Author: David Fardon

Katie and Alex Clarke moved together to Rye with their young family in 2004, taking ownership of The George on that Bonfire Night. Katie remembers it as a literal
baptism of fire; “We opened immediately to a super-busy weekend, and fortunately that has been the case ever since”. Not to pretend it was all plain sailing; “We had to sell our house and everything we owned to buy The George, so that first year was very stressful and a massive learning curve.” The couple relocated from their respective jobs in London. Katie had worked in the Art Department on films and TV (her final film job was on the first Nanny McPhee film) as well as on fashion shoots and shows in Paris for Christian Dior with the designer Michael Howells (who sadly died in 2018).

Alex was a hotel consultant and had a lifelong dream of owning and running one. They had been looking for a hotel for some time all over the UK but knew the minute they saw The George it was THE ONE! Katie recalls “ It was terrible timing as I had just had our second daughter Olive, and Matilda was only 18 months old”. They now have another daughter, Esme, and all three have grown up with the hotel and, in the family tradition, worked there during the holidays. Again, Katie recollects how quickly their lives changed ; “From memory, the whole process from looking at the hotel, to selling our house and moving to Rye took around 2 months so it was a real leap of faith.” Looking back at old photos from then and comparing them to now, Katie is reminded of their achievements; “We have an overriding love of Rye and its community and are so proud of how far the hotel has developed. We were one of the first boutique coaching inns, a genre that is now very well established. We like to think we have stayed true to our first intentions; to create a place we would like to stay, somewhere welcoming and super comfortable, good value and part of the local community”.

That last point perhaps part explains the enduring success of The George. Throughout their tenure as its custodians, the Clarkes have created something very unique and made it synonymous with the town itself. Besides working as much as possible with local suppliers, supporting businesses and craftspeople and sponsoring local charities, the fact that several of their staff, almost all locals, have worked for them for nearly as long as they have been in charge, bears testimony to this. In fact, one staff member, Sue, even pre-dates them, as she had already been at the hotel for 25 years and cooked lunch on their very first sitting. Now approaching her 45th year at The George, she is now still one of their breakfast chefs! Living proof that the business you build is only as strong as the people you put in it. Happy birthday George and here’s to many happy returns!

About the George

What brings you to the George?
Alex and I fell in love with the George at first sight, back in 2004. We weren’t in the best position to be looking for a hotel as we had two children under two and we both had jobs in London, but the minute we saw it, we knew it was the one! We have enjoyed being The George’s custodians ever since.

List 3 things you won’t leave home without
For Alex it’s his notebook, a black A4 Moleskin, which is full of a million notes in his very neat, and very tiny handwriting. For me it’s a measuring tape (although some people may say I borrow and then lose theirs all too frequently). I’m always on the search for something fabulous for the hotel and a measuring tape to hand is essential! And for both of us, it is sadly our phones!!

What is your earliest hotel memory?
One of my earliest memories is staying in the hotel Danieli in Venice and sitting with my siblings in the open windows of the bedroom, looking out onto the lagoon and watching my parents below, dressed up and heading out for a romantic dinner in the Piazza San Marco.

What is the best/most important part of staying away in a hotel for you?
Pillows, duvets and delicious linen are essential to me. But probably the most important thing is encountering a happy team of staff in the hotel, who want you to have the best possible experience and love what they do.

What are you currently reading/binge-watching/listening to?
It’s a bit of a cliché but Alex and I just devoured Rivals (Disney plus). I also always have a huge list on the go and a WhatsApp group entirely devoted to TV recommendations!

Do you have a hotel lobby/lift story you’d care to share with us?
This one might not be for the faint-hearted! My grandmother had lots of Pekingese dogs over her lifetime who she adored and who travelled everywhere with her. She told a story of once getting into the lift at the Carlyle Hotel in New York and the lift door accidentally shutting on one of the dogs, resulting in its eye popping out. She said the lift attendant miraculously caught the eye in his hand and they quickly found a vet to put it back in!

What do you always forget/lose when you go away?
My phone charger! I’m clearly not alone in this respect, as it is also the number one item our guests leave behind in their rooms.

Hypothetically, who would you most like to discover is a fellow guest?
I would love to meet Barack & Michelle Obama.

What helps you get to sleep at night? (Keep it clean!)
I always go to sleep to BBC Radio 4, wherever I am in the world.

My secret Rye discovery is….
Oh that is a tricky one. St Anthony of Padua Church in Watchbell Street always surprises me as a tucked away treasure.

 

As we are spending more time indoors, October felt the perfect month to check in with the owner of one of our favourite lifestyle and homeware shops in Rye. Besides producing our signature room scent, Michael (or Mikey, to avoid confusion with his husband Michael!) owns and runs Hunter Jones which is now firmly established as Rye’s retail destination for all your sensory needs. With a background working for a top skincare brand in London, Michael then set up Hunter Jones which began its life in 2009 as a vintage furniture business. Moving to Rye the following year, this continued until 2018 when he decided to open the current shop on Market Road, choosing to move away from vintage and antiques to concentrate on sourcing rugs, ceramics, skincare and fragrances – a mix of things that didn’t exist in Rye at the time. Besides its own bestselling diffusers, which are produced in- house, Hunter Jones now stock many independent British brands such as Haeckels and Wilder Botanics, as well as a recent collaboration with Rye’s own Merchant & Mills. A carefully sourced selection of complementary brands which focus on natural products, are updated seasonally so you will always find something new to tempt you with on each visit!

https://www.hunterjonesstore.co.uk

What brings you to the George?
I make the scented reed diffusers which are dotted around the hotel, which I developed with owner Katie. It’s quite a complex fragrance – Katie wanted something relaxing and fresh, with lots of rosemary and lavender. She also liked a fragrance in my own range which has tomato and basil as its dominant notes, and so we added those too. I think we captured The George quite well and I get lots of guests coming into the shop talking about it, which is always nice. Other than that, we often meet friends here for drinks or dinner, and it always feels like a treat!

List 3 things you won’t leave home without
Apart from the obvious, I would say a lip balm – the Haeckels one is my favourite. Definitely sunglasses – we stock a Danish brand called A.Kjaerbede and so I have 10–15 pairs to choose from – I’ll grab a pair from the drawer by the front door on my way out. And lastly, can I say fragrance? I rarely leave the house without it on and if I do, I’ll choose something when I get to work. It usually depends on the weather, but at the moment I’m wearing The Architect’s Club by Arquiste which is warm and smoky, or Gorseland by Jorum Studio which is much brighter and perfect for a warm day. If I’m testing new fragrances for the shop it could be anything!

What is your earliest hotel memory?
My parents used to take my brother and I for lunch to the hotel they’d met at – it was on the East Coast of Scotland, near Fife, a beautiful Arts and Crafts building in the countryside. There was a fountain we’d throw pennies in, and a Golden Retriever to play with – it was idyllic. It was called the Sandford House Hotel but sadly closed in 2007. It is now a lovingly restored family home, which was featured in a BBC2 Restoration Home documentary. I recently heard Lorraine Kelly had her honeymoon there!

What is the best/most important part of staying away in a hotel for you?
For me, it’s the bathroom. I can forgive lots of things but if I’m staying somewhere where I’m getting ready to go out every night, I want a really beautiful bathroom, a good shower and a nice big sink.

What are you currently reading/binge-watching/listening to?
I just finished reading Young Mungo by Douglas Stewart which I loved – it was brilliant. We watched Vogue – The 90’s this week which was really interesting, and very nostalgic. Music-wise we’re listening to a lot of Glass Beams and Yussef Dayes in the shop, and when I get home I’m more likely to listen to pop, disco or 90’s RnB. For me it’s good to listen to something different at home to switch off.

Do you have a hotel lobby/lift story you’d care to share with us?
I used to work for a company who distributed a skincare brand called Ole Henriksen. Ole was a Danish facialist who had made it big appearing on Oprah in the 80’s and was by this time world famous. He had come over to do a P.A. in Manchester but the only rooms we could find were in a certain city centre hotel that’s now notorious – we can politely call it a dive. It was so embarrassing, especially given Ole lives in a stunning villa on Sunset Boulevard and names Diana Ross as his best friend. Imagine!! As we checked out the next morning I heard him mutter “this is definitely going in the autobiography!”.

What do you always forget/lose when you go away?
In my efforts to decant products into little bottles to save space, I always end up running out of something, so not so much forgetting but more misjudging. It gives me an excuse to go shopping though, so it’s not always a bad thing!

Hypothetically, who would you most like to discover is a fellow guest?
Oh Kylie Minogue, every time.

What helps you get to sleep at night? (Keep it clean!)
Ten minutes under my LED mask and I’m off! It’s great for the skin but I also find the red light really relaxing.

My secret Rye discovery is….
There are no secrets in Rye! But I’d say my top recommendations are The Fig and The Union, both of which are always so reliably tasty.

If you have ever wondered who manages our wonderful housekeeping team who all work so hard together to ensure every one of The George’s bedrooms is presented and maintained perfectly during your stays with us… then meet Tracey King. After a short stint working in a bank as a school-leaver and then in nursing, Tracy realised that she genuinely “liked cleaning better”. As one of our longest working employees here at The George, we could not be happier that she made that decision and has stayed with us all this time!

What brings you to the George?
Work!! I’ve been here for 13 years now. I love it – it might sound mad, but it’s all good.

List 3 things you won’t leave home without
Phone. Cigarettes Oh and my car keys… or I wouldn’t be able to get to work!

Describe a memorable hotel stay
A few years ago, I won employee of the year, and my prize was a stay in The Falstaff Hotel in Canterbury. It was lovely being waited on, but the best part was not having to clean my room!

What are you currently reading/binge-watching/listening to?
OK, so this might sound a bit strange, but when I get home, I play Modern Warfare online! All I can say is… don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it! For some reason it really helps me unwind.

What do you always forget/lose when you go away?
I am usually quite well-organized, but I would probably have to say… my toothbrush! It’s ridiculous. But I seem to end up always having to get a new one and now have so many.

Do you have a hotel lobby/lift story you’d care to share with us?
I do have a lift story. One day I was called on the walkie-talkie to be told someone was stuck in the lift. When I got there, it turned out that someone was our manager. I told him not to panic and that I would fetch the lift keys from reception to release him manually… at which point he holds up the lift keys which he was carrying on him! We did of course get him out – by calling maintenance, who also found it hilarious.

Hypothetically, who would you most like to discover is a fellow guest?
Oooh… It would have to be …Richard Gere! Yes – that would be very nice to see him here. Very nice.

What helps you get to sleep at night? (Keep it clean!)
Honestly, after my day at work, I am out like a light!

My secret Rye discovery is….
The beach at Winchelsea. As soon as I am on the beach there, everything gets blown away and I just instantly relax.

A very familiar face in Rye, Jane has a glorious 12-minute commute each day in her Mini from Appledore to Rye along the beautiful Military Canal Road to her base at Space Coworking. With a background in software and publishing, she is most recognised around town as the proprietor of the incredibly popular Brewery Yard Club, a cocktail and event venue (now closed). In her spare time as Chair of the Rye Chamber of Commerce, she loves helping people and connecting people and places, and always has a bunch of creative ideas up her sleeve and at least one project on the go. She is currently flexing her events and hospitality muscle as Festival Director of The Rye Harvest Wine and Food Fair, making its debut on the Cricket Salts, as featured in this month’s newsletter! And remember, one lucky ticket holder could win a night here at The George.

