Hastings & 1066 Country

LOGISTICS:

• Fast trains from London Bridge take 1 hour 23 minutes to Hastings. Slower trains via Brighton available from Victoria
• When the kiddo was 2 years old we stayed one night at this brilliant AirBnB hosted by Celena and Duncan. The room was big enough to easily fit a travel cot (you could even fit two!) and there is a couch and a TV just outside the room, so perfect for hanging out if kids go to sleep early.
• When the kiddo was 3 years old we spent 4 perfect nights at the White Rock Hotel in a Superior King room. The kiddo loved the sea views and super size bathtub and I appreciated the cleanliness, free room service and locked storage room for bikes. The staff was also amazing!
• Our second trip to Hastings was inspired by Museum Mum’s blog post and Instagram stories about her weekend staycation in Sussex.
• Check out my separate posts about 1066 Battle of Hastings and Rye & Camber Sands.

THE KID FACTOR:

• Shingle beach, but with some sandy areas towards the pier at low tide. Staying close to the pier is also great for hiding in the shade during the hottest time of the day.
• Small play areas (our favorite at 2 years old was a little toddler outdoor gym!) and sand boxes along the beach promenade and a large playground at the western end of the old town (the clear favorite at 3 years old). There is also a large playground at the top of West Cliff lift where the Smuggler Adventure and Hastings castle are located.
• Several rides perfect for Under 5s at Hastings Pier. Rides for bigger kids (as well as a few small ones) between the playground and Old Town.
• Smuggler Adventure and the Blue Reef Aquarium are both great bad weather options with kids. Only 0-2 year olds are free.
• Miniature Railway running along the Old Town from Marine Parade to Rock-A-Nore
• Toilets with baby changing facilities along the beach

OUR OVERNIGHT TRIP WHEN THE KIDDO WAS 2 YEARS OLD (2019):

For our overnight trip to Hastings we left from London on the 8.44am train and stopped over in Battle (check my separate blog post for details on this) for a couple of hours to check out the English Heritage 1066 Battle of Hastings site. We arrived in Hastings at 3pm in the afternoon and checked into our AirBnB before heading down to the beach.

Hastings beach is predominantly shingle. This is the main reason why it took me almost a decade of living in the UK before I finally planned a trip there. I am a sand person, so shingle beaches are just not my thing. Luckily the Toddler isn’t really bothered either way, so he was extremely excited and raced down to the water (and would have been half way to France if I didn’t prevent him from going for a swim with all his clothes on).

When we walked along the promenade from the pier towards the old town we came across a cute little toddler size outdoor gym. My Toddler wasn’t the only one who loved the rings and little tunnel (I had to come back early the next morning to get a picture without other kids in it).

Sadly the Toddler was starting to feel unwell and spiked a high fever that couldn’t be controlled with paracetamol, so after two hours at the beach we had to postpone any further sightseeing activities and instead ended up with a trip to the A&E at Conquest Hospital. We made it all around the world and all over Europe without requiring a trip to the A&E, so I guess if it had to happen, at least we were in the country where I knew how the health system worked, where I didn’t have to rely on travel insurance and where I spoke the language.

Luckily the Toddler recovered as quickly as he got sick and by the time we had a bit of a lazy morning (and played with the cats while having breakfast at the AirBnB) he was ready for more adventuring. Since I checked the tide tables I knew that low tide (and thus sand!) would be around lunch time, so I decided that we’d spend the morning exploring the old town.

Walking along the promenade backed by white-washed Edwardian hotels (which have seen better days!) the first place of interest we came bye was the Hastings castle, the Norman fortress built by William the Conqueror. This was on my original to-do list for the weekend (including a visit to the dungeons!), but since we were short of time I decided to walk past and leave it for another time. My plan would have been to take the West Hill Lift up and then wander across to the castle from there, enjoying the views along the way. (We ended up doing this on our next trip – see further down for details)

We came across an amazing playground just as we were about to turn away from the beach and head inwards towards George Street. There were ships to climb on, bridges to run across, a whole area targeted at crawlers/early walkers with tunnels and small structures and two sand areas with pulleys and buckets (one targeted at younger toddlers and one for everyone else).

