This doesn’t happen often, but I’m starting one blog post just a few hours after publishing my most recent one. So fancy! Now, it’s not likely that I’ll FINISH it today, but for now, I’ll bask in the glory of being productive. And, wouldn’t you know it, I definitely didn’t finish this the day I started it, because I’m now back home. But hey, finished is finished, right?? 🙂

So, the reason for this trip! As you know (or if you don’t, you will soon), I’m a HUGE, lifelong fan of the British TV show Doctor Who and I go to a few conventions dedicated to it every year. Although I have been to some events in the UK as well (most recently in 2023), it’s definitely the exception for me, but I heard about a very small event, A Moment in Time, in the town of Rye that I was VERY interested in. Why that event in that little town, you ask? Because it advertised Tom Baker as a guest! Tom played the Doctor from 1974-81 and is a living legend in the history of the show, but he’s in his 90s now and doesn’t travel really at all (he lives near Rye, hence the event location), so I knew this would be my last shot to meet him. Now, I was lucky enough to meet him one other time in 2014 when my dear friend Matt hosted an event with Tom, Louise Jameson (who played one of his Doctor’s traveling companions, Leela), and some other guests, but since that was over a decade ago, it was worth trying for one more chance. And I do mean TRY because you couldn’t just buy tickets to this event, but rather had to register your interest and then the organizer used a lottery system to choose people at random who were then offered the chance to buy tickets. So both Felicity and I entered the lottery and I, perhaps naively, assumed one (or maybe even both!) of us would be chosen because I figured there couldn’t be THAT many people signing up (each ticket cost £180, plus travel to get to Rye, so not a negligible amount), but sadly, we weren’t. 😦 I had already started planning the trip, so I told Felicity we should still go to the UK anyway and she was up for it.

BUT THEN!

Felicity got an email that there had been a secondary drawing because some people didn’t respond, the dates didn’t work, etc. and that her name got chosen after all. Woooooooo! She asked me if I was still interested (since we had each signed up for the chance to buy two tickets) and I immediately said yes. So we were set! It turned out that, since we’re not from the UK, we didn’t need to buy a ticket ahead of time, but rather bring cash to the event to just pay the organizers in person. Fine by me! I later heard that around 1,000 people entered the lottery, which made me feel much better about my own name not getting drawn (not to mention even more happy that Felicity’s did).

Fast forward to the day it was all happening, when Matt picked us up bright and early from our Brighton hotel. We were both super thankful for his willingness to do it (thanks Matt!) as it would have been more of a kerfuffle if we’d had to take a train (doable, but there’s always the risk of train issues). After a straightforward, 90ish-minute drive, we were there! Rye isn’t a big place, so we found a place to park Matt’s car and walked the short distance to the event venue, the Mermaid Inn, which is a good old-fashioned pub, including a bar, restaurant, and rooms for travelers. I was originally thinking it would be nice to stay there, but their rooms were somewhat pricey and they didn’t have many available, so I quickly scratched that idea. Still a cool space though!

Outside the front of the inn and then outside one of the back entrances where we had to go in for the event.

The event itself was actually very straightforward:

• Watch an “archive interview” with Tom, recorded via Zoom during the pandemic. It would have been great to have seen him interviewed live, but again, he’s over 90 years old, so it makes sense that he didn’t do that.
• Take a photo with Tom. This is what I was most excited for!!
• Get an autograph from Tom. I don’t collect autographs from anyone, but I knew Tom’s would be great to have.
• Have lunch and proceed with the rest of the event with a few other guests. Tom was only ever planned to be there for the first half, with a few other guests coming for the second half. We planned to stay for Tom and lunch and then leave, as we’d seen the afternoon guests at other events.

It all went off without a hitch! So much so, in fact, that after Tom arrived (near the end of that archive interview) and things with him got going, everything got pretty far ahead of schedule. We all got our photos and then half of the attendees got their autographs, at which point things paused to get back on track with the advertised schedule, which gave us nearly two hours to kill. While that may sound like a drag, it was actually perfect because it gave me and Felicity time to explore some of Rye, which we had otherwise hoped to do after the event ended (Matt would have joined, but he had gone to visit a friend who lives nearby after dropping us off). And we got back just in time for them to resume the autographs for the rest of us, say farewell to Tom, and enjoy a serviceable pub meal. Though I didn’t actually bring anything to have autographed, I had Tom sign the photo we took, since they were printed and available for us right after taking them. The perfect souvenir!

We were both pleased with the results! I love the huge smile he gave in Felicity’s photo as well as his more stately look in mine. I was delighted that, after shaking his hand and sitting down, he said “Grab my arm.” so I did!

I know the Doctor Who part of this day may sound very minimal, especially since it’s the reason we came to the UK in the first place, but believe me when I say it was excellent and SO worth it! And honestly, so is the next part, when we got to explore some of Rye. 🙂 Since it’s not a big town and since the Mermaid is right in the heart of things, it was easy to explore a couple of local sights. But first, ice cream.