Wine and Food Fair

What brings you to the George?
I am often found here – it’s the chicest place in Rye to meet! We hold the Chamber of Commerce AGM in the fantastic ballroom here and the Long Room is great for business meetings.

List 3 things you won’t leave home without
My phone, lip balm and glasses!

What is your earliest hotel memory?
Being served food by a stranger in the 70’s at a little hotel on the Isle of Wight. I had never been in a restaurant before and the very smart young waitress served pea and ham soup as the first course. Blew my little mind that a/ soup can be green (I guess I’d only ever had tomato?) and b/ that more food followed. So much food. My sister and I wrote her a ‘thank you’ letter for all the food when we got home.

What is the best/most important part of staying away in a hotel for you?
Comfort, luxury and great service are a given, but it’s the escapism that I look forward to most.

What are you currently reading/binge-watching/listening to?
Listening to Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake, and just finished binge watching “What we do in the Shadows” for the third time. Can’t get enough!

Do you have a hotel lobby/lift story you’d care to share with us?
I am told I once shared a lift with Magic Johnson. I never recognise famous people (especially sports celebs) so there’s likely to be more! I have mis-identified lots of people. I am quite good at that.

What do you always forget/lose when you go away?
Phone chargers and socks.

Hypothetically, who would you most like to discover is a fellow guest?
A ghost maybe? I am not a believer but would like to be proved wrong.

What helps you get to sleep at night? (Keep it clean!)
Clean sheets, a pillow that is ‘just right’ and David Mitchell (audiobook).

My secret Rye discovery is….
How many fabulous local vineyards and food producers are on our doorstep. You can discover 13 handpicked local vineyards and winemakers and a selection of artisan food producers that don’t appear on Rye’s high street at The Rye Harvest Wine and Food Fair this September – a celebration of the fabulous bounty of the land and sea around Rye.

Click the image to book your Harvest Fair tickets.

This month we enjoyed a tasting and wind-down session with local wine-maker and George supplier, Kristin Syltevik from Oxney, as she prepares for this year’s harvest. Having previously owned and run a tech PR company, with offices world-wide, Kristin sold her agency and settled in Rye in 2012, to move into actual winemaking. Swapping the fast-moving hi-tech world, for a very different but equally technical world of hands-on organic production, Kristin says the best part of her job now is being out in the vineyards working with the vines. The Oxney vineyard is part of an 850-acre organic family farming estate, and its yield accounts for around 20% of all the organic grapes grown in the UK. Their beautiful winery is just a 15-minute drive from The George, and hosts popular tastings and tours, after which you can better appreciate its terroir taste as you sip a glass of Oxney Organic in our Dragon Bar. As they say, the proof is in the bottle.

https://oxneyestate.com

What brings you to the George?
I have a local vineyard and winery in Beckley called Oxney, so I am at the George every week delivering our wine to the lovely David who runs the bar! You will find our winery team in the bar on regular occasions!

List 3 things you won’t leave home without.
Freda our gorgeous cocker spaniel, a large coffee and always always secateurs in my pocket – that’s life owning a vineyard!

What is your earliest hotel memory?
You won’t believe this, but I grew up in a hotel. We had an apartment in my grandmother’s hotel on the west coast of Norway and I lived there until I was five years old. I remember the cook making me special treats!

What is the best/most important part of staying away in a hotel for you?
Not being at home… so no dogs, children and responsibilities – and having a gorgeous bed and going down for breakfast!

What are you currently reading/binge-watching/listening to?
I am ploughing my way through Anne Brontë’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (I must admit that it is a book club book…)

Do you have a hotel lobby/lift story you’d care to share with us?
The worst story ever: At a client event (I used to work in PR) in Germany, you had to pass between two naked women painted in all kinds of colours. But totally naked. Hilarious!

What do you always forget/lose when you go away?
Contact lens solution! I can’t name the number of countries I have tried to buy the right solution!

Hypothetically, who would you most like to discover is a fellow guest?
David Cameron so I can tell him off for Brexit!

What helps you get to sleep at night? (Keep it clean!)
A good book!

My secret Rye discovery is….
Wandering the lanes at the top of the town. What can be nicer… we are so lucky living by Rye.

This month we put ourselves in the very safe hands of Mark Caffrey, who takes the stress out of planning all the extra details for your big celebration – so you can not only enjoy your own party, but the run-up to it as well!

Mark studied at RADA in London, and subsequently worked in the charity sector for 12 years, focusing on supporting them to evolve their inclusion and involvement work. As Mark explains, this past experience of live art and performance together with his charity work, became useful transferable skills towards him becoming a celebrant; “It felt like a natural way to combine all of my skills and passion to create these unique weddings for my couples. I thrive on collaboration, and the buzz of a one-off event.”

Mark now works across Sussex and London. He finds that most of his clients find him; “I tend to attract kind-hearted, fun-loving couples who are open to a fresh approach to their ceremony planning.”

Luckily for us, several of these happy occasions have taken place here. A courtyard wedding at The George last September connected family across the USA, Europe and the UK. “It was the first time their community of loved ones had been brought together to celebrate the couple, and to welcome their new child to the family. It was a very special day, an intentional celebration – relaxed, fun and full of heart.”

So if you have an important upcoming event or date you wish to celebrate, drop Mark a line with your dream wish-list. Let him make them a reality!

https://www.markcaffrey.co.uk or find him on Instagram @markcaffreyceremonies_

What brings you to the George?
I’ve been meeting with my latest couple in the restaurant, creating their May wedding ceremony at The George. It’s where I have my planning sessions with Rye couples, and where I get to catch up with the delightful Anna – The George’s wedding planner!

List 3 things you won’t leave home without
Battery pack, notebook and something to read.

What is a recent hotel memory?
A birthday trip with my partner to a hotel on the coast. From our top-floor bay window the sea melted into the horizon. It was a creamy white expanse – as if we were suspended in the clouds but carried on the waves. Meditative and very relaxing.

What is the best/most important part of staying away in a hotel for you?
Being held in a space that is for you, but a blank canvas – none of my possessions there. I realise how little I need. I always appreciate a good bed, quiet, a quality breakfast and a reading light.

What are you currently reading/binge-watching/listening to?
I read a lot – at the minute I have three on the go: Fiction from Édouard Louis, Noura Erakat’s Justice for Some and I’m just starting John Weiners’ poems on a recommendation from The [wonderful] Hastings Bookshop. My podcast go-to every time is You’re Wrong About with Sarah Marshall. Finally, not a binge watch, but last night we saw Zone of Interest at The Electric Palace and it was timely and very powerful.

Do you have a hotel lobby/lift story you’d care to share with us?
My lift experiences have always been non-eventful! I did once perform a two-hander play set in a lift where I was trapped with a stranger who went into labour. Nothing so dramatic for me to date – thankfully. I try to take the stairs!

What do you always forget/lose when you go away?
I very rarely forget anything – I’m very organized in that way, even if I’m a last-minute packer!

Hypothetically, who would you most like to discover is a fellow guest?
Someone who lives with passion and lives their values – and with a wicked sense of humour and lots of creativity – so assuming I can choose both living and dead: Grace Jones, Cookie Mueller, James Baldwin, Nan Goldin.

What helps you get to sleep at night? (Keep it clean!)
I’m so inconsistent when it comes to my sleep hygiene – so it’s either relaxed lighting and meditation to wind down or falling asleep with my phone in my hand, scrolling myself to sleep.

My secret Rye discovery is….
My Mum loved visiting Rye, and so it isn’t so much a secret as a simple and meaningful pleasure – just taking the time to wander through the cobbled streets, catch the changing light and take in the view. If there’s a discovery I made at The George, it was when I was getting a tour of the renovated rooms and got to see the varied views from the different hotel room windows. The patchwork of roofs, the sense of a whole community surrounding the hotel – the quirks and story of each individual room itself. It was a rare opportunity to get ‘under the skin’.

Image credits in order from top: Image 1 ©Ami Robertson Photography | Image 2 (right) ©A Moment in Time Photography NI | Image 3 ©Charlotte Amy Photography | Image 4 n/a | Image 5 (right) ©Nia Rose Photography | Image 6 ©Berni Palumbo | Image 7 (left) ©David Cavan | Image8 ©April Ridge | Image 9 n/a

With respective backgrounds in fashion and photography, Carolyn and her partner Roderick launched Merchant & Mills in 2010 with a view of offering an antidote to modern life. Ahead of their time, they wanted to bring back a sense of style and purpose to the then overlooked craft of home sewing. Quickly establishing their signature timeless designs, right down to the packaging and presentation (c/o Roderick’s clean graphics) they have created a brand that would attract the very people that had hitherto overlooked sewing. Equally, they were determined to include the steadfast makers and menders who had continued regardless of current trends.
Moving to Rye in 2012, they opened a shop trading in all things sewing. Stocking gorgeous natural fabrics, sewing patterns and quality tools, all beautifully and inspirationally presented, the mission was to encourage and entice people to sew.
As they transformed the derelict old building they found on Rye’s Tower Street, into their studio, warehouse and shop, so did their business expand and develop. By 2017 the space was becoming too small for their needs, so they undertook a huge renovation and redesign project, setting up shop temporarily nearby using market stalls, whilst still trying to manage their growing wholesale and online business. Merchant & Mills products are stocked in the world’s most respected outlets and the company has successfully collaborated with London’s V&A Museum and Alexander McQueen, amongst others.
In 2019 they launched the crisp and airy studio that is now their Rye store. By adding a mezzanine floor, the whole of the ground floor could be dedicated to retail, whilst upstairs became the brand-new sewing school.
Never sitting still, and always exploring new ways to work with fabrics and people, one of their latest ventures is the introduction of their popular sewing retreats. To host these, they have purchased and renovated a house in Rye, where students from around the world come to immerse themselves in a 6-day residential course. As a result of this house renovation, Merchant & Mills have produced a collection of interior pieces and are now developing a range of interior fabrics. As Carolyn says, “You can make everything if you want. There is nothing that would stop you”.

https://merchantandmills.com/

What brings you to the George?
The George has been designed and redesigned by one my favorite interior design teams, Retrouvius. So, it’s lovely to have a nose around and feel inspired by their ethos of reuse and repurpose. I do like to take a seat in the bar and have a cocktail at the end of a busy week.

List 3 things you won’t leave home without
Keys, pooh bags and phone.

What is your earliest hotel memory?
We never went to hotels as children, much more likely to be a caravan in the middle of a muddy field. So, my earliest memory would be of my first trip to Paris. The very darkest blue room at the very top of a never-ending stairwell …it felt very bohemian.

What is the best/most important part of staying away in a hotel for you?
A big comfy bed and a huge bath.

What are you currently reading/binge-watching/listening to?
I am currently watching Martijn Doolaard on You Tube, slowly renovating a couple of stone houses in Val d’ Aosta; Very slow paced, not much chat, great landscapes. Listening to audio book of Empireland (Sathnam Sanghera) and I just finished Sapiens (Yuval Noah Harari).

Do you have a hotel lobby/lift story you’d care to share with us?
Hotel lobbies are made for people watching and I can spend hours doing that.

What do you always forget/lose when you go away?
Phone charger. Which I either forget to bring or forget to take. A disastrous trip would be when I forget to pack my PJs.

