Rye Heritage Centre

The Heritage Centre sits right in the heart of Rye, that gravity-defying hilltop town that looks like it's been glued together from medieval building blocks. Inside, you'll find the expected assortment of local history - old maps, photographs, bits of pottery - but it's the scale models that genuinely grab you. There's a detailed recreation of Rye as it was in Tudor times, complete with the now-vanished harbour that made this place wealthy enough to build all those half-timbered houses climbing the hill.

This is fundamentally a rainy-day job, or something you do if you're genuinely keen on how towns evolved. The staff tend to be knowledgeable locals, which helps. Allow an hour, maybe ninety minutes if you're reading everything. Families with young kids might find twenty minutes is plenty unless they're already history-minded.

What works best is treating it as part of a wider Rye wander rather than a destination in itself. The town itself - the cobbled streets, the views across the Romney Marsh from the church tower - that's where the real interest lies. If you're staying at Rye Harbour Holiday Park or Winchelsea Sands just down the road, it's worth popping in before heading out to explore the marsh walks or the coastal paths nearby. Admission details change, so ring ahead before you visit. The centre isn't spectacularly presented by modern standards, but it does its job properly.