With ice cream consumed, it was time to do some exploring. We didn’t have to go far though – back up the street we came down, walking past the Mermaid and around the corner to reach our first stop, St. Mary-the-Virgin. Like many churches in the UK, it’s hundreds of years old (it was originally built in the mid-late 1100s, though it’s been changed/repaired/updated many times since then), photographs well, and has a tower you can climb to see some lovely views. All of that added up to a nice experience for us both! While you can enter the church for free, it does cost £5 to climb the tower, which seemed perfectly reasonable (in this economy?!). The climb is a mix of a spiral staircase, a narrow hallway, and some steep, ladder-like stairs, though none of them are an obscene number to walk up. Be aware of that if you intend to climb up, but be equally aware the views at the top are really lovely, especially on a nice, sunny day. Check them out below and see what you think!

The sun, the sky, the winding river! So many neat views from the top, including that of the nearby castle, which you’ll learn about shortly.

This church was a great little find, especially since it’s so close to the Mermaid. And what did we find just a short distance from the church? Why, a little castle, of course! Rye Castle, also known as Ypres Tower, may not be a big castle, but it’s a fun visit and only costs £5, so it won’t break the bank. And because it’s not very large, it won’t take you much time to go through it, either. We enjoyed wandering through the space, including the women’s tower (a separate prison for women) and the garden/outdoor space behind the castle. You can look at the photos below and decide what you think, but I’d say it’s easily worth a visit the next time you find yourself in Rye.

This friendly fellow is located just past the front door. That gibbet doesn’t look very comfortable, does it?

Looking down towards and then looking up at the women’s tower. The castle was used as a prison and the women’s tower was specifically for female prisoners. Nice to have a little courtyard outside your jail cell, I suppose.

By the time we finished at the castle, it was about time to make the short trek back to the Mermaid for the rest of our Doctor Who fun and to enjoy our lunch. Of course, you already read about that above, since meeting Tom Baker was kind of the whole reason we came here. 🙂 It was fun getting to talk to some of the other attendees there and it would have been fun to stay for the rest of the day, but since we’d already seen the afternoon guests at other events and we didn’t want to stay too late into the evening knowing we had to make the drive back to Brighton, we were on our way by about 2 PM. But there was one more fun stop to make!

Before our trip, we’d done a little research to see what we might try to visit while we were in the area. Rye Castle was one of those things and we’d checked that off the list already, so as we hit the road back to Brighton, we figured we’d make a stop along the way, about 15 miles from Rye, in the town of Battle. It’s a bit of an odd name for a town, but considering a famous battle took place there (the Battle of Hastings), it’s a perfect name! In fact, our destination was to be Battle Abbey, a Benedictine abbey that was built on the site of that famous battle and which today is in partial ruins, making it a really picturesque place to visit. As with many incredibly old buildings, it was built, renovated, damaged, repaired, and more over the centuries, so the fact that it’s standing at all is kind of amazing, especially after the dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th century led to many being completely destroyed (or left as minimal ruins, as in Glastonbury and York). With the weather continuing to be pretty glorious, we had a nice walk around the abbey and got some nice views from one of its towers, so I’m really glad we made the time to stop. This big place is a bit pricier than the little ones we visited in Rye, but at £15ish, it’s still worth it. Although we were just walking around on our own, this might be nice to see on a guided tour as there’s so much history to learn about! We were offered audio guides, but didn’t use them, so it’s also possible those provide lots of good info. Either way, I’m glad I got the chance to visit as I probably wouldn’t have made my way there without being on a little road trip like this one!

A collection of arches, both exterior and interior, seen during our initial walk around the abbey. So much cool architecture!

These two spaces were the chapter house (left – the second-most important focal point in monastic life) and the parlour (right – this was one of the few spaces where monks were allowed to converse with each other).

Of course, I also found a tower to climb, which looked out over the town and this school, next to the abbey. And of course I took a selfie there, too.

Poor Matt was starting to feel a bit cough-and-cold’ish at this point, so we hit the road for the rest of the uneventful drive back to Brighton. We unfortunately hit a bit of sports-related traffic (a match just ending or just about to start – I don’t know sportsball stuff 🙂 ), but it thankfully didn’t slow us down too much. Before we knew it, we were back at 27 Brighton and Matt was off home to rest up and feel better. And wouldn’t you know it? We were back in time to see the season premiere of Doctor Who! We would have seen it at the Mermaid if we’d stayed all day (they arranged to show it there for the attendees, since the premiere just happened to fall on the same day as the event), but even watching it in our hotel rooms, it felt like an appropriate end to a Doctor Who-centric day.

With a great day behind us and Doctor Who watched, Felicity and I decided to walk down the street for a late dinner at Al Forno, a little Italian place we walked by the previous night as it’s very close to Bayleaf. I didn’t think I was too hungry, but I certainly gobbled up my penne arrabbiata and even saved some room for chocolate mousse cake! It was a nice, chill way to end a fun, full day.

A yummy dinner?? Don’t mind if I do!

What a great day we had! Between meeting a Doctor Who living legend, exploring a quaint English town, visiting the site of a famous battle, and enjoying some fabulous company, we packed a lot in. As you’ll see though, the next day would be relatively quiet by comparison. Come back soon to join us as we head back to London!