Hypothetically, who would you most like to discover is a fellow guest?
My very dear friends, Stephen, Jonathan, Clark and Caroline.

What helps you get to sleep at night? (Keep it clean!)
Listening to ‘Things fell apart’ with Jon Ronson. Although the stories can be very disturbing, they are a fascinating insight to what can go quite wrong in our interconnected world …I love his very gentle voice; I don’t think I’ve ever got to the end of an episode.

My secret Rye discovery is….
The walk from Love Lane up to Tillingham winery. On a summer’s day it’s everything you need.

 

 

 

This month we tried to sit down with the whirlwind energy that is our wonderful in-house Wedding and Events Planner, Anna Campanella. Growing up in beautiful Puglia in Southern Italy, Anna started working in hospitality from a young age; at 15 she waitressed in restaurants in the evenings to support her study as a dance student, which she continued for 20 years. At the same time her love for hospitality took her into what she describes as “my great passion for almost two decades, Wedding Planner and Event Organizer in Puglia”. Taking a break for a few years to focus on motherhood and bringing up her young family (she shares two children with her Brazilian husband) they decided to move to England in 2018, to add another language to her already bilingual children. As Anna puts it “Our decision was dictated by the desire to give our children the opportunity to learn the English language in the place”. The family settled immediately in Rye, and we are so glad they did! As Anna says, “I put my passion aside for a few years to devote myself to being a mother, but I’m so excited to be back to realizing what makes me happy!” If we could bottle her enthusiasm and passion for her work – we would. And maybe adopt her motto… ”Everything succeeds perfectly if it is watered by Love!” Hear hear .

What brings you to The George?
When I moved to Rye from Italy, I saw so many good comments and reviews about The George and I thought “This is a Fantastic Place to work!!” … and that’s how it went.

List 3 things you won’t leave home without
My bag, lipstick and sparkling water.

What is your best hotel memory?
At The George, when they gave me a tour and we walked into The Ballroom…. my breath stopped! It reminded me of similar feelings I have had walking into The Ritz in London, and my other favourite hotel, Milan’s Casa Baglioni.

What is the best/most important part of staying away in a hotel for you?
The welcome, the ambience and attention to details.

What are you currently reading/binge-watching/listening to?
Actually, I’m reading ‘The Nowhere Emporium’ by Ross Mackenzie at the moment. I just finished watching ‘The Good Doctor’, and I listen to ‘Mushroom playlist’, which my kids made for me – a mix of people like Arianna Grande, Drake and Pharrell Williams.

Do you have a hotel lobby/lift story you’d care to share with us?
Yes, it was so embarrassing, but at the same time it was a lot of fun… One morning, while welcoming hotel guests to The George, a passer-by came into the lobby and asked if he could sit down for breakfast. I, always with the utmost kindness, asked him to wait in the lounge because I needed to check the kitchen was still open. Returning to seat and serve him, he kept looking at me in an intrigued way…. After less than 1 minute my colleague in the restaurant called me over and asked me how I didn’t recognize such a famous English actor? (I’m not a television addict) …. When this guest finished and left, he smiled and asked me for MY name and said it was the first time a staff member hadn’t asked him for an autograph! And sorry to say – but I still don’t know who he is, but he was very nice!

What do you always forget/lose when you go away?
I’m not a person who forgets things. The one and only exception – I always forget … the shopping list? I will spend half an hour doing it and then it stays there, forgotten on the table.

Hypothetically, who would you most like to discover is a fellow guest?
I do have a dream…. It will be great to welcome Hugh Grant!

What helps you get to sleep at night? (Keep it clean!)
The cuddles from my kids, before the bedtime.

My secret Rye discovery is….
Not going to tell… it wouldn’t be a secret if I told!

 

 

 

This month we took the leisurely 2-minute stroll down the hill to chat with our lovely neighbours at Rae Lifestyle. Owners Alexa and Eduardo kindly showed us around their beautiful homeware shop, calmly escorted by their whippet Ruby. We even got a sneak snoop around Eduardo’s attached jewellery workshop, where he hand-crafts their collection of bespoke pieces, whilst Ruby snoozed in her basket under his workbench.

With backgrounds in the fashion and design industry (Alexa) and having studied Fine Art and Sculpture (Eduardo) the couple relocated from London, with the hope for a slower pace of life and to live closer to nature. They opened Rae in August 2020. The shop reflects their values; a strong focus on sustainability, and more consideration about how and why we shop. Rae prioritizes quality over quantity and actively sources brands that share their small production ethos.

It is also the perfect space to showcase Rae Atelier, which is designed, hand-made and set by Eduardo in-house. Combining traditional goldsmith methods with modern technology, each piece is unique, hand-forged from bouillon & hand-crafted to the finished product. Again, sustainability is at the core of his work, using recycled metals & upcycled precious gemstones where possible. All stones are ethically sourced & all pieces are hallmarked. We hope one day all shopping experiences will be this civilized!

https://raelifestyle.com

What brings you to the George?
I love meeting friends for a drink or a catchup over some food in the bar & lounge area. If we can get the sofa in front of the fire during the winter months then we feel lucky! We also stayed at The George for our wedding weekend, which was such a treat, the room was so comfortable and luxurious for our special celebration. It also provided the perfect place to get ready with my mum and friends the morning of the wedding, so this will always have very special memories for us.

List 3 things you won’t leave home without
Shop keys, dog poo bags and my phone. All very boring but absolutely necessary!

What is your earliest hotel memory?
I think it would be when we spent Christmas in a small hotel on the Suffolk coast one year when I was very young. I mostly remember Father Christmas coming around the dining room giving out presents.

What is the most important part of staying away in a hotel for you?
The escapism! The interiors need to be transportive, taking you away from your daily life. The bedroom needs to be really comfortable and the real luxury is not having to do the chores of making the bed or washing up after dinner. Oh , I also insist on really good coffee in the room for that first cup when you wake up in bed, that’s a must.

What are you currently reading/binge-watching/listening to?
I just finished reading Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin. I really enjoyed it but didn’t much like any of the characters so still trying to work out that one. Slow Horses was my last binge- watch on TV. It’s just so good!

Do you have a hotel lobby/lift story you’d care to share with us?
I don’t have a particular story, but I used to travel for work a lot and luckily got to go to New York many times. The hotels there are my favorite for hanging out in the lobby area to people watch and see what everyone is wearing.

What do you always forget/lose when you go away?
My eye mask, an essential, but I always lose them.

Hypothetically, who would you most like to discover is a fellow guest?
Oh, probably my best friend who lives in Australia, so we could hang out and catch up in person.

What helps you get to sleep at night? (Keep it clean!)
I love a sleep spray and hand cream with lavender in it, to try to calm my mind. My go-to favourite is the Moonstone Sleep Spray which we stock in Rae. Not only does it smell amazing but it really works!

My secret Rye discovery is….
Walking. You must just walk Rye to explore all the little cut-throughs and alleyways. It is the best way to discover it for yourself; you get glimpses of amazing views and come across buildings that are hidden down the smallest passages.

 

 

 

Kt Bruce (her unique spelling was bestowed long ago by an American child she used to nanny for) is based in Rye and currently works out of her studio or on location at events. She is the festival photographer for the FT Oxford Literary Festival, Blenheim Palace Festival of Literature, Film and Music, the Gibunco Gibraltar Festival and Rye Jazz and Arts Festivals. One of her first subjects was the late Queen, and her portrait work is highly sought-after. Her extensive portfolio is testimony to her unique skill in capturing the moment and the essence of her subject. As one of her famous sitters, Sir Philip Pullman attests, “Being photographed by Kt is a pleasure. Unlike most photographers I’ve experienced, she treats the activity like a form of communication between two people, rather than a technical exercise.” Remarkably, she has no formal training, only taking up photography in 2008, when she borrowed her husband’s old camera. She started taking photographs around Oxford, where they then lived, and discovered the joy of capturing the moment.  As she humbly disclaims “I didn’t know the difference between an f stop and a bus stop”, and she still does not enjoy the technical side to it.  We think the quality of her work speaks for itself, and proves that in certain skilled hands, the camera is secondary to the vision of the person using it.

 What brings you to the George?

I love the buzz at the Dragon Bar in The George and often meet up with people I haven’t seen in a while, or better still I make new friends.

 List 3 things you won’t leave home without

My camera, my phone and a good book. Oh – and I always take my own pillow if staying away. Can I have 4?

What is your earliest hotel memory?

When I was six, my family emigrated to Australia. The night before we embarked on our long voyage (which took six weeks and three days) we stayed in a very plush hotel in London. All I can remember, is the huge scale of it. It was a suite with three bedrooms, super high ceilings, a lounge and chandeliers!

What is the best/most important part of staying away in a hotel for you?

Not having to cook and not having to look at jobs that need doing. I also like having a very large bed.

What are you currently reading/binge-watching/listening to?

I love Masterchef and I am currently reading The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods.

Do you have a hotel lobby/lift story you’d care to share with us?

I once met Antony Worral Thompson in a lift in Gibraltar, and then had dinner with him later in the week.

What do you always forget/lose when you go away?

I am actually pretty organized and have a going-away list which I tick off before I leave. Yet I still somehow manage to often leave my phone charger behind?

Hypothetically, who would you most like to discover is a fellow guest?

I would love to meet Maggie Smith or Judi Dench.

What helps you get to sleep at night? (Keep it clean!)

Mint tea and lavender.

My secret Rye discovery is….

The amazing, guided walks with The Town crier because you learn so much about the history of the Rye.

 

 

 

This month we limbered up for a chat on the mat with Rye’s own local Yogi, JoJo Hancock. Having previously worked as a global director for Sotheby’s, which involved a lot of international travel, she first came across yoga practice as an aid to combat the resulting jet lag and sleep deprivation. Discovering the benefits went beyond supporting her own physical and mental health, she extended her daily practice to train as a teacher, studying with some of the UK’s leading senior teachers at Triyoga and Yoga Campus in London. JoJo is now an accredited Yoga Alliance Professionals™️ Teacher and is passionate about sharing and teaching its healing and strengthening attributes in class. As she says “My sense of family now extends to my ‘kula’ community of wonderful students. I’ve now been living in Rye for 20 years and still wake up every day with gratitude for living near the beach in this beautiful corner of Britain”. Well Rye is equally happy to have JoJo as one of our own, and The George cannot wait to host her retreat in January. For full details of the 3 day programme, including costs and extra options click here
Instagram: @jojoyogacreative

What brings you to the George?
You can find me at The George most Saturday mornings. It’s been a ritual with my husband for over a decade that we go to chat about our week, and dream and plan. It’s where all our major decisions have been made, including setting up Yoga Creative and Yoga Creative Escapes.

List 3 things you won’t leave home without
Phone charger
Reading Glasses
Waterbottle

What is your most recent hotel memory?
I recently stayed in a beautiful hotel in Bali where the resident Master Yoga Instructor taught classes in their exquisite ballroom. It was bliss to move and breath in such surroundings, and I couldn’t believe it when Katie and Alex invited me to do the same at The George in Rye!

What is the best/most important part of staying away in a hotel for you?
I worked in luxury hotels for 10 years before I joined Sotheby’s as Global Director to take care of their client experience. Hotels are part of my lifeblood, and I see similarities in their intentions with those for my Yoga Creative Escapes. Both offer that sweet feeling of a blissful escape, surrendering to a place of luxurious comfort and care, an experience that lifts your heart, calms your mind, and soothes your soul.

