1066 and all this

HASTINGS: Jeremy Gates is rather taken by a stylish and quirky example of the renaissance of the English seaside.

The steepest working funicular railway in Britain clanked its way steadily up a gorge in the sandstone cliffs to a parkland plateau 267 feet above Hastings Old Town. From the top of East Hill, the Channel waves had a sparkle we hadn’t noticed at ground level, all the way along the coast to St Leonards and beyond. Inland, the wide open spaces of the 660-acre Hastings Country Park offered us hardly a stray dog for company. And looking east, we could almost follow a line of shingle beaches, running beyond Fairlight Cove to Rye, a 13th century Cinque port.

So many smugglers thrived on this stretch of the coast that their gravestones in All Saints churchyard are specially marked with a skull and crossbones. For the return trip, we took the less scenic route down several dozen steps into the Old Town.

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Linking these streets which run towards the beach are “twittens” – Sussex alleyways – which have become tightly-packed terraces of their own, some surrounded by spectacular gardens. They provided a key location in television’s Foyle’s War a few years back. However, the High Street of the Old Town probably brings the 1950s vividly back to life better than any television serial.

There’s an Electric Palace Cinema, elegant tea rooms run by early retired rat-race refugees from London, a “Made In Hastings” shop promoting local craftsmen, and the splendid Judges Bakery serving organic loaves and fine cakes in brown paper bags. The Flowermakers Museum, inside another shop, was created by an eccentric, flamboyantly dressed lady who worked on the set of Gladiator – as well as other blockbuster films. Directly opposite is a vacant corner plot, festooned in flowers which serve as a memorial to a hotel destroyed by a German fighter plane.

No wonder a glossy magazine calls this place Notting Hill By The Sea. But could Hastings be the next episode in the long-awaited revival of the English seaside resort? It’s certainly quirky: take the second-hand bookshop in George Street which serves Thai food freshly cooked on the premises at £13 a pop, if you take your own wine.

More than £7m of Heritage Lottery Fund money is already earmarked to rebuild the metal structure, decking and railings of The Pier (900ft long and closed to the public since 2006) which burned down last autumn. Long before that, in spring 2012, the Jerwood Gallery will be created, a relative snip costing £4m against the £17m splashed on Margate’s Turner Gallery, around the headland on the Kent coast. The Jerwood Collection, which is funding the project, includes pictures by Sir Stanley Spencer, LS Lowry, Walter Sickert, Augustus John and many more.

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But with a lifeboat station and dark blue fishing boats arrayed on the beach, Hastings feels like a rugged, working port – not a softie, Cath Kidston-style creation for the Boden Brigade. Surrounded by towers of black-painted sheds which store the fishermen’s nets, the slate-covered Jerwood sits squarely on The Stade (“landing place”), right next door to Eat At The Stade, a restaurant run for the council by Stephen and Louise Kelleher, who brought their family down from London, partly because of the low living costs. Their smoked salmon sandwiches must be among the freshest served on local authority premises anywhere in England.

Of course, any seaside resort these days needs a trendy restaurant, and Hastings has got that too. Webbe’s Rock-a-Nore is next door to Rock-a-Nore Fisheries, founded in 1850 and so famous for its finely smoked fish that TV cook Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is among the regulars. You can have a masterclass in cookery before you choose something from the catch on the beach. The starter course alone – which can include oysters with gazpacho, cuttlefish fritters, smoked haddock risotto balls and cod tempura with Thai dipping sauce – will satisfy plenty of appetites. Thank goodness it was only a short walk back to our five-star B&B, Swan House. Parts of the building date to 1490, though the computer room and decking at the rear probably came a bit later. Former archivist Brendan McDonagh, who created this perfect seaside bolt-hole for stressed out townies, with partner Lionel Copley, says business has boomed since he started in 2006. “It’s families from Europe, Americans too,” he explains. “They start in Dover, spend a day in the open spaces of Romney Marsh and we’re first stop on their route to Stonehenge.”

When you are this close, of course, you must see the setting of the most famous event in British history: an impressive visitors centre at Battle retells the story of 1066 and all that. King Harold has lain serenely beneath the high altar of Battle Abbey for more than 900 years.

GETTING THERE

* Jeremy Gates was a guest of Swan House, where five-star B&B in a double room starts at £115 per night, with suite from £145 plus £25 per child sharing with parents. Minimum two night stay at weekends, though Wednesday nights in September start at £100 per room.

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* Swan House reservations: 01424 430 014 and www.swanhousehastings.co.uk. Same owners operate The Old Rectory nearby, with double rooms from £135.

* The Old Rectory: 01424 422 410 and www.theoldrectoryhastings.co.uk.

* Tourist Information Centre (01424 451 111 and www.visit1066country.com).