on the outside terrace overlooking the sea.

After a few more shops (including remembering Starlings, which we were happy to revisit). Sitting in the Sovereign mainly because it’s name amused Heather, reminding her of a youthful haunt, we decided we’d probably “done” Bexhill, and scouted around for somewhere to occupy the afternoon. As the train station was again just opposite we decided a quick jaunt down the shore to Pevensey was in order.

The train dropped us at Pevensey and Westham so we wandered the short walk through the pretty village of Westham, finding The Heron along the way. The local church looked very pretty in the sunshine as we strolled by too.

That sunshine made for a marked difference to the last time we visited Pevensey Castle nearly a decade ago. That day we’d arrived in torrential rain and not really been able to appreciate the Roman walls surrounding the outer bailey (it did brighten up but the overwhelming memory is of being damp). This time the bright sunshine welcomed us through the Roman gateway and on to the Norman castle.

The castle is as impressive as we remembered, a range of mural towers giving it a strong appearance from outside. Inside the footings of the chapel remain, and there are signs such as the remains of fireplaces as to where a range of buildings would have once stood against the walls. The keep is still as confusing as ever, an incoherent mass (complete with very well disguised machine gun emplacements) that must have been an interesting building when complete. Unlike our last visit the (modern) stairs up to the top of the north tower weren’t in bits, so we could climb up and appreciate the views across the countryside towards the now distant see that once came much closer to the castle’s walls (and what looked like alpacas in an adjacent field).

Coming back round from the castle we called in the adjacent Royal Oak & Castle (castle visible through the windows or the rather pleasant garden), before heading back towards the station (Pevensey itself has a rail station, but its much less regularly served). We had to call in the Heron on the way back too of course.

Quite worn out from all the wandering we didn’t want to do anything too complicated in the evening so simply had dinner in the hotel before retiring with a few drinks to our room to watch a few online talks.

A Visitor

Traditionally I join Heather for breakfast on the hotel terrace at least once or twice a stay, so I wandered down with her in the morning (the breakfast is excellent, I’m just not much of a breakfast person). There we were met by Emma (strangely enough, she popped down to see us last time we’d been to Pevensey too!) and we had a wander round town with her. We started with a look around George Street before taking a break in the always lovely Dolphin Inn

From there we decided to have a trip up the East Hill Lift to blow away the cobwebs on the windy hill above, with its stunning views back over the town and along the coast. Coming back down Emma led us to Hanushka back on George Street. Heather and I had somehow never actually been before but, with it’s library of books, it’s now on our list of places to enjoy.

We headed up the hill of the High Street before reaching The Stag—which despite a management change still seems lovely, and the garden out the back is as pretty as ever. It’s a lot easier getting down from the stag than it is getting up the hill to it, which meant we were able to head back down and along the seaside. Along the way Emma led us into East Hastings Sea Angling Association (no wonder they abbreviate their name), the bar of which is a little surprisingly open to the public, and very accommodating. Their terrace, while windy, gave a nice view out over the working beach, and of the little trains running by beneath us.

Eventually it was time to head towards the hotel. There Em left us as Heather and I had dinner booked in Webbes. We were slightly apprehensive after our last experience but they were at least somewhat back on form, if not quite up to the best we’ve had there.

And so it was we walked back along the shore in the evening light. It seemed quite quiet, even for the time of year. We found ourselves indulging in the two-pence machines in the arcades before a nightcap in The Albion before bed.

Some Favourite Things

So far we’d been along the coast, and wandered around with Emma, but hadn’t really had much of a chance to do our normal Hastings things. So after breakfast, we went for a slow wander around the shops and sights of the town. That took us to familiar but not yet visited haunts, such as the Pump House. There was also the opportunity to say a sad goodbye to probably our favourite Hastings shop, Turn The Tide is sadly no more. To cheer ourselves up we took a trip up the other lift to the west hill. That wasn’t quite as nice as the east cliff but did have the lovely Plough near the top, with its little garden outside. We didn’t wander much further than that though, and headed back down in search of food. We sorted that by a visit to the excellent Crown, which always does good food and drink (it was a little too chilly to sit outside though, for once).

After lunch we went to do the one thing we obviously hadn’t done yet on this trip, with a visit to the crazy golf. This was of course great fun as always. We broke from there to go to the Albion again, and then the arcades once more before heading to relax in the hotel for the remainder of the evening.

Sadly all things come to an end, and so for another year our time in Hastings did. We packed up and left the bags with the hotel before heading out to squeeze as much as we could from the remaining day. We started with a wander, and then a rest in the Dolphin before heading for the art gallery. We took in all the galleries but were mainly there to see Undersea, which was a fascinating exhibition.

We popped to the Hastings Arms for lunch before more crazy golf (always my favourite Hastings activity). That was all we had time for though, having to collect the bags and head home. Hastings having been as wonderful as it ever is.