What are you currently reading/binge-watching/listening to?
Dr Rangan Chatterjee’s podcast ‘Feel Better, Live More’. I particularly recommend episode 372 where the visionary yogi Sadhguru reveals that the secret to being awake for life is tuning into your body, living in balance with your whole self, and finding bliss in the connection to every other being in the living world.

Do you have a hotel lobby/lift story you’d care to share with us?
In the 1990s I launched a cool hotel in West Kensington and worked closely with the BBC, who were based near there at that time. We welcomed a whole host of TV celebs, but my all-time favourite was when the Spice Girls exploded out of their tour bus and swarmed into the hotel lobby. Absolute riot of giggles and energy!

What do you always forget/lose when you go away?
Phone charger! Reading glasses! Waterbottle! Yes, I know I packed them when I left the house, but they all just seem to disappear.

Hypothetically, who would you most like to discover is a fellow guest?
My sister. Someone wise once said to me that family is all that matters, everything else is just noise.

What helps you get to sleep at night? (Keep it clean!)
As a former chronic insomniac, I’ve tried every ‘miracle cure’. What resolved it for me was daily yoga. It dissolves away un-processed stress so that the body can relax into sleep. I also highly recommend nightly:
Magnesium salts bath
Raw Cacao warm drink
4-7-8 Breathing Technique ( basically inhale for 4 counts, hold for 7 counts, exhale for 8 counts. It helps relax and release tension/stress.)

My secret Rye discovery is….
The walk from the far right-hand corner of Camber Western Carpark to the beach. The path meanders through the dunes, rises steeply, and then drops away to reveal the magnificence of our local beach. A meditative experience for all the senses.

 

This month, Tabby Cole very generously took a break to talk to us, whilst managing the family business which she has run with her brother Josh Cole since 2012.

The siblings never planned to take over Rye Pottery. When both moved back to the area, around 2010, to be nearer their elderly parents who were still running the business , they had their own established careers; Tabby was working in film and Josh as an actor and running an online business. However, following a health scare in 2012, their father decided to wind down or sell the pottery. At that moment Josh realised he “couldn’t let that happen”, and over a bottle of wine, he persuaded his sister to join him! The pair modestly claim it was “a baptism of fire”, and that they had to learn on the job, and from their experienced staff and craftspeople. However, Rye Pottery was literally in their blood – and on their hands. They recall early memories of following Grandfather Wally around the studio where he would distract them with a ball of clay so he could get on with the work at hand. Growing up they had Saturday jobs in the shop & workshops helping their parents. In hindsight, taking over the family business they had grown up in, seems a very natural completion of the circle and coming home in the true sense.

Fast forward to today, and the Coles have succeeded in re-establishing Rye Pottery as one of the country’s foremost producers of handmade pottery. Besides their signature English Delftware, which still uses C17th time-consuming techniques (each piece goes through a minimum of 10 hand processes before completion) the extensive collection now includes hand produced tiles, homewares and decorative accessories, such as their famously collectable Sussex Pigs. More recently, contemporary versions of their celebrated Mid Century Modern collections, some of which were part of the Festival of Britain, are having a popular revival, proving true design classics do not date. Their signature “cottage stripe” kitchenware is included in both the V&A and British Museum collections.

What brings you to the George?

The George has been part of my entire adult life and I love how Katie and Alex have kept its essential character while giving it a wonderful, contemporary new lease of life. Katie is also the second, possibly third, generation of her family who have been customers of ours. At home she drinks her morning coffee out of Rye Pottery mugs and collaborated with us to produce a bespoke design for the bedrooms at The George. Now that’s attention to detail.

What is your earliest hotel memory?

Stopping at a small hotel enroute to the South of France in the ‘70s. We were excited by everything; the smells, the food, the light switches, the lifts – but oh my, the bathrooms. They had strange loos, bidets, showers and plugs that went up and down if you pulled a little handle. Disappointingly there was a drought, and no water came out of anything. So off we went for dinner and bed. The water came on in the middle of the night and flooded everything including the room below…

What is the best/most important part of staying away in a hotel for you?

Beds, crisp & expensive sheets and now I’m older a decent choice of pillows!

What are you currently reading/binge-watching/listening to?

Rewatching The Wire – again – and I never miss Masterchef.

What do you always forget/lose when you go away?

Nothing! I am irritatingly diligent and punctual. On the rare occasions I do forget something I’m quite cross with myself. I can’t even leave the house without an extra cardy “just in case”.

Hypothetically, who would you most like to discover is a fellow guest?

To be absolutely honest, no one – I enjoy the buzz of other people in the environment, but I like the anonymity of a good hotel. If I was forced to bump into someone it would ideally be family or colleagues.

What helps you get to sleep at night? (Keep it clean!)

I’m such a saddo, Newsnight and current affairs podcasts.

My secret Rye discovery is…

Adams. In particular the printing room at the back, which is beautiful with incredible light. The smell takes me right back to my childhood.

 

After having spent many a month working with us on the renovation at the George, the team at Retrouvious enjoyed matching each team member with the most appropriate room. Read on to see the rooms that were chosen, or click here to see the original post on the Retrouvious website.

 

With 34 individually-designed bedrooms to choose from, it was no easy task (but lots of fun!) to pair our design team with their perfect room when we took a trip to The George. So, we wanted to share which rooms we chose ….

Clare

Room 19

This was interior decorator Clare’s first night away from home since having her daughter, so we wanted to make sure it was a treat. Clare worked on The George from the very start of the project, so she’s witnessed it’s phoenix-like reincarnation first hand. This room is in the part of the building that suffered the most fire damage, which allowed us to re-expose the beams. We love the drama created by the  marvellous vintage tapestry used for the head board.

Layla

Room 4

We knew that newly-married Layla would love this dove-themed room, one of 3 that can be used as a bridal suite when booking The George for a wedding. This room was a completely new addition after the fire, taking a little  inspiration from the doves roosting in the rafters, complete with ‘Bella’ bird textile by Lewis & Wood. One of our favourite details, a bath side stool is just large enough to rest a glass and bottle of bubbles

Nick

Room 10

For our press manager Nick Hughes, it had to be this jolly room decorated in ‘Squirrel & Sunflower’ wallpaper designed by Mark Hearld for St. Jude’s. When he’s not working with Retrouvius, Nick creates the most marvellous hand-printed wallpapers, exploring illustration and printing mediums in his studio. You’ll spot some of his illustrations on The George’s menus and packaging.

James

Room 34

We thought architectural assistant James would appreciate the fabulous bold colours of room 34. Above the bed hangs a midcentury needlepoint by Jean Lurcat, which helped inform the bespoke colour by Francesca’s Paints.

Theo

Room 17

For our photographer Theo Tennant we chose this sophisticated room decorated in Lewis and Wood’s ‘Royal Oak’ wallpaper, with a handsome bobbin bed hand-turned  by Sussex maker Alfred Newall. Antique desks and side tables, characterful and robust, are always useful should a quick laptop moment be required.

Chiara

Room 21

The headboard in the room we chose for Italian architect Chiara is made from a vintage Chinese indigo tent cloth, complimented by a striped African textile and antique batik used on the sofa. We love the views from this room across the Rye rooftops and the landscape beyond.

Esther

Room 33

Interior decorator Esther loves a luxurious shower, so we knew she had to have this room with a bathroom lit from above. This richly decorated room was fortunately unscathed in the fire, but was refreshed with curtains made from handwoven Kuba cloth originating from the Congo. ​​The reclaimed hardwood strip flooring from our previous phase of works has aged incredibly well.

Rye’s very own “environmentally friendly drag lady”, Timberlina has worked in a variety of roles across the heritage and creative sectors, nationally and internationally for 25 years, entertaining diverse crowds in venues ranging from local clubs to major institutions such as the National Gallery and National Trust. When not performing or hosting their wildly successful bingo nights, they enjoy studying Permaculture and wandering in the uniquely varied wild surroundings Rye has to offer.

What brings you to the George?

Well I’ve just popped in for a quick martini before I hit the streets with a salacious tour of this gloriously beguiling town.

List 3 things you won’t leave home without

All in one compact folding brush and mirror (does that count as one thing?), phone and… sunglasses.

What is your earliest hotel memory?

Wonderful question. The Arlington Hotel, ‘secluded yet in the very centre of Bournemouth’. Racing through the rose gardens probably wearing a Robin Hood outfit to get to the annual summer parade along the prom, circa 1975.

What is the best/most important part of staying away in a hotel for you? 

Detail to cleanliness.  It’s the ultimate signifier of respect.

What are you currently reading/binge-watching/listening to?

Reading ‘Braiding Sweetgrass’ by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Forever binge-watching Modern Family, and always listening to Fip, a most fantastically eclectic French radio station with no talking except for the rare and very occasional dulcet tones of an unknown, female seductress.

Do you have a hotel lobby/lift story you’d care to share with us?

Well I once met Hayley Mills in a hospital foyer in New York.  We had gone to visit a mutual acquaintance who had a theatre company entertaining ill kids and we were both going to support them.  I had no idea who she was all the way up in the lift and we chatted about everything but.  Once we got to the ward, a bunch of homosexuals who happened to be in the theatre company and knew precisely who Hayley Mills was, erupted in a frenzy of high camp fan club drama! Recounting lines, regaling Hayley with praise, while I smiled politely at the back of the room like the wall flower I often am, slightly embarrassed by the whole thing, not least because Whistle Down The Wind is one of my all-time favourite films.  Oh and I once shared a lift with Oliver Reed when I worked at the National but that’s another story.  I’ll stop now.

 

What do you always forget/lose when you go away? 

Keys.  I am absolutely terrible with keys.

Hypothetically, who would you most like to discover is a fellow guest?

Well to be honest, when John Goodman was sat on the John Izod bench opposite the George that year, the universe aligned, and Rye had a Hollywood moment. That kinda did it for me, give or take George Clooney and Matt Damon, who were staying at The George and lurking in the background. I couldn’t speak.

What helps you get to sleep at night? (keep it clean!)

Radio 4’s From Our Own Correspondent.

My secret Rye discovery is…

If it’s not the new, tiny and delicious 8note coffee bar, then to be honest it’s my own secluded back garden which is a constantly evolving secret source of unadulterated Permacultural delight in the middle of Rye that no-one knows is there.

 

This month’s Q&A is with our dear friend and Rye gallery owner, Marcus Crane. Together with his husband, Gareth McCully, Marcus moved from London to Rye in 2008, initially needing more space to home their ever-growing pack of rescue dogs. After purchasing a rundown townhouse here, they pooled their collective talents and experience (including fashion, interior styling and design, and floristry for Wild at Heart) and discovered a shared skill for sympathetic renovation and innovative interior design. Spotting a “to let” sign in a local shop window, the idea for the McCully and Crane shop was born. Initially, the thought was to sell some of the excess furniture and artefacts they still had in storage for six months or so, but very quickly the business grew. Now – 14 years later – it has evolved and expanded from its initial interior focus, into an established gallery, which currently represents over 30 local and international artists. However, their original themes of mixing salvaged old pieces besides championing new works endures and embodies the essence of their unique aesthetic. The gallery is one of Rye’s most beloved and established destinations.

