Place to visit: Hastings Old Town

Dotted with a couple of lovely rustic shops (Gone Tomorrow & another which you will see, it's a couple of doors down) selling everything from beautifully hand-picked pieces of old furniture & fabrics to wonderful old fireplaces, Hastings Old Town has some quirky shops, restaurants, a sea front, museums and walks to experience. Just try and make sure the sun's shining when you set out on your adventure... Hastings in the rain ain't so pretty!

If you get hungry, there's a wonderful little bookshop that also serves traditional Thai food. One Thai lady, in a very small kitchen cooks up a beautifully fresh meal for you and friends to enjoy, whilst you sit amongst the old books full of stories old and new. You can take your own booze too - which is quite a treat out of London!
The Dragon is also a winner for a good meal! You will find the Dragon at the end of George Street, which is the first part of the Old Town.

Moving on up on to Croft Road (left at the end of George Street) - there's a tasty Organic Bakery called Judges, which sells lovely bread in all shapes and sizes, and some great old fashioned cakes and slices! From iced Bakewell tart to Gingerbread men, it's a treat! Aside from the bakery, there's a whole range of delicious delicatessan too.

Also up this street, there are a few lovely eateries and bars - Porters and Harris's to name a few. And then there are some really great vintage clothing and furniture shops, proper old antique shops with reasonably priced picture frames (and all the other wonderful little finds), and the Electric Palace cinema, which shows a huge range of films from month to month, old and new. It's decked out with old red-velvet theatre chairs, and gives a sense of going back in time...

On top of that, there's also an art gallery being built at the moment, The Jerwood - which is on the seafront and going to be amazing.

Nearby Bexhill is home to the De-La-Warr Pavillion, and St. Leonards-on-Sea is another, very interesting little place to go and see. Norman Road holds an excellent (so I've heard) market, and there are some wonderful cafe's and again, the seaside is so calming. St. Clements restaurant also resides on Norman Road, and is renowned for it's exquisite menu. Affordable (in the day time) and frequented by many these days, the chef moved down from London where he worked as a chef in a top restaurant.

The beach, on a sunny day - is seriously stunning. Once you've sat yourself down on the (orthapaedic) pebbles, with or without a bag of chips and look out to sea, with the silhouette of the old pier glittering in the distance, you can't not feel a sense of belonging. Hastings is a seaside town without the pretention of the big towns like Brighton and now Whitstable... it's a bit rough around the edges, and that's why I, and I hope you, like it.