The Gallivant
Style Designer driftwood
Setting Sand dunes and salty air
Down by the dunes of Camber Sands, The Gallivant hotel and bistro is a nautically dressed vision in blues, whites and wave-washed woods. Climb aboard.
Need to know
- Rooms 18, including one suite.
- Rates Double rooms from $148.87 (£95), excluding tax at 20 per cent.
- More details Rates include a two-course (Continental and English) breakfast.
- Facilities Library of books and DVDs, windsurfing and kitesurfing equipment hire, and free WiFi throughout. In rooms, flatscreen TV, DVD player and L’Occitane bath products.
- Check-out 11am, but flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 3.30pm.
- Children Cots for babies cost £10, extra beds are £15. Under-10s can dine in the restaurant between 6pm and 6.30pm. Babysitting and mobile crèches can be organised, starting at £32 for two hours.
- Eco-friendly Almost all (95 per cent) kitchen ingredients are sourced within 20 miles of the hotel, making its food miles pretty negligible. And all the furniture was made by a local wood-recycling business.
- Also Dogs are welcome in the rooms outside of the main building; just make sure they’re as friendly as Camber, the owner’s dog with a penchant for licking.
Food and drink at The Gallivant
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Hotel restaurant
The Beach Bistro is cool and coastal, kitted out in reclaimed driftwood, lots of blue and white, and a healthy smattering of shells. Trevor Hamley heads up this beachy outpost, where fresh catches are cooked to perfection. Try the Dover sole with mustard and caper butter or the cod and clam stew. In summer, the barbecue-toting Beach Café sets up on the deck, serving freshly grilled fish and chargrilled burgers.
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Dress code
Breton stripes beneath your windbreaker. -
Top table
The beach may be obscured by grassy dunes, but by the window is best. -
Last orders
Breakfast is served between 7am and 10am; lunch is on offer pretty much all day; and dinner starts at 6pm and runs until 9.30pm