One of the reasons for visting Rye was to see Lamb House, home to various writers over the years and visited by many more. We looked in the morning we were due to leave Rye.

I suppose the house’s most famous inhabitant is Henry James but the good lady is an advocate of E F Benson who was mayor of Rye for a while and set his series of novels about the goings on of Mapp and Lucia, in a fictionalised version of Rye. The books were admirably brought to the small screen in 1985 by London Weekend Television. The BBC version in 2014 was less successful in capturing the look and tone.

This is the gate to the garden. (The gate wasn’t open but we accessed the garden through the house):-

The black plaque reads, “In Lamb House lived E F Benson from from 1919 – 1940 and A C Benson from 1922 -1925. Brothers and writers.”

Lamb House gable end from the garden:-

Another notable former inhabitant of Rye – though not a writer – was the war artist Paul Nash. He liver in this house, as attested by the blue plaque:-

Our furthest flung destination in September last year was Rye in East Sussex. The good lady had always wanted to visit as she is a keen fan of E F Benson’s Mapp and Lucia books and they were set in Rye where Benson lived for a long time. He in fact became mayor of the town.

Benson called his fictional town Tilling, naming it after the (very tidal) River Tillingham which flows through the town and on whose banks our hotel stood.

River Tillingham (and River Haven Hotel, the main building over the river):-

Bellwatch Lane, Rye. I believe this bell was set up here to warn of French invaders:-