Field Guide to The Barn in Camber, Rye

My travel diary to a writing weekend on the coast.

In January I went on a self-led writing retreat with a few author friends and it was the perfect winter weekend away. I often find I’m less likely to make plans for a getaway in the colder months and this year I promised myself I wouldn’t let the idea of ‘good weather’ hold me back from being in nature.

Instead of wishing away January, we embraced all its wintery wonder. We romanticised the cold! We put on our coats, went out for a walk, returned to the fire and got cosy. It was good to indulge in all of these activities in the spirit of building new writing habits for the year ahead. It felt like setting an intention, not just for hitting our word counts, but for supporting one another in our projects this year.

The Barn in Camber was our home from home for two nights. When I think of a winter getaway, there are a few must-haves on my checklist: It’s got to have a good log burner ✓ It’s got to be by the sea ✓ It’s got to be unparalleled levels of cosy ✓ And oh boy was this place cosy! It was tick, tick, tick and every bit as gorgeous as we hoped with a lovely large open-plan sitting room, comfy chairs to sink into and a cathedral beamed ceiling.

I weirdly made a big deal about how excited I was about the log burning stove (why am I like this), then felt quite a lot of pressure to make a really good fire so I spent a lot of time on the floor staring at the flames. But, you know what, I love a job! And I was very proud of how that baby burned. I feel I’ve finally perfected my kindling-lattice-base technique and must write a Substack that no one will read all about it.

So, my job was hearth wench while everyone else fulfilled far more important roles such as cooking (S cooked a delicious artichoke pasta) and driving. It was so fun to have that time away where we all got to feel as though we were part of a strange family for a few nights and fuss around one another in the kitchen making coffee and organising the day ahead.

Our creative retreat was complete with morning writing, reading in front of the fire (wow Freya, that fire looks so good), new notepads, late-night chats, long walks on the beach, shell hunting and hot chocolate.

Sussex has plenty of artistic inspiration. In one of the bedrooms we found a book about writers and artists who have a connection to Sussex. I read a few pages about Graham Greene, Lee Miller and Virginia Woolf over coffee, then (while I was getting distracted scrolling on Instagram) discovered it happened to be Woolf’s birthday that weekend. The coincide felt like a good omen, and I got a fair bit of writing done that morning. I’m working on a screenplay at the moment and am finding it harder to get into a state of flow than when I write prose. Flow is always helped by fresh air, so we headed out for a walk…

The Barn is a short, windswept walk to Camber Sands and some seaside cafes. The idea of not being concerned about ‘good weather’ rewarded us with… good weather, so that just proves my point really! It was bright, blue and frosty. My favourite kind of day.

The long stretch of sand there is perfect for beachcombing. I didn’t find much sea glass (I always search for mermaid money) but did see lots of intriguing shells that appeared to be stuck together. After some Googling it looks like they’re common slipper shells that attach to one another as a reproductive strategy. Some people call them ‘boat shells’ because on the inside they look like little rowboats with a seat, and I think that’s cute. Isn’t it funny how you can never have seen something on a beach then, one day, see hundreds of them at once. Why is that?

I love crouching down to discover new sea things and always find the meditative act of walking up and down a beach allows new ideas and inspiration to rise to the surface of my subconscious. Conversation is a little like this too. It’s nice to drift and to meander. I really enjoyed spending more time with people I usually see over Zoom or dinner. It was an opportunity to run out of things to catch up about, and see what conversation came to us then. It was very bonding and very beautiful.

I went to Camber a few years ago for my birthday and we did the whole trip on public transport. Train from St Pancras to Rye, taxi to Camber and the bus back into town when we wanted to do some shopping. So, it is doable as a car-free holiday and it’s nice to make the station Pret part of the adventure. While in Rye, be sure to:

• Have a hot chocolate at Knoops.

• Shop for antiques at Soap and Salvation, Station Antiques and Puckhaber.

• Buy chocolate scallops and coloured candlesticks from the boutiques on the high street.

• Treat yourself to a new notepad from The Paper Place.

• Eat fish and chips from Marino’s Fish Bar.

• Visit Derek Jarman’s garden in Dungeness then stop off at the Snack Shack.

• Have a fish supper at the Globe Inn Marsh Rye.

Reminiscing while writing this little post has felt like a fresh seaside breeze across my evening. Embrace your winter folks! Create your own creative retreat! Invite your friends to the beach and impress them with your fire-building skills!

I’m going to write another post about how to host a little writing weekend of your own, with a few tips on how to make it extra lovely. I’ll see you then…