Visit McCully & Crane

What brings you to the George?

We moved to Rye from London 15 years ago and The George has always been at the centre of catching up with friends and meeting new ones.

List 3 things you won’t leave home without

Day to day life it’s;
– Phone charger
– EarPods
– Sleep mask

Business or pleasure?

I like mixing both. When we’re away on work trips I like to include some time to relax or just stay somewhere nice for a bit of balance

What is the best part of staying away in a hotel?

Fresh linen and eating room service in bed!

Do you have a hotel story you’d care to share with us?

My mother bailing us out of a fancy hotel in the south of France on our honeymoon 18 years ago! We’d somewhat overdone it and the bill showed it! Mortified.

What are you currently reading/binge-watching/listening to?

Anything crime thriller/murder mystery on Radio 4. And the World Of Interiors for a browse.

Hypothetically, who would you most like to discover is a fellow guest?

I don’t really understand people’s fascination with celebrity so no one famous!
My dear friends Julian and Sally Plumptre. I would happily bump into them anywhere in the world – we’re always giddy when we see each other and they’re marvellous dinner pals. They’ve been big fans of The George for many years too.
And they’ll laugh when they read this!

My dream room service order would be…

A great burger and fries.

Describe your favourite breakfast.

I don’t really eat breakfast usually – but if in a hotel its coffee, fresh juice, and something light and continental.

What helps you get to sleep at night? (Keep it clean!)

Earth’s Secret Sleep capsules. They’re brilliant!

My secret Rye discovery is…

I tell everyone who visits they should go up the St Mary’s Church tower – the views from the top are incredible in every direction.

 

Images: Davy Pittoors

This month we managed to catch up with Maria, co-founder of Retrouvius. Retrouvius was born out of a reaction to the indiscriminate demolition that she and her partner, Adam Hills, witnessed in mid 90’s Glasgow where they both studied. This started their mission to save and reuse all manner of materials, furniture, and fixtures… basically anything old that they could envisage being reappropriated and appreciated. From those earnest beginnings, Retrouvius is now firmly established in London’s Kensal Rise as THE go-to address to source anything unique, unusual, and understood. Maria heads up the design studio which only accepts a few interior and architectural projects per year. So we were delighted that she was able to return to The George and work again closely with us alongside one of Retrouvius’ first employees, James Stevens, on our very own and intense restoration project after the fire. We hope you are as happy as we are with the results.

What brings you to the George?

One year on from the rather frenetic opening in 2022 we are back to photograph the rooms and bar and restaurant with Theo Tennant.

List 3 things you won’t leave home without

Day to day life it’s;
– A tape measure
– Poo bags 💩
– the dreaded phone!

What is your earliest hotel memory?

Oh golly, we were never really a hotel staying family. No money. Stayed with friends & family.
But…..

What is the best/most important part of staying away in a hotel for you?

A relaxing bath in the UK is a must. Good big bed and a bar.

What are you currently reading/binge-watching/listening to?

For total contrast, am loving watching Matthew Macfadyen as polar opposite characters in Succession and Little Dorrit.
Re-reading The Salt Path by Raynor Winn.

What do you always forget/lose when you go away?

I rarely mind if I have forgotten something, just believe it’s moved on to a different chapter in its life, be it phone charger or jumper.

Hypothetically, who would you most like to discover is a fellow guest?

For a laugh – Miriam Margolyes
For a flirt – Richard Burton who did apparently stay at The George before Katie & Alex’s time.
For learning – I’d love supper with Tim Spector & my new Insta find Richard Perkins, loving his regenerative farming ideas.

What helps you get to sleep at night? (keep it clean!)

Delicious herbal teas, gallons of the stuff.

My secret Rye discovery is….

Alex Macarther’s monastery, an impressive restoration of a hidden gem. Powerful reclaimed items and impressive decorative antiques, definitely worth a visit.

Visit the Retrouvius website.

Our ‘Lunch at the George’ series is about getting to know more about some of the talented people who have made contributions to the renewal of The George Hotel after its devastating fire a few years ago. The multi-talented floral designer, Tamsin Scott, whose first visit to Rye she recalls was with a mutual friend Marcus Crane of the McCully & Crane art gallery on Cinque Ports Street. When Marcus brought her to the George she was moved by seeing her favourite colour green in the Ballroom. I felt privileged to be able to learn more about the colourful life of Rye’s own internationally renowned floral designer on a grey, wet, cold spring day.

As we arrive for our lunch, Tamsin presents me with a tiny powerfully scented bouquet foraged from her garden. In medieval times, it was traditional to give friends a seasonal posy like this, a “tussie mussie”, as it was called, to ward off spirits. She likes to make her own version, gathering up wild and garden flowers, securing them with a bit of ribbon to create a modern posy with a double meaning… “We can choose to see it as a talisman” or, as she puts it: “Just a pretty thing to adorn your home on a grey day.”

Tamsin’s love of gardens and flowers began in childhood. She was first inspired by her mother who was a commissioning editor of architectural books. Exposure to her books and influence gave her an appreciation of garden design at an early age. At 17 she was sent to LA to stay with her aunt where she fell in love with California and began to create bouquets for friends with local flowers.

When she came back to England, she lived on a canal boat in London festooned with flowers. This is where her freelance life in floral artistry began. In her early 20s, as a BBC journalist, she worked together with her childhood friend, the fashion photographer Tim Walker whose work is renowned for ethereal, bloom-strewn imagery. Tamsin remembers foraging for flowers for his assignments on moonlit nights, shaking trees to release blossoms.

Before forming her own company, The Gypsy Rose, Tamsin worked with the brilliant Wild at Heart, Scarlet & Violet and Harper & Tom’s in London. Developing her team over these past ten years she has fully embraced her own personal take on creating dramatic, romantic and head-turning flowers. The Gypsy Rose, is a group of experts in historical and contemporary flora who share Scott’s imagination and passion. They work together on floral designs for big Hollywood films (everything from period dramas to Disney), for leading independent film production companies on features and TV series as well as fashion shoots, prop builds and bespoke events. Tamsin loves being on set, “mixing real and fake”, her imagination is limitless.

Tamsin still does shoots with Tim who says she is “Constance Spry to my Cecil Beaton.”

As the floral designer behind Amazon’s genre-fluid series The Great or Autumn de Wilde’s macaroon-hued film version of Emma, Tamsin sees that her job is to ensure that the on-screen flora is “narrative appropriate”. A hothouse jasmine for Jane Austen’s aspirational Emma; “over-the-top cascades of wild roses” for Elle Fanning as Catherine the Great. “I was fascinated by the class elements of each character and wanted to make sure these were right.

The Coles, who are on their way up in society in Emma, had flowers to impress; modest Miss Bates would have picked whatever was to hand.” When Emma meets eligible bachelor Frank Churchill in her glasshouse, she is flirtatiously picking sweet peas and jasmine, flowers that would be out of season for all but the well-heeled.

“Be it a drunken urn of seasonal flowers, Jane Austen greenhouses and poppy fields or a room exploding with peonies, in my book, a cornucopia of crazy colours, blousy blooms and pretty poetry rules.”

As we tuck into our lunch of the delicious George salad with king prawns and lime, I am curious to know more about how living in Rye affects Tamsin’s life and work. She tells me how she especially loved room 12 at The George as a peaceful place to stay last year while she moved with her two children from The House with Two Front Doors in Mermaid Street to renovate her new cottage and studio where she now lives and works in Rye.

“I’d been eyeing up an old cottage in Rye for a while,” says Scott. Visiting it for the first time, she clutched the estate agent’s hand. It was a thespish moment. “I wept,” she said, “because I knew that I didn’t need to go inside.” The cottage is one of the earliest bungalows in Britain – built for the gardener who tended the nearby estate. In summer her garden is “rambling, luxuriant, a little eccentric” perfumed with honeysuckle and roses. A venerable fig tree throws green shade and there is a treehouse that Scott made from salvaged wooden panelling, complete with a porthole window.

Ideas take root in her studio there, set in an old apple store, where the door opens on to views of the valley. Silk flowers wrap around beams; vintage cabinets are filled with reference books. “I use everything from vintage seed catalogues to paintings to get the details right. Wallpaper’s a good starting point. The Victorians, for instance, used rich Gothic styles. After the 1840s, they shifted to macaroon colours with silvery golds. By the 1940s flowers had become more fun – a spray of love-lies-bleeding, a curled rhubarb leaf.”

There are props too: an over scaled cotton reel turned into a table or a chicken wire swan, salvaged from a past production. Like the influential mid-century florist Constance Spry, who also worked in film, Scott is a fan of swan-shaped vases, which she says bring serenity to surfaces. “The earliest ones date from 1900 and were made by potteries such as Goebel or Hornsea. My grandmother collected them and used to name each one. There’s a Cedric in the kitchen, Maude’s on the dresser and Gertrude is in the sitting room.”

For Trust, the TV series on John Paul Getty III, Scott chose brash, 1980s blooms: “Diamond-shaped displays of clashing colours, spiky orchids, clumsy carnations. I’m actually rather fond of how bad flowers were then.”

Tamsin’s work reminds us of the joy floral artistry can bring us at any time of the year. Her mantra says it all: “Flowers for Love Life and Laughter!” gypsyroseflowers.co.uk; @gypsyrosesets.

Image Credits: Susan Benn, Tim Walker, Tamsin Scott, The George Hotel.

This month we managed to briefly quiz Toby and Paulina, our neighbours, friends and founders of Rye Chocolates just a few doors away at 110A High Street.

Starting the business in 2016 with Lilly (a broken chocolate machine they found in the Welsh valleys) and experimenting with chocolate recipes, they now trade from this standalone shop in Rye. Here you will find their bespoke range of handmade, single-origin artesan chocolate products. It is quite the sensory overload and the choice is huge! So if you suffer from a sweet tooth, like we do, and just can’t decide what you crave the most, we recommend you invest in one of their handmade chocolate library boxes which holds up to four bars. Chocs away sorted!

What brings you to the George?
Everything! We’ve been coming to The George for years. We come for the amazing drinks, great food & incredible décor. It just has a great feel to it. Winter nights around the fire & long summer evenings on the outside patio. The George has it all.

We were ecstatic when Katie approached us to make chocolate bars for The George. Our George bar is a beautiful combination of our classic 43.5% cocoa milk chocolate with a sprinkle of Sal de Guérande (Grey Sea Salt). We handmake all our chocolate in Rye harbour – only a three minute drive towards the sea – using sustainably sourced single-origin chocolate & ingredients. Remembering our story now and looking back, chocolate is magic, it is a beautiful business to be in with our friends, in the town that we love. We have a flavour for every person and every occasion.

List three things you won’t leave home without.
At least one bar of chocolate, a notebook (for flavour combination inspiration when out and about) & a camera.

What is your earliest hotel/holiday memory?
Long days and beautiful food in the beautiful Dordogne.

What is the best/most important part of staying away in a hotel for you?
Feeling that you’re staying in a carefully curated, well thought out hotel – a retreat with a personal touch.

What are you currently reading/binge-watching/listening to?
We rarely have time for sitting down (currently swamped by an army of chocolate eggs and bunnies). When we do get a moment, we love to BBQ & host our friends in the town (always taking them to The George for dinner of course).

