In June, I spent a weekend with some friends in Camber Sands, a beach in East Sussex, only two hours from London. I'd already been to Camber during Covid-19, as we couldn't travel internationally for a while, and loved it so was keen to return.
Friday
We planned to drive to Camber, so we all met at my friend's house, before loading the car and setting off. Fortunately, my friend was also dogsitting a whippet named Fig, so we got to play with him all afternoon until his owners came to pick him up. My friend had already done a food shop too, meaning that we could drive directly to our beach house without any stops.
The drive flew by and before we knew it, we were in Camber. Despite being extremely near our accommodation, my friend made us stop the car in order to relieve herself as we'd been drinking beers during the drive. She came back in the car full of stinging nettles, but a few minutes later we were at the house. The place was gorgeous, with three bedrooms and two bathrooms for only four of us, as well as a garden. We had picky bits in the sun for dinner, then played a series of board games, including Articulate, Uno Switch, Perudo and Bad People, whilst drinking prosecco and wine - it was heaven. Unfortunately, I did get bitten by an insect, which I later had an allergic reaction to, but it was worth the discomfprt as this evening was the epitome of summer to me and I couldn't have been happier. We also happened to visit over the summer solstice (the longest day of the year) so we managed to enjoy the sun the whole evening.
Saturday
We woke up to clear skies, so after tucking into some coffee and strawberries in the sun, we headed to the beach to soak in the sunshine. Our accommodation was mere seconds from the beach, however we had to climb a tall sand dune in order to reach it, which was more taxing than anticipated. Nonetheless, it was worth the struggle, as the beach was gorgeous and mostly empty. I dripped my toes into the water but it was too cold to swim in, so instead we just chatted and walked along the beachfront. That said, others braved the water and were even windsurfing!
Eventually, we became peckish and one friend mentioned fish and chips, which we were all immediately excited by, so after a short wander, we headed to a pub called 'The Owl', which was highly rated for their fish and chips, and rightly so. Eventually, we then made our way back to the house to play more board games in the garden, namely Catan and Sushi Go, which were both so much fun and right up my alley. The hosts had provided a lemon drizzle cake and shortbread for us, which we tucked into with some tea, before moving onto the vino.
We'd booked dinner at Tillingham Winery, which was absolutely gorgeous, and we explored the area, including the vineyards and the animals on site, before heading towards the restaurant, located in a barn. Here, we started with nocellara olives, followed by a salami and hot honey pizza accompanied with a local white wine, and ending with honeycomb ice cream, all of which were delicious and highly recommended. We also ran into a friend's sister here, which was unexpected.
We spent the night drinking more wine and playing more board games (can you tell we like board games?), namely Cluedo, Articulate, Sushi Go, and Trial by Trolley, which was so much fun, although one friend did accidentally sit on a slug, which was grim. Before we knew it, the sun had risen and we were still drinking and chatting, so at around 5am, we put ourselves to bed.
Sunday
Our final morning in Camber was spent packing up and wolfing breakfast down, as we had to check out by 10am and had very little rest. Nonetheless, we managed to have coffee, toast, and nectarines, which were delicious. Since we had a car, but no home, we decided to drive to the nearby town of Rye, which was very picturesque and typical of an English town in the countryside. We had tea and cake in a café, explored a bookshop and music shop, and dawdled around the area until lunchtime.
For lunch, we had booked a roast in a pub called 'The Plough'; despite it taking a while for the roast to arrive, it was absolutely delicious, especially the cauliflower cheese, and the waitress was absolutely lovely, even allowing us to play Sushi Go and cards in the sun for a couple of hours after, until we eventually decided to start making our way back to London. The drive back was quick, though by this point I was very tired from my limited sleep.
Final thoughts
The friendship group I went on this weekend trip with are some of my oldest friends and I love them dearly, so I'd been looking forward to this weekend for months. I had an amazing time and we were very lucky with the weather, which helped too. I truly love weekends like these and cannot wait for more to come.
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