Pett Camping

Pett Camping is less than a mile from the closest beach at Pett Level; a shingle beach with mud and sand at low tide and sandstone cliffs at one end. To the east along the coast, Winchelsea beach offers a bigger expanse of shingle and in the other direction – beyond the cliffs and Hastings Country Park – is the seaside town of Hastings (six miles) with art galleries as well as amusements, crazy golf and a cliffside funicular railway. For a sandy beach, head for Camber (11 miles). En route there you pass Rye Harbour Nature Reserve and the quaint medieval town of Rye (seven miles), both worthy of a visit. The town has lots of historic buildings, antiques shops, independent eateries, a Norman church, a town museum and Lamb House, a National Trust property that was once the home of the writer Henry James. The nearby Rye Harbour Nature Reserve is a lovely place for a walk along the River Rother to where it meets the sea with saltmarshes and plenty of birds to spot from wildlife hides on the footpaths around the site. The fields and lakes behind Pett Level beach are also a good place for birdwatching and Dungeness RSPB Reserve (19 miles) is close enough to visit too.

Your hosts have a handy farm shop next door at Lunsford Farm selling some of their own produce and other local goodies. For more than what's there, head to The Old Butcher’s Shop (just over a mile away) where, of course, there is plenty of meat but bread and a few other bits and bobs for sale too. You can buy fresh fish and seafood from Hastings (six miles) and Rye (seven miles) and both have plenty of other shops, takeaways and eateries too. Hastings is the place for big supermarkets. There’s a simple beach cafe, Eater’s, down at Pett Level beach, serving coffee, cake and paninis from a shipping container. Occasionally, on weekends, it stays open as a bar in the early evenings too. In the other direction, up the road in Pett, is The Royal Oak Pub. It’s a short walk of about half a mile and does classic pub food at lunch and dinner times and has a sunny beer garden. There’s another option, The Two Sawyers, about a mile along the road that does basket meals and more classic pub meals. Pett also has the Tic Tocory Tea Shop if you fancy something more dainty.