Jane Skynner and Marshall Hewison
(Picture: Handout)Just before the pandemic Jane Skynner and Marshall Hewison were already plotting their escape from London, and were within weeks of agreeing the sale of a cute south coast tea shop they planned to run together.
But as winter turned to spring 2020 and rumours of imminent lockdown restrictions swirled, they decided to press pause on their scheme. Instead, the couple, who were living separately in Kingston on Thames and Walton on Thames agreed to decamp to Camber Sands in East Sussex where Jane had a holiday home. “I had been dreading moving out of London for 30 years,” said Jane. “Then, with lockdown approaching, I had to do the whole move in three days.”
Once settled by the sea the couple had time to take stock. Both their London homes were rented, and they had planned to sell the Camber property to fund their tea shop business. With that on the back burner they hunkered down, spending the first lockdown amidst the miles of sand dunes at Camber.
Once holiday lettings were back on the table they moved to a rented home along the coast in Littlestone, bought a coffee cart and started selling brews to make some money while they retrenched.
They began house hunting and quickly fell for the mediaeval charms of Rye, where as well as a commuter station (services to London take just over an hour), you can lose yourself in ancient streets lined with pubs, cafes, and boutiques and antique shops.
Jane, who has two grown up sons, has a long background in property design and renovation, and the couple were particularly keen to live in the Citadel, Rye’s ancient walled centre. Property here is thin on the ground so when a three-bedroom part timber framed cottage came back onto the market — a previous sale fell through after a negative survey — they leaped at the chance.
They paid £425,000 for the house — less than the average London starter flat — and moved in in March. Jane wasn’t remotely phased by a litany of problems the first survey had thrown up — from a failing roof and windows, to damp patches and leaks. “I wanted a project,” she said. “The problem with bringing down a London surveyor is that they don’t necessarily understand properties in the Citadel. Still, the owner cut the asking price from £475,000 so it was good for us.”
The renovation is now well underway, and Jane, 61, and Marshall, 56, are running the holiday house as a business while also getting to know their new town and the surrounding countryside.”
“I spent 30 years fearing leaving London but as it turns out I don’t miss it at all,” said Jane, “Rye is a really vibrant, and once you bend into it, which is easy to do, it is full of creative, entrepreneurial spirits who have moved down here for a different way of life.”
The welcome from locals has been warm. “As soon as you step out of the front door people stop and ask you if you are the new owner and if you plan to live here,” said Jane. “When you say yes they are delighted, because so many of the houses in the Citadel are holiday homes.”
The only downside the couple can think of about their new life is some other residents of Rye — the flocks of noisy seagulls whose squawking regularly wake them at dawn.