There were also the traditional coastal amusement arcades as well as a fair ground with mostly smaller rides. Instead of checking them out we headed to the Beach Retreat Fish & Chips bar for some lunch. There are a couple of semi-enclosed alcoves which are brilliant for hiding from the wind and the seagulls while eating, as well as loads of tables with and without umbrellas all over the place. The place was surprisingly busy for a term-time weekday and the fish was tasty.

Next up was a stroll along George Street and High Street, the old town part of Hastings. There were loads of cute little boutiques, cafes and restaurants as well as an impressive amount of antiques shops.

My favorite part of the old town were some really creatively designed squares and street corners. The serpent and octopus wrapped around chess pieces on Chess Square at Butlers gap were so unique and gorgeous. The Toddler agreed and was keen to climb all over them together with some toddler friends he made while running around

Time flies bye quickly and since the sea was at its lowest tide it was time to head towards the pier for some sandy beach time. This is where we spent the rest of our afternoon before hopping on a train back to London.

Hastings definitely has enough to offer to keep one entertained for a couple of days. I am already keen to go back for a 3-4 day break to make sure we have time to visit Hastings Castle, take the East Hill Lift up to Hastings Country Park, check out the Jerwood Gallery and try out some of the pubs and restaurants in the old town.

OUR 5 DAY TRIP WHEN THE KIDDO WAS 3 YEARS OLD (2020):

Since we had to cancel a trip to Austria due to Austria making it onto the UK Covid Quarantine list, I had to come up with a last minute UK holiday to make both the kiddo and myself get over being sad about not seeing the grandparents. Luckily a last minute room became available at the White Rock Hotel and so we decided to spend an extended bank holiday weekend in Hastings.

Since the start of the pandemic our travel has changed from train + bus to train + bike, which brings with it the logistics of where to securely store the bike overnight. Luckily the White Rock Hotel has a locked room for bike storage available – no pre-booking required.

Since we traveled to Hastings on a THURSDAY we took the 10.24 train from London Bridge to Hastings. We couldn’t leave earlier because the Network Railcard discount can’t be used before 10 on weekdays. After spending some time at the beach (it was low tide when we arrived so plenty of sand to play with towards the pier!) we headed to St. Clements Restaurant in St Leonard which has a really good value 2 course lunch menu. The staff at the restaurant offered us various kids options, but my kiddo tends to prefer the adult fare and chose the duck salad with new potatoes and grapes (which he loved!) while I enjoyed a goat cheese starter and a local fish main.

After checking into the hotel, we went for a walk along the sea front towards the old town and got caught in a down pour. Luckily Di Pola’s gelato place wasn’t far so we popped in there for their amazing chocolate afogato (ice cream + hot chocolate + marshmallows). Their regular ice cream is delicious too, but how can you say no to that combination!

The weather forecast for FRIDAY was lots of rain, so I planned to get the 3 in 1 ticket for Hastings Castle, Smuggler Adventure and the Blue Reef Aquarium. Initially the plan was to do the Smuggler Adventure and Aquarium on Friday and wait with the castle for better weather, however plans changed when the foretasted rain didn’t seem to arrive and we ended up doing all three activities in a single day.

Since none of the attractions open until 10.30am, we started the day (which was surprisingly rain free at that point!) with a visit of the Stade, Hasting’s working land based fishing fleet. While the kiddo initially was more interested in his bubble wand then the fishing boats, his interest was caught when a fisherman threw some fish remains back into the water and hundreds of seagulls suddenly descended in a mad frenzy.

On the walk from the Stade to the West Cliff Lift we made a quick stop at the Cornish Bakery on George Street for a hot drink and pastry breakfast. The kiddo also enjoyed a wander around Chess Square at Butler’s gap and would have loved to go wild in the old fashioned candy store.

Based on Google reviews (and this being a bank holiday weekend in the middle of a pandemic) I was prepared for some queuing when we got to the West Cliff Lift. However, there was no wait at all and we could get onto the lift immediately together with one other family (plenty of space in the carriage meant for up to 16 people).

Arriving at the top we were taken by the stunning views across Hastings and along the coast. The kiddo did what he seems to do everytime he comes across an open field theses days, run as fast as he could across the field and towards a steep hill. There were even more views to be enjoyed from the top of the little hill and the kiddo was ecstatic about a bunch of rocks he could climb up and down and around leading us eventually to Hastings Castle.

