With charming streets, nice shops and more than a few properly great pubs and restaurants, Rye is inarguably one of the south east’s favourite getaway towns. What’s more, it’s right next to miles and miles of beautiful sandy beach. If that last bit sounds good, then the Gallivant hotel might be your idea of heaven on earth (or at least Sussex). The boutique-y bolthole is situated opposite (like directly opposite) one of the areas’s nicest beaches. If your idea of heaven is rolling out of bed and onto the Camber Sands, the Gallivant has you covered.
Lots of effort’s gone into making the Gallivant Rye’s most modern, most comfortable, most stylish hotel. The sitting room area, which spreads out from a big fireplace, feels expansive and luxe, without being up its own arse and stuffy. People hang out, read the paper, play board games in a way that feels more in keeping with the Hamptons than the British seaside. Meanwhile the restaurant’s kitchen has been home to a number of top chefs over the years. The seasonal menu, supported by an exhaustive English wine selection, reflects that quality.
We stayed in the luxury garden room, which featured sliding doors that proudly revealed a standup bath in the middle of the room (from which, yes, you can watch TV while waiting for dinner). It’s easy to forget that, on the most basic level, the Gallivant is esentially a single-storey roadside motel, because so much work has gone into making it feel upmarket, pleasant and breezy. The grounds are peppered with parasols, plants and pale furniture, the walls are adorned with vintage swimwear and the staff seem genuinely happy to work there. The Gallivant is a great example of a small hotel aspiring for more, and achieving that.
Neighbourhood
Rye (a seven minute car or bus ride away) is a great town for pottering about, buying things you don’t really need and having the odd pint of local ale.There are a few streets in particular that are basically impossible not to photograph, such is their prettiness. The Gallivant’s real neighbourhood though, is the Camber Sands. If you thought soft white sand couldn’t really exist properly in the UK, this stretch of coastline is here to prove you wrong. And if it all gets a bit too idyllic then Dungeness, with its infamously oppressive air, is just a shoreline walk away.
Time Out Tip
The Gallivant has a bunch of experiences and activities that you’ll want to book for. Yoga on the beach, wine tasting (English wine, naturally), spa treatments in a special hut and more. All free, you’ll be elated to hear, for guests.