I was so delightfully surprised when we got to this small historic seaside town! We were well into our trip and had already been to Paris, passed through London, and saw some of the English countryside where my sister-in-law Karen lived. Karen arranged for us to stay in a friend’s cottage. We had seen some pictures and it looked great! It had a light and bright feel with modern furnishings. I walked into something I thought was great, and was surprised to see an even more stunning and insanely gorgeous space! It turns out that Helen, the warm and sweet owner, is an interior designer and runs a luxe dog accessory brand – Harper and Hugo, hence her keen aesthetic eye!

We felt so lucky to be able to have a few days in this place to unwind! Some of the buildings date back to 14th century, which predates the USA being a country by a few decades, so that’s pretty interesting in itself!

There are narrow sidewalks, with prominent cobble stoned streets. A castle, church, wonderful restaurants, hotels, and shops all laid out an on convenient local map!

The rest of the town did not disappoint! There was beautiful lighting everywhere – in and outside the buildings. It has the feel of an artist community with a few galleries tucked into the rest of the storefronts. I couldn’t help but feel inspired by this place and couldn’t stop myself from taking a lot of photos. It seemed wrong not to since this place was such a visual feast!

Some of our Rye Favorites:

Mermaid Street – It is one of the most photographed streets in Britain.
If the name doesn’t win you over, the charming window displays, and proximity to Antique shops at the bottom of the street will!

Whitehouse  – We could eat here everyday, and we did! Amazing bakery, fresh seasonal, super delicious food, and beautifully curated! We loved it here and can’t say enough good things about this place!

The Rye Bookshop – Great collection of books! They also have cute gift shop items! I loved all the books I bought here, and found that they’re not as readily available in America, so that’s interesting to be exposed to books I might not see at home!

Madhi Spice – We eat a lot of Indian food. We live in Fremont, CA which has a large east Indian population. This place has solid Indian food with a fine dining experience without a fine dining price.