If you don’t fancy our adventurous approach to the castle, there is also a fairly flat, paved path leading the the castle gates. While the highlight of our castle visit were definitely the amazing views, the kiddo was also fascinated by the 1066 Story audio-visual tour about the conquest and history of the castle. It’s fascinating to see what large complex once stood on this cliff and how little is left of it. There were a lot of questions about what a battle is and why the people were hitting each other with “hammers”. If the interest persists we’ll try and explore the topic a bit further through the English Heritage Kids Rule! activities focusing on the Norman Conquest (pointed out to me by Museum Mum!)

After a picnic lunch with a view on the green space outside the West Cliff Lift (there is also a fairly big playground here, but the kiddo was to excited for our next activity to have any time for a playground), we walked across to the Smuggler Adventure. While we are buggy free these days, if you do bring a buggy you will have to carry it down quite a few flights of stairs before storing it at the entrance to Smuggler Adventure.

We brought along a flashlight from home and the kiddo’s biggest excitement about the tunnels was running around with the flashlight. While he was excited about the first couple buttons he could push to bring scenes alive (he had to look at each scene in each of the three available languages – English, German and French), he wasn’t really interested in watching the scenes unfold. Due to the ongoing Covid pandemic, all other inter actives are currently roped off (as of September 2020). I think if these hands-on activities would have been accessible, the kiddo would have stayed interested for longer.

Once we got back to the outside world we took the West Hill Lift don (again, no wait) and popped into Monelli’s Sourdough Pizza right next to the lift. The kiddo was very excited about the huge Calzones, so that was our lunch. One thing to note about this place, while the staff seemed a bit unfriendly at the start (telling me they had to check if we could sit at the only remaining table because we were just one adult and one child and the table could hold up to 4 adults), once we were seated they were extremely friendly and interacted quite a bit with the kiddo to help make the waiting for the freshly baked pizza go bye more quickly.

With full bellies it was time to head to our final attraction of the day, the Blue Reef Aquarium. In order to get there we hopped onto the Hastings Miniature Railway which runs the 1/2 mile from Marine Parade to Rock-A-Nore where the aquarium is located. At the time we used the train there was no queue, but some long queues were forming over the weekend.

We got to the aquarium around 1.45pm (which I thought would be a good time as younger kids might be napping) and had to join a queue as the aquarium was currently at capacity. Luckily we had our mini kite in the bag, so the kiddo ran around with the kite while we had to queue for a good 30 minutes to get into the aquarium.

Once inside, the kiddo was really into the aquarium (I find it can always be a bit hit or miss – some days he loves it, others he isn’t interested). His favorite animals were the Spider Crab that kept wandering up and down the first basin, the octopus that kept playing on the window, and the ray that kept showing us its mouth through the glass.

I think the size of this aquarium is brilliant for a 3.5 year old as there is plenty to see but the space isn’t overwhelming. The only challenge was that some of the basins are quite high up with no foot stools available (might be due to the pandemic?) for the kids to step on, so I had to do a lot of awkward lifting up.

After our aquarium visit we walked past the fishing huts back towards Marine Parade and the playground. However, the weather turned quickly and we got caught again in a downpour and had to pop into Di Pola’s for some more gelato.

On SATURDAY we cycled 12 miles along the coast to Pevensey castle, the landing place for William the Conqueror’s army in 1066. My main reason for going there was that I have an English Heritage membership and am always eager to explore new places and that it allowed us to explore yet another bit of 1066 history.

I totally underestimated how cold it would be to cycle along the coast at 9am in the morning and when we arrived at the castle the kiddo was freezing and not in the best mood for exploring. It’s a shame because I think on a warmer day, the kiddo would have really enjoyed running around the castle grounds.

Due to the kiddo’s constant moaning the visit to the castle was a very quick one and then we headed into the Castle Cottage Tearoom in order to warm up and brighten the mood with a treat. This was such a lovely place for a break. We sat indoors to warm up, but they also have tables all over their lovely garden which must be brilliant when the sun is out.

While we ended up enjoying our day, I wouldn’t necessarily recommended Pevensey castle as a must visit place. It also doesn’t help that it is currently under renovation with several parts closed off and scaffolding all over the place.

For our cycle back to Hastings we went along the coast and I told the kiddo we can stop whenever and wherever he wants to explore. Even though the bike route leads away from the coast before Normans Bay, I kept cycling onwards along the coast, thinking it must be possible to get through with the bike somehow. Turns out I was wrong, and since I was too lazy to backtrack all the way we ended up going down an adventurous short cut along Waller’s Haven that took us across a scary train crossing and required us to climb over a fence with the bike. On the plus side, there were lots of tasty blackberries along the way.

The kiddo’s first stop requests was as we arrived at the promenade in Bexhill-on-Sea. There is play equipment built into the landscaping along the whole promenade and the kiddo enjoyed running from one structure to the next. Nothing fancy, just some simple ropes and tunnels.

Eventually we got to the De La Warr Pavilion, the first public building in Britain to use a welded steel frame, which was built in the 1930s in order to attract more visitors to this seaside town. The architect/engineering student in me was quite keen to have a closer look. The kiddo was more excited about the flags on the beach showing that it is life guarded and meaning that he would be allowed to go for a swim.

After the swim the kiddo passed out on the back of the bike and I enjoyed the cycle along the coast back to Hastings. For the evening we had a booking at the Boatyard Hastings, the restaurant in the Hastings Contemporary gallery that is accessible without a gallery ticket on Saturday evenings and all day Monday when the gallery is closed. The views from the restaurant terrace are amazing.

The kiddo was very excited about eating Spider Crab after seeing it in the aquarium. To his disappointment, the crab wasn’t served in it’s shell (he has previously had crab in the shell at a friend’s house) but was in a nice serving dish. I loved the local sea bass crevice and the zucchini flowers stuffed with goats cheese. I love that their menu offers mains as well as tapas style small dishes, as it makes it easier to try several different things.

On SUNDAY we did a day out at Camber Sands. After the kiddo was so cold after our morning cycle yesterday, I decided that today we would take the train to Rye and then cycle from there to Camber Sands. Trains from Hastings to Rye go every hour and both stations have accessible access from platform to street.

I will write a separate post about Rye & Camber Sands, so won’t include details on those here, but it is worth mentioning that the cycle route from Rye to Camber Sands is quite pleasant and is mostly separated from the road, so could do with kids on their own bikes. The ground for most of the path is light gravel though, so not ideal for road bikes.

After a brilliant morning at Camber Sands we cycled back to Rye and onward to Winchelsea. Instead of sticking to National Cycle Route 2, I followed the instructions of the Cycle Streets app and ended up with a slightly adventurous but totally awesome cycle through the middle of sheep fields and past Camber Castle through Rye Harbour Nature Reserve. If you want to find this path turn from Winchelsea Road into Harbour Road and then follow the public footpath through the fields that runs in parallel to the river Brede.

Our next stop was the Winchelsea Beach Cafe which is located right next to a shared foot & bike path and has a large garden to sit and enjoy some food or ice cream. Post ice cream, we climbed the couple steps up onto the wall and got to enjoy some endless views of Winchelsea beach.

From here we followed National Cycle Route 2 which includes a steep climb up Battery Hill before going through Hastings Country park and descending down into Hastings Old Town via steep Old Saints street. The annoying thing is that even though you climb all these way up, there are barely any views because the cycle route is mainly going through built up areas and forest.

One back in town we met up with some friends and enjoyed some more time at the playground, followed by rides on Hastings pier. For bank holiday weekend the pier had on some live music and the kiddo enjoyed running around the pier with his kite and looking through the slates down into the water.

MONDAY was our last day in Hastings, and we spent the day hanging out with friends at the beach. We got to enjoy one last dip in the sea and the kiddo was excited about a little pool that formed for a while in the rocks as the tide was going out. We also enjoyed some cinnamon roles from Judges Bakery on High Street (recommended by London & Leap) which are only available first thing on a weekend morning we were told.

Since I wasn’t organised and the bank holiday Monday was the last day of the Eat Out to Help Out scheme it was a bit tricky to find a place for lunch that met the kiddos request of sitting indoors and serving apple juice even though it was already 2pm. Eventually I ended up at the Cafe @ Stade. I didn’t have high expectations, but the food was actually quite good (I loved the salt & pepper squid) and the kiddo ate a whole kids meal (very unusual!). We did have to wait over 45 minutes for our food though.

After lunch the kiddo passed out on the back of the bike and we caught the 3.30pm train back to London.