Outing to Rye and Great Dixter
15 July

In a mostly wet July, Eastwick members were delighted to have a fine day for their outing to East Sussex.

It was a long way so there was a welcome stop for coffee at the Oak and Ivy in Hawkhurst.



The guide for the day was Bronwen Mills, and here she animatedly relates the story of the Rye Gibbet Cage
which hangs in the Town Hall and contains the skull of
John Breads, a local butcher, who was executed and hanged in chains
for the murder of Allen Grebell (the Deputy Mayor) in St Mary's Churchyard in 1742.

The Ypres Tower, formerly the town jail, called "Wipers" Tower by the locals.

 

Houses from the churchyard



Guide Bronwen describes "The Mermaid Inn", a notorious smugglers haunt, from across the road, 
outside the aptly named "The House Opposite"






 
On then to Great Dixter where the lovely gardens were looking their best.













On the path around the sunken garden













A container arrangement at the entrance to the house



It was a long day, but worth it!

Photos and text by Gwen Chapman, Jill Elliott, Liz Williams and Mike Chapman