What do you always forget/lose when you go away?
Everything! We always have to double check we’ve packed everything. We even forgot our passports once! Just remembered before we got to the airport.

What helps you get to sleep at night? (keep it clean!)
A relaxing dinner, a unique nightcap & soft pillows.

Your Rye secret is….
Going for a walk around town early on a Sunday morning – with the warm spring sun filling the high street. Take a walk around the salts, over the river and past the boats. Amazing.

Visit the Rye Chocolates website.

To celebrate Christmas this year, The George in Rye is bringing the outdoors in with botanical decorations that take their cues from nature.

“The brilliant Alex Ball from Flowers in Rye has created a wonderland of dried and foraged flowers and foliage for us,” says hotel director Katie Clarke. “The brief was simple: sustainable, natural, dried decorations that show off the hues and textures we find all around us. Garish glitter and tinsel are officially banished!”

Local florist Alex is renowned for her wild arrangements, combining seasonality, colour, structure and texture with great skill. “My style is naturally romantic,” she says. “I draw inspiration from my love of gardening and the beautiful countryside surrounding Rye – and make use of plants I find in the local landscape.”

Using organic materials that evolve in texture and tone as time passes, Alex has adorned the hotel with handmade dried wreaths, garlands and hanging decorations for a feeling of natural abundance and warmth.

“It’s been a real labour of love for Alex,” says Katie. “She has her own cutting garden, and she’s been busy drying flowers for us for months and months – usually over her woodburner at home!”

Dried hydrangeas, thistles, eucalyptus and ferns all play a starring role, creating sculptural and richly layered silhouettes.

Joyful orbs of dried flowers in jewel-like shades of purple, red and gold take the place of baubles on the tree in the Dragon Bar. Generous garlands of foliage with artfully curled leaves and aged petals are draped above fireplaces and suspended from the hotel’s ceilings.

Wreaths and giant ‘snowballs’ of dried Gypsophila have aged to a creamy white colour; their clouds of tiny flowers cleverly mimic winter frost and wiry stems evoke snowflake patterns.

With the devastating fire that forced the George to close in 2019, followed by the pandemic and an ambitious restoration project, this is the first time the hotel has been able to celebrate Christmas in three years. And the team intends to make it their merriest yet.

“It’s just wonderful to be able to show off our hard work and give this beautiful historic building the decoration it deserves,” says Katie. “We’ve had scaffolding up for the last three years, so everyone in Rye was very excited to see the giant Christmas tree being installed on the front balcony. It’s a real focal point for the town.”

Inside, the feeling of comfort and conviviality continues. “The candles are lit, the fires are roaring, the courtyard is illuminated, and the huge tree in the Ballroom is bedecked – everything’s delicious, welcoming and twinkly – just as it should be at this time of year,” says Katie. “And Alex’s incredible botanical Christmas decorations are the icing on the cake. We hope people will come to admire them in person, and stay for a festive cocktail by the fire.”

In this, our third serving of Rye News’ ‘Lunch at The George’ interview series, Susan Benn sits down to a seafood feast with Paul Hodges, sustainable fisherman and long-time supplier to The George Grill. Tucking into Rock-a-Nore cured salmon starters and our signature Rye Bay Fish and Shellfish Stew, Paul reveals the fishing secrets he learned from the French, how a full moon affects fish behaviour, and recounts selling his catch of the day to illustrious customers including the then Prince Charles and Princess Diana…

I am to meet Paul Hodges, valued supplier of fish to The George in Rye, in the bar for a beer before our lunch. As a relative newcomer to Rye, I am aware of how little I know about the lives of fishermen here. This is not surprising I suppose as, unlike Hastings, Rye is not perceived as a fishing town. The iconic traditional fishermen’s huts, traditional boats and “daily catch” in Hastings are a major tourist attraction and an educational resource for school children and their families. So I am excited to be meeting a local fisherman, born in Lydd who grew up on the Marsh, with his first-hand stories of fishing and selling fish.

Paul spent 27 years catching fish in and around Rye Bay and the Channel. As a young man, he joined the fishing fleet in Dungeness with the oldest boat in the fleet. Keen to use new scientific methods of learning about fish behaviour, he was entrepreneurial and progressive. An early adopter of new forms of fish detection equipment, he was among some of the first in this area to target specific species with nets designed to catch them at optimum times during the ebb and flow of the tides.

“When my 40-year-old boat needed repairs I went to the bank to ask for 25K for a new boat. After they gave me that money I never looked back for the next 20 years.”

BOOM TIME IN A FISHING BOAT

Over a local beer, Paul recalls his numerous visits to the bank to get loans to keep upgrading his boats as each new high-tech kind of equipment became available. Three years after buying his first new boat, he bought another, fitted with state-of-the-art electronic sonar equipment. This trebled his turnover. By 1996 he was designing a robust 10 metres catamaran that could take him further out into the Channel to fish in all weathers. This was a boom time for him.

In mid-Channel, he met and made friends with the French fishermen who taught him their techniques. “I am still friends with these fishermen… we go to their family weddings… I love the way the French deeply understand and appreciate their fish.”

Curiously the rules for these 10 metres category fishing boats, stipulate a length of 10 metres, but allow the width to be any size. By 2005, Paul took advantage of this design challenge to build an even wider more efficient catamaran with an even larger fish room capacity.

Our Rock-a-Nore cured salmon starters arrive. They are succulent, juicy and tangy with fresh watercress and a piquant lemony dressing. Paul is telling me how French fishermen are “more nomadic,” combining their scientific knowledge of fish behaviour with centuries-old observations about the weather at sea, phases of the moon and tricks handed down from generation to generation. I’m curious to know more about what fish behaviour is like.

At high tide, the surge of water here can reach six knots. This means that sole, for example, who feed at the bottom, become much more active during these surges, especially with a full moon. The cod, also a bottom feeder, has a body designed to swim with one profile which is adapted to high tides, and another for low tides. When the surge of water at low tide becomes only about two knots, the cod fish has a little chin which helps to guide itself along the bottom to feed. These fish are totally colour blind. All they see is a blur. So sometimes a bit of plastic, a paper bag or even a complete set of false teeth on one occasion can be found in their stomachs, a grim reminder of how much humans threaten the lives of the fish we so easily take for granted by the time we see them at a fish counter.

A young fisherman needs a five-year or even a ten-year plan to work out how to earn enough money to get a mortgage and raise a family. By 2014 Paul couldn’t see how to make the finances work for his son the way the local fishing industry was going at that time. DEFRA’s regulations and restrictions about how much fish and what kinds of fish could be caught made “under ten metres” commercial fishing increasingly difficult for fishermen here.

Paul says these DEFRA rules rely on scant scientific evidence. “Minute snapshot trawls” are lowered from 200 ft vessels 10 times a year in given areas across the UK, to calculate what is being caught. The sample data is then passed onto government departments to make the laws about what fishermen are allowed to catch. Sadly, “the voices of the fishermen are neither consulted nor heard in this process.” Paul’s son decided to use his experience of the sea to gain further maritime qualifications which now enables him to take big ships around the world to monitor wind farm sites. By 2014 Paul had left fishing completely to focus on his sales business.

In the 90s, Paul bought his boat into Rye Harbour to deliver his “catch of the day” to The Place, Camber’s first gastro pub. The owner, who was in public relations in London, was ecstatic about what he saw that day. He invited celebrities and friends to come down to Camber to dine and enjoy a day by the sea. Some of his guests were there in their classic cars. Paul remembers: “They saw the fish in my van and wanted to buy some for a birthday dinner for a relative who just happened to be Piers Morgan. Another enthusiast there told Rose Grey, the co-founder with Ruth Rogers of London’s famous River Café, about my fish. These introductions launched PH Fish into the fish-selling business. We began to supply The Griffin at Fletching, the famous 400-year-old pub overlooking the Ouse valley frequented by Charles, Diana, and Camilla.”

NO LOGO. NO MARKETING. BUT SOME FAMOUS PEOPLE..

News of the quality of The Griffin fish menu spread. It was at this time that Alex Clarke, co-director of The George, heard about Paul and invited him to supply his fish to the hotel – a continuing relationship which is very important to Paul.

As more gastro pubs in Brighton and the Southeast ordered PH Fish, success followed over the next ten years primarily by word of mouth. The big fish companies were jealous of PH Fish. They tried to understand Paul’s marketing but couldn’t because he didn’t have any. PH Fish had no website; his van had no signwriting on it.

The company began organising popular public events. At the Hotel du Vin in Brighton, a famous pop group chose fish for their dinner in front of an audience before a performance. During this period Paul met and made friends with famous chefs. His relationships with chefs and cheffing are very important to him and they occupy our conversation as our mains arrive: two big steaming bowls of Rye Bay Fish and Shellfish Stew. This fish concoction is a signature main dish for The George. Generous chunks of assorted fish and shellfish in a rich velvety spicy tomato base flavoured with saffron aioli make for a totally satisfying experience! Bouillabaisse by any other name.

Famous chefs used to play with the fish Paul brought to them. He says: “They were very hands-on – cutting it up, trying new ideas, sending some bits back – it was very theatrical, very passionate and disciplined. Cheffing now is just a job. It’s hard to find the professionalism of Gordon Ramsay, Antonio Carluccio (who taught Jamie Oliver), Marco Pierre White, or Jean-Christophe Novelli, the French celebrity chef who learned under Keith Floyd.”

Floyd spent five years in France learning “nouvelle cuisine” to educate British diners. He was the first to do this. “Everyone trained by these chefs has a similar degree of passion and attitude about military precision. The French use the words ‘a brigade of chefs’ for a reason. This kind of authority is just not the same now. Nor do chefs think about how to plan menus around the availability of certain species of fish.

“There are actually six days in a month when you can’t catch cod, for example. This just doesn’t matter to some chefs these days. Even if they know they can’t get it, they put it on their menu – so I advise them to make the most of seasonality by celebrating certain types of fish on their menus accordingly.”

Paul feels very protective of some of the chefs he currently meets who are overworked, untrained, and not getting enough money for what they are expected to do, often working in under-equipped and understaffed kitchens. He and a friend in human resources recently designed a support package for restaurants to pay just £15 a month to give coaching and psychological help to chefs who are struggling.

Since the Covid crisis, many good chefs have left the profession. A charismatic, imaginative chef can transform the fortunes of a restaurant, but finding one with enough passion, imagination, talent, and authority to create memorable, distinctive food, and to inspire both kitchen and restaurant staff, can be a problem.

COVID, BREXIT, AND THE FUTURE OF FISHING IN RYE

Wholesale fish sales were dreadful during Covid lockdowns but retail sales and home deliveries for PH Fish went crazy. “People were thinking more about healthy living habits and diets including more fish and vegetables,” says Paul. “As the cost of living is increasing it’s worth noting that a hundred grams of fish still cost less than a hundred grams of meat.” Paul thinks we are probably selling 40 percent more fish in England now, despite post-Brexit media melodramas of 24-hour delays at port, outrageous amounts of paperwork, customs duties, and other imposed bureaucracy.

When PH Fish needed a base from which the company could export their fish, a failed attempt was made to buy the fish depot in Rye where Chapman’s Fish Market is now. Subsequently, when Hastings Fish Market went bankrupt, Paul saw an opportunity to build his business from there – and he moved in. The market is a thriving success.

