I am currently writing book two in my Alexander Templeman espionage series and having a whale of a time doing some research as I go along (remember, I’m one of those writers who mostly makes it up as I go along rather than planning everything out in advance).

Part of the story is set in and around the beautiful little coastal town of Rye in East Sussex. I have relatives who’ve lived there for years, so I know the place reasonably well. However, since these stories are set in the years leading up to World War I, things are, of course, somewhat different now to how they were then and this is where the fun comes in. I’ve been finding out so many fascinating facts about the town and it locale.

Not the least of these is that a tramway used to run between the bridge over the River Rother, just outside the town walls, east to the golf club that’s still there today. The tramway was later extended further to reach one of the main tourist locations on the coast.

The interesting part for me is that a relative’s house now sits on the route of this long defunct tramway. Apart from anything else, that’s a shame because it would have made for a fun option for making the trip into town and back.

I also discovered there used to be a hotel on the land behind the same relative’s house, though of this there is now no sign.

Ah, such unexpected joys from doing your writing research!

Image by Lilly3012 on Pixabay