Culture

It was a night for the Beeb's glittering stars as Ryers were treated to an advance showing of the first episode of "Mapp and Lucia". The other stars were there too: prime among them our chocolate box streets and well, me, actually, writes the man loved by the director's lens, our Tony McLaughlin

Rye Bay Ensemble & Crew will be performing traditional and contemporary Christmas music - Tudor and Elizabethan songs, excerpts from Messiah and something a tad more modern - while diners enjoy a three-course meal at The Queens Head, Rye

Rye will host the annual classic car rally on Sunday November 16 as part of the 1950s celebration that is Rhythm Riot weekend at Camber Sands. This coincides with the opening of another new shop on the High Street when the Vintage Stockroom, selling Americana from the 1940s and 1950s, opens its doors on Saturday November 15 at 11am. So this weekend expect fabulous fenders, dapper drainpipes and a profusion of polka dots

It's an unusual approach: the life of Mason, from...

Did you miss your chance of five minutes of fame when "Mapp and Lucia" were in town? Never mind: Channel 4's "Come Dine With Me" are continuing their scouting for a new series featuring couples in the kitchen

Richard Crowest chilled a few nerves and raised a few goose bumps with his storytelling at Lamb House on an autumnal Sunday afternoon. Tim Redfern huddled in the twilight as the weather outside added to the haunting sounds

With lights flickering in nooks and crannies and shadows lengthening along cobbled streets, the town's interesting history of smugglers and pirates lends itself to a ghostly tale or two. Here's a poem about grizzly goings-on in the citadel . . .

Westminster Abbey is the grand setting for a reading...

If you thought climate change and banks going bust were confined to the 21st century, you'd be wrong. The Rye Medieval Conference showed that our current ills are merely repeats of what happened many years ago

"Come Dine With Me", the hit TV show, has a new twist: couples dishing up the dinners. And the organisers are looking for couples living in this area to take part - so, if you like turning out tasty titbits together, here's your chance for four minutes of fame

TIm Redfern talks to Patrick and Jacquetta Rogers, the current tenants of this magnificent National Trust property, about their busy year, filling the house and garden with visitors - and a BBC film crew - and of their plans for forthcoming events

Rehearsals are in full swing for the pantomime "Old Mother Hubbard", which will be performed at Rye Community Centre in late November. With star-crossed lovers, a dastardly duke and a host of comic characters, this wittily scripted production promises an evening of laughter, banter and "he's behind you"