We focus our conversation now on the longer-term future of the fishing fleet in Rye with some concern. I am told there are a small group of fishing boats who come into Rye Harbour manned by only one to two fishermen in these wooden boats. I wonder what will happen when these fishermen retire. Will there be a fleet anymore? Paul says Hastings’ iconic traditional fleet is now a fraction of what it used to be but because of the economics of tourism, it doesn’t matter.

The older fleet thrives in Hastings because of nostalgia. We begin to imagine how a celebration of the Fishing Heritage of Rye might help to revive centuries-old associations between the sea and fishing here, conjuring lots of ideas. Could we publicise the connectivity between our fisherman, our wet-fish shops and the restaurants in town that serve locally caught fish? Would “Fish PR” work in Rye? Might Rye’s Fishing Heritage find a presence in Stand Quay, in the harbour where the boats come in by the Rye Bay Fish shop, or at Chapman’s Rye depot where the daily catch is now sold to the public? Could restaurants in Rye focus more on seasonality and write fish facts and stories about what they serve on their menus? Would fish festivals celebrating seasonal species attract more people to Rye like the Scallop Festival did?

Paul believes future planning around the sustainability of the fishing industry here must consider the sustainability of the fishermen and their families as a priority. At a time when so many low-income families struggle to find affordable housing and survive the rising costs of living here, local planners need to recognise what a fisherman’s family can actually afford. We would hope that any developers building new housing in Rye will value the needs of fishermen whose work is so important to our local economy and wellbeing.

We end our lunch on an optimistic note, recalling the visit by our mayor and deputy mayor to France to discuss twinning the ancient towns of Rye and Montreuil-sur-Mer. If this exciting project can go ahead, we hope there will be many future possibilities to discover more about French fish culture and to celebrate our own.

Image Credits: Susan Benn, Paul Hodges

Tuck into a second helping of Rye News’ ‘Lunch at The George’ interview series, this time with celebrated local author Alex Preston – whose historical novel, Winchelsea, includes an 18th Century visit to The George. Over a two-course lunch in The George Grill featuring steak and fresh fish, Susan Benn caught up with Alex to talk literary relatives, the upcoming TV adaption of Winchelsea, and why he’ll always be a night owl when it comes to writing…

I am excited to meet Alex Preston, whom local people may know as the historical novelist and author of Winchelsea, which, with 10,000 hardback copies sold to date, owes a vote of thanks in part to the Rye Book Shop for their enthusiastic and loyal support!

At forty-two, Alex has written three successful historical novels and a book of non-fiction. He’s also a regular contributor to The Telegraph, The Economist, and Harper’s Bazaar, as well as reviewing books for the Observer New Review, Financial Times and The Spectator.

Living in Kent with his wife and two children, their family currently hosts a Ukrainian mother with her small son and his grandmother. I feel very lucky to be able to explore his writing practice and influences over lunch at The George in the town he has loved since childhood.

Alex arrives bang on 12 noon and, as we decide on the menu, he apologises that in one hour, he will have to take a phone call which may take another hour out of our interview. I am fine with this, as the pause will give me time to begin writing my article. It seems Alex is familiar with the menu as he lunched recently at The George with his friend, Rupert Lord, to work together on a new Winchelsea TV series being developed by Hopscotch Films, who also have close connections in Rye. This exciting series is to be filmed here – and will hopefully appear on our screens in about eighteen months’ time.

Conscious of time, we order quickly…a chilli salt squid starter, followed by onglet steak and chimichurri sauce, sides of thin chips and braised baby gem lettuce for Alex. I opt for a whipped beetroot and feta starter, then the freshly caught local fish with chips.

Once that’s sorted we begin to unpick how and why Alex became a writer. I ask the classic question: ‘What is it that made you first believe you could be a writer?’

He replies: ‘Even very established writers struggle with this question. When I am talking to younger writers, I tell them you must believe in yourself because so much of writing is about practical challenges. So many great novels are simply not being written because writers are unable to carve out enough time in their lives to write them’.

A LITERARY FAMILY

Alex feels he is very fortunate to come from a family of writers of different sorts. His mother was an academic who wrote about learning difficulties and child psychology and his grandfather was an eminent literary critic.

When I ask about the books he read as a young boy, adventure stories were his favourites: ‘Johnny Tremain and Moonfleet were a big part of my life. I wanted to write a book that would update this tradition of British adventure. Maybe in my earlier books, I tried to be a bit profound and meaningful, so in this novel, I tapped into the joy of my childhood books to give myself the licence to write for pure pleasure.’

“The foundations of all my literary taste are entirely due to the influence of my literary grandfather….”

An Emeritus Professor at Princeton University in Massachusetts, Alex’s grandfather was a massive anglophile who wrote about Hardy and the Auden generation of poets. He also wrote regularly for the TLS and The New Yorker. Not surprisingly, Alex wanted to study literature. He went to Oxford and studied literature classes at Princeton during regular visits to Massachusetts to see his grandfather. ‘My two children even have Princeton T-shirts and baseball caps, and we are beginning to have family conversations about their university choices.’

After university, Alex had a variety of jobs, but ‘the idea of being a writer was always the end game. I didn’t write my first novel until I was 30. I worked in a bank during the financial crisis, a slightly shameful part of my history, but it inspired my first novel Bleeding City about a generation that had its moral crisis skewed by too much money and Fukuyama’s The End of History and The Last Man.’

ROUTINES AND DISCIPLINES

‘I start early before the kids wake up. I read what I wrote the day before, edit it, have breakfast and take the children to school, then do social media and other admin, have lunch, write from mid-afternoon for a stretch and then it’s the evening thing. My best writing time is between 9pm and midnight. I do this routine for two months, which results in a first draft which I then send to my agent, my editor, my sister-in-law, and, before he died, always to my grandfather. I was finishing the last chapters of my novel in my grandfather’s study while packing his things there just after he died’.

Our starters arrive promptly, looking delicious, and the conversation switches to the classic controversy between fact and fiction in adaptations of historical events into novels, television and film. Alex knows how some local historians find this problematic in his book, Winchelsea.

‘I am not a historian. I am telling a story set locally to try and express the reason why I love this area and the stories one discovers here so much. Stories are a good way to give visitors a strong flavour and deeper understanding of the richness of this place, and historians, unfortunately, are not always getting their knowledge across in a way that engages people in the same way a story can.’

Our main courses arrive, and I am shocked as Alex tells me publishers expect authors to do all their own social media these days to promote their work. I wonder how this particular contractual requirement for self-promotion affects a writer’s life?

‘I found it all a bit of a chore for a while. Twitter is exhausting, but I’ve found a way of managing it, and I tweet reviews. Twitter has unfortunately become a forum for identity politics now, and I don’t have enough time or inclination to want to fight about these issues in public.’

We lament the lack of serious debate in the media and could both become very depressed when authors we admire get sucked into toxic debates about transgender and women’s rights. But fortunately for Alex, most readers have understood his reasons for the portrayal of gender fluidity in Winchelsea.

‘I have tried to suggest that the heroine, Goody, is changing her identity, not for any reason other than to enter worlds that she would otherwise not have been able to enter to access power; power that, in her case, could result in life or death. Winchelsea is a book about identity. A tale told through a male writer and then through me, another male writer…based on the real-life adventures of a courageous woman, Hannah Snell, who in the 18th century, as a twenty-year-old orphan, enlisted in the British Army as a soldier dressed in male attire.’

Alex firmly believes writers should be able to write what they want. He looks to older writers for inspiration and wonders: ‘Why do older writers burn out? Why do publishers valorise younger writers, always seeking new young voices? The question of diversity in publishing is, I believe, nuanced. This desperate wish to find new voices means that some of the old voices, who have something valuable to say, slip by. Positive reviews of good work by proven older writers sadly don’t necessarily sell books. But movies and prizes do.’

It’s one o’clock, and Alex vanishes to take his call. I write my notes and take a few pictures of chefs hard at work in the sparkling new kitchen.

When Alex returns, we have a few remaining minutes before his parking meter expires to hear about the myriad of extra literary things he is doing alongside his daily writing routine.

THE CORFU LITERARY FESTIVAL

With two friends who love literature and cricket in Corfu, Alex created the Corfu Literary Festival, which happens annually in the last week of September. This five-day event features English and English-speaking Greek writers.

‘I went out there originally to play cricket with the Lord’s Taverners Charity Team in 2017. Corfu was an English protectorate, so it’s one of the few Mediterranean places with a strong cricket culture. We are delighted that the festival sold out in the first five days this year. It’s a source of pure joy for the writers and audiences who frequent local tavernas each evening enjoying retsina and stimulating conversation.’

ENCOURAGING LITERACY AND STORYTELLING WITH YOUNG PEOPLE

Alex gives his time and expertise generously to encourage storytelling and literacy in two local UK charities. Closest to home is Kent Kindness (www.kentkindness.org.uk) who currently support 470 asylum-seeking children and young adults in the care of Kent County Council. These young people arrive on the Kent coast after harrowing journeys to be housed temporarily in reception centres in Ashford and Cranbrook. Kent Kindness volunteers work with Kent County Council to support their activities and the facilities they provide. Alex works with these young people in Cranbrook.

‘I teach them English and life skills, making decisions and practical things like opening a bank account. And we play football and cricket. The kids are so optimistic. Many of them are orphans. It feels patriotic to make them welcome in the UK by telling them a history of Britain as a melting pot of cultures, so they know they are the latest to contribute to our cultural mix here in this country.’

First Story is a charity where professional writers empower students from under-resourced and under-represented communities in the UK to give them the confidence and skills to tell their own stories.

‘I try to help these young people recognise the power of storytelling so they can know the sense of agency which puts them at the centre of it with their own voice. I take a school of young people to the British Museum to choose an object they like, and then I help them to research it to write a story. I do wish more museums would put some of their objects outside of glass cases. I am a great fan of the Please Touch Museum for children in Philadelphia. Perhaps this is an idea for our museum on East Street?’

As we leave the restaurant, Alex reveals plans for his next two books: ‘I’m about to start writing my next novel, having almost finished the research, which is set in Corfu. It’s a kind of literary spy thriller. And my publisher, Cannongate, also wants a follow up to Winchelsea,’ he says. ‘I think it will be called Rye.’

I can’t wait to read it!

Image Credits: KT Bruce, Susan Benn

Inhabiting a 16^th Century building means reclamation and reuse are in our blood. Whether restoring salvaged materials or rescuing antique furniture, our ethos has always been to reduce waste and stop beautiful resources from ending up on the scrap heap.

But our sustainable approach stretches beyond architecture and interior design. It shapes everything we do. As a hub for the Rye community, our hotel works hard to champion local makers, small suppliers and ethical producers. From our handcrafted signage to the seasonal veg on our menu and our support of local charities, we’re proud of our planet-and-people-friendly approach to the environment, sourcing and society.

Here’s how we’re running a hotel with purpose and principles…

FEELING FRUITY

Our menus are printed on eco-friendly, FSC-certified paper by Fenner – with each sheet made using by-products from fruits like kiwi, grapes, olives and cherries in the place of virgin tree pulp. These natural raw materials are saved from landfill and transformed into vibrantly coloured papers using a planet-conscious manufacturing process.

DESIGN TO ENDURE

Our recent post-fire renovation of the hotel saw co-owner Katie Clarke revive her design partnership with Maria Speake of Retrouvius. Maria, House & Garden’s interior designer of the year 2019, has long set the pace for sustainable design with her creative use of salvaged materials. Her company, Retrouvius, is driven by the belief that good materials and well-made things are precious and deserve to be preserved.

So, be it an old Bakelite phone or the enormous antique Thames Barge sail that graces the restaurant walls, guests of The George will find carefully sourced treasures and reclaimed finds at every turn. The reception desk is a reinvented church altar; the curtains are reimagined vintage textiles; reclaimed Iroko lab tops, cast iron tiles and pine cheeseboards add soul and warmth. Most of the hotel’s furniture and upholstery are antiques, restored by local artisans to bring out the individual charm of each room.

DRINKS MADE ON OUR DOORSTEP

The floral berry burst of Gusbourne Kent Rosé. The hint of caramel from the roasted malts in Romney Marsh Amber. The refreshing, clean finish of an ice-cold pint of Camber Lager.

From the vineyards of Kent to the Sussex Downs, we’re proud to showcase so many small, hyper-local producers on our drinks menu. With 11 local beers and real ales (all Kent or Sussex-made), hand-selected English wines served by the glass, and Biddenden draught cider, our drinks list champions fewer food miles with more flavour.

We carefully select our wines by the glass from vineyards that use kegs filled directly at the winery. A 20L keg means a 50% smaller storage footprint than bottled wine, saves 15kg of glass, and ensures the last sip is as fresh as the first. We’ll cheers to that.

GIVING BACK TO THE COMMUNITY

Taking responsibility within the local community and supporting great causes is a fundamental commitment of The George in Rye. We add an optional donation of £1 to our chosen local charity to every guest’s bill at check-out. We then match every £1 donated by our guests.

We also like to make our water work harder for our charities, so 100% of the £2 cost of a bottle of mineral water in our restaurants and bars goes to our nominated charitable causes.

Some of the brilliant charities we have supported so far include Prostate Cancer UK, RNLI Station at Rye Harbour, NSPCC’s Childline, St Michael’s Hospice, Demelza Hospice Care, The Oliver Curd Trust, Seaview Project and Kent Surrey & Sussex Air Ambulance.

SUPPORTING LOCAL, SELECTING HANDMADE

We’re proud to support local craftspeople, makers and suppliers – and we always favour handcrafted over factory-churned. This not only means our hotel is full of unique, traditionally-made objects, but that we are cutting down the carbon footprint that comes from mass production and air miles.

Our beautiful new exterior hanging sign was made by local blacksmiths Black Forge Art and hand-finished with a gold leaf logo by local signwriter, Nick.

Inside the hotel, local collaborations abound, from the end-grain floor from timber merchants Round Wood of Mayfield to alliances with High Street traders Hunter Jones, Rye Chocolates and fabrics from Merchant & Mills.

Meanwhile, an eclectic art collection adorns the hotel walls – the result of Katie’s work with Rye art maestros McCully and Crane.

GOOD TASTE

From our sustainable fisherman Paul Hodge’s daily catch to our fruit and veg guru Brett Johnson’s delicious greens, we source our food as locally and seasonally as possible. For us, field-grown is always better than flown, and many of our producers and growers are family-owned enterprises.

At our restaurant, the George Grill, we celebrate local delicacies like Rye Bay scallops and Romney Marsh lamb, helping us to support our community suppliers, minimise food miles and maximise quality, freshness and flavour.

WASTE NOT WANT NOT

An ethos of ‘recycle and reuse’ sits at the heart of our hotel. Here’s some examples of the ways we’re cutting down waste:

• After the 2019 fire, we carefully salvaged items for reuse wherever possible, such as the original ballroom floor that found a new home in the waiters’ station.
• Our outdoor tables and benches were handcrafted by a local carpenter using recycled timber, salvaged from the old Hasting’s Pier after it was destroyed by a fire in 2010.
• We work with suppliers to reuse all delivery boxes and cut out single-use packaging.
• Our bill holders are made from off-cuts from the sail material that decorates the walls of our restaurant.
• Our chocolate wrappers are printed onto our old letterhead paper.
• The Dragon Bar coasters are made from recycled materials, and our pink room keycards are made from a sustainable wood pulp which is also recyclable.

We were recently honored by a visit from the Rye News, who popped in for lunch and a chat with Brett Johnson, fruit and veg supplier to many local businesses, including to our Head Chef, Josh. They were kind enough to give us permission to reprint the article:

“When we went into lockdown in 2021 we had orders coming out of our ears for that Mother’s Day weekend. We thought lockdown would start on the Monday so everyone could enjoy the weekend. But on Friday Boris pulled the plug. By Saturday morning all but one of our 50 customers had cancelled their orders. We started work immediately to convert our warehouse into a shop. A month ago we launched our first online shop. And now The George is back too!”

I am waiting in the elegant new lobby of The George Hotel to celebrate lunch with Brett Johnson, whom many readers will know from Johnson’s first fruit and veg shop in the 90’s at 29a The High Street. He arrives in shorts and tee shirt straight from work bearing a surprise box of freshly picked local berries. This is a characteristically generous gesture from someone who works 13 hour days, six days a week and whose nature is always to please.

We are shown to a quiet corner table to explore the menu over a cold beer for him and a white wine Spritzer (on ice in a HUGE goblet with a straw) for me. Neither of us are “people who lunch” so this is a totally unique treat to have a bit of time out at Brett’s particularly crazy time of year.

We kick start our conversation to find out why this 46 year old is so passionate about fruits and vegetables. He attributes this to childhood memories of the smells and tastes of the Kent countryside, of “always being outside and never inside” on his family farm, picking hops with his Mum and eating “wonky apples with so many flowers for pollinators that we can never smell or taste again”. Brett and his wife Rosalind, a special needs nurse whom he met at school, who also does the accounts for Johnsons, live in Sellindge with their two daughters, eleven and two and a half, and fifteen-year-old stepson. They love to cook, encouraging their children to appreciate natural resources on land and sea. They take family holidays now in their new campervan “to get away from screens discovering survival skills in the wild”.

A forces career thwarted by asthma

Brett admits he was never interested in school. He didn’t take any exams and thinks he might have been diagnosed as dyslexic if he had been tested. At 18 his ambition to become a chef in the forces was thwarted because of asthma. He did a bit of civil engineering work in France and on fishing trawlers in Rye Harbour. Some of the ethics fishermen used then and now are perplexing to Brett who has very strong views about the future of fishing. We began to talk about this just as Josh, the head chef of The George, appears at our table to say “hello”.

Josh and Brett have frequent chats about new menus at The George. If a seasonal vegetable is coming to an end in the UK, it can most probably be found abroad. Brett has good relationships with suppliers who deliver regularly and on time to the UK from the Netherlands. He says he has had only one late delivery this past year. We find we both listen to the radio a lot to hear “other people’s arguments” which leads to a debate on issues around food and Brexit, climate change, the future of importing foreign produce, and worries about cuts to UK school food budgets which contradict UK health policies for children…mercifully our starters arrive.

Duck rillettes with celeriac remoulade on sourdough toast for him and Rye Bay scallops ceviche in lemongrass, chilli, lime and ginger for me. These dishes deliver on both appearance and taste and are beautifully served.

Appearance and flavour are of paramount importance to Brett and his customers.

“People shop with their eyes these days…Supermarket chains are responsible for this.”

Brett’s customers are primarily professional chefs and/or members of the public who love to cook. These are people who think seriously about where their fresh produce comes from and how it is grown. They won’t tolerate fresh food wrapped in plastic and they want to know what happens to necessary and unnecessary waste. Johnson’s face daily challenges to maintain high standards to serve The George Hotel along with their other 40-50 discerning clients including local restaurants, schools and colleges, plus individuals living in 25 local villages who receive deliveries on a daily basis. Every order is personally serviced by Johnson’s staff who know the provenance of each item. In the old days, produce was colour coded: RED for English, BLUE for Foreign and GREEN for local. Packers and drivers often need to get up at 4am to sort deliveries from their warehouse/shop in Unit G7 Atlas Business Park on the Harbour Road, which is open Thursday to Saturday to the public.

Our main courses arrive and we compare our choices. Brett’s Rye Bay fish and shellfish stew in a rich tomato sauce topped with saffron aioli is a 100% success! It looks and tastes delicious. My perfectly cooked turbot with beurre blanc is succulent and delicate. It sits on a bed of thin dark green samphire which I had not seen before. Brett explains this is an imported variety from Israel as the plump salty British samphire on our coasts isn’t quite ready yet.

‘Is veg and fish waste a misplaced resource?’

Over indulgent desserts – strawberry parfait for Brett and an over-the-top chocolate brownie and salted caramel sundae for me, we get serious about food waste. I ask what happens to waste vegetable trimmings as current cross-contamination laws prohibit giving them to local pig farmers, apparently.

In the old days, Brett says there was an old man who lived in a caravan in Rye who collected trimmings daily to feed his herd of goats. But now Johnson’s must pay a large general waste disposal company to remove them. We wonder if there is a better local job opportunity here for someone with a few bins and a van to be paid to find a local environmentally friendly use for these trimmings?

Similarly, in Brett’s fishing experience, the disposal of waste fish has seriously bothered him ever since he was on the trawlers at seventeen. When fishermen select saleable fish from their nets, loads of unwanted fish are left in the nets to die. These dead fish, sometimes a ton on a good day, are then dumped back into the sea. Brett believes it is morally wrong to pollute the sea like this and hopes someone can find a way to process them to make cat food or other environmentally friendly products.

Apart from the gratitude we both feel about the return of fine dining at The George, my conversations with Brett are a reminder never to take for granted the sensory pleasures, culinary possibilities, and nutritional benefits of our locally produced fruits and vegetables.

Image Credits: Susan Benn / Rye News

Click here to see the article on the Rye News website.

 

 

“a green and sparkling land”

the george in rye gets a little mention in the weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal about southern England’s vineyards.

click here to read the full article by Elizabeth Dunn.

 

Rye & District Community Transport received £1,008 this summer through The George in Rye’s guest check out scheme.

In 2013 a scheme was introduced whereby a £1 discretionary donation is added to every guest’s bill. Guests are asked on checkout if they would like to donate to our chosen local charity and we then match every £1 donated by our guests.

RDCT’s Chairman John Izod was delighted to receive the donation.  “I am overwhelmed by the generosity of the George’s guests and very grateful to the hotel and its management and staff for organising the collection.  RDCT operates the 326 Rye Town service without financial support so we have a big hole to fill to ensure that we maintain the 326 and all the other services that we provide. Donations like this are a big help and also encourage us to continue in our efforts.”

we’re delighted to announce the winner of the Borderfields competition is Elaine Minter from Ashford in Kent.

She wins a two-night break for two (with breakfast) in a Junior Suite and a three-course meal in The Grill!

Borderfields Cold Press Rapeseed Oil used their 10th birthday to celebrate all the delicious food that Britain produces. They launched their #HomegrownGoodness campaign to champion the fine flavours of our nation and to encourage shoppers to vote with their feet and by British.  They launched the campaign by partnering with The George in Rye to offer one lucky person the chance to win a luxury two-night break.

we’re delighted to announce the winner of our facebook photography competition is David Hardy. David wins lunch for two at The George Grill.

Here is David’s image of Mermaid Street.