The Daily Mail Wednesday April 28 2004

Survival of the Prettiest
It took a disaster to spark the regeneration of the South-East's finest stretch of coast.
Peter Hardy explores Camber Sands.

While foot-and-mouth disease was ravaging farms, thousands of families and pet owners found themselves legally restricted in where to walk with children and dogs.
As all footpaths were closed, Kent businessman Matt Wolfman and his wife, Kathy, had to drive the ten miles each day from their farmhouse to Camber Sands, near the ancient port of Rye on the Sussex Coast.
Apart from being the name of an album by Fatboy Slim, Camber Sands has acted as the definition of 'seaside' to generations of Londoners.

They first ventured from the East End each summer between the world wars for a day out on seven miles of gloriously sandy beach and a plate of whelks. And from Folkestone to Rye, holiday camps sprung up along the coast, offering Spartan accommodation at affordable prices.   But Camber and its caravans proved no contest for the Spanish costas. Soon, all but the most loyal deserted Kent and Sussex in favour of stronger sun.

For Wolfman, who had just sold his London ad agency, his love affair with this spectacularly beautiful area of Blue Flag beach and dunes - the only break in the shingle along this part of the coast line - was reinforced by his dog walks.
He wanted others to share the enjoyment. The drawback was lack of accommodation and decent food to attract a new breed of seaside visitor. And with no hotel or restaurant experience 'beyond being a passionate consumer', Wolfman decided to open his own.
On a windy day in December 2002, as he and his wife were returning to the car park at the foot of the dunes, they spotted a rundown motel. Three months later they re-opened it as The Place, Camber Sands.

In the course of a year it has established itself as not only one of the country's top hotels but, arguably, the trendiest seaside hideaway in Britain. The problem, Wolfman admits, is that the hotel and brasserie, rather than the resort itself, have now become the destination.
Indeed, it was the promise of The Place, not Camber, that drew me back after a 30-year absence from a stretch of coast close to my childhood home.
Driving across the edge of the marsh from quaint Rye, with its steep streets and lattice-windowed tea-shops, nothing seemed to have changed. Flooded gravel pits and the occasional rusting statue of machinery bear witness to the region's history as a centre of the extraction industry. Sadly, the village of Camber, dominated by the worst excesses of the bungalow architecture of the Sixties, a giant Pontins holiday centre and a couple of strobe-lit amusement arcades do nothing to enhance my childhood memory.
And, at first glance, The Place, looks no more promising. But the number of cars parked outside on a wet Sunday evening in late April tells a different story.

The secret of its success lies in simplicity. The low, white-painted building just across a quiet road from the dunes is completely devoid of either pretension or chintz, which in varying quantities habitually strangle the typical English seaside hotel.
My white room was pleasantly frill-free, a comfortable queen-sized bed with white covers, and a gleaming white bathroom. Dinner in the spacious and airy brasserie was a festival of local organic produce - spring lamb from Romney Marsh behind, and succulent Rye Bay scallops from the sea in front.

'Our menu will appeal to customers who like the freshest foods simply cooked,' said the brochure. It did.
Largely by accident, this seven mile coast has escaped the post-war urbanisation that otherwise blights it in both directions.
Wolfman's enthusiasm has galvanised local and national conservation groups into working together. If he has his way, the area will be declared a national park.

Faced with a man who has invested £1million in its poorest out-post, even the Rother District Council, the local authority 22 miles away at Bexhill-on-Sea, has appreciated that tourism at distressed Camber no longer belongs to yesterday.
And most agree that the future is bright.

The Place, Camber Sands 01797 225057 www.theplacecambersands.co.uk double room £75-80 per night, breakfast inc. Two nights B & B £65pp. Family rooms available. Dinner for two, with wine £60.


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