Camber Sands Holiday Camber Castle Camber Sands Beach East Sussex UK

Camber & Camber Sands Tourist Information

Stunning Camber to the east of Rye is most famous for its long, flat and sandy Camber Sands Beach stretching for around 7 miles. The beach is backed by sand dunes and just beyond the sand dunes sits Camber Village. The dunes provide an important barrier between the sea and village. A superb choice of family holiday parks and caravan parks are situated in the Camber Sands area boosting Camber's popularity with families. More family attractions are situated at nearby Hastings to the west. Camber Sands beach is one of the most popular family beaches on the Sussex coast with an MCS Recommended Water Quality Award. An extensive car park sits adjacent to Camber Sands beach (fee payable during Summer/Pay & Display during Winter).

Popular not just with families but also for beach activities including horse riding, kite surfing and surfing, Camber Sands Beach is within 400m of the ample car parking area. The beach is very popular during the peak summer season. Beach space is conveniently zoned, with areas designated for kite surfing separate from family beach areas. Dogs are not allowed on the zoned areas of Camber Sands beach from early May to late September. Find the kite surfing zone near the Broomhill free car park and watch for flags signifying swimming safety - Red for no swimming and orange for no inflatables.

Horse riding on Camber Sands beach is restricted to certain times (see Rother District Council Tourism guide for details). Essentially its early morning or evenings when horse riding is allowed during the summer season, with less restrictions in place during the winter season. Surfing is also popular here in the south westerly swells especially in Autumn and spring. The unique sand dunes backing on to Camber Sands beach are home to around 250 different species of plants and animals. Grasses and plants hold the sand together - lookout for the pink white flowers of Sea Rocket and pink trumpet flowers of Sea Bindweed. Download a child friendly leaflet on Camber Sands Beach and the Dunes with a great map via the East Sussex County Council Tourism pages. Special marked footpaths take you across the dunes to the beach and need to be kept to so avoiding any damage to the precious plants on the dunes.

Visitor Information Camber Sands Near Rye, East Sussex TN31 7QS. Tel.01797 229049.

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Camber Castle & Camber Castle Walk

Camber Castle is actually located to the west of Camber village and Camber Sands Beach. It sits midway between Rye and Winchelsea and is also known as Winchelsea Castle. The shifting seas in this area of the East Sussex coast are in evidence at Camber Castle. The site once stood on the shingle spit which protected the approach to Cinque Port Rye and Winchelsea. Land around Camber Castle before the late 16th century was a shallow harbour!

If you have seen other castles around the Cinque Ports of the Channel Coast - for example at Deal and Walmer in Kent, you'll note the similarity in symmetrical shape between these and Camber Castle. Camber is another of Henry VIII's defensive castles along this stretch of the South Coast.

The castle was completed in 1544 but towards the end of the 16th century the harbour area here was already beginning to silt up and the harbour mouth was relocating. Today the Camber Castle site sits within the Rye Harbour Nature Reserve, a designated Area of Special Scientific Interest. Download the Camber Castle Walk leaflet via the Nature Reserve's webguide which also contains detailed leaflets on the history of the castle.

Camber Castle, Camber East Sussex TN31 7RS. Tel. 01797 223862. Open July to September 2pm to 5pm Saturdays and Sundays, last entry 4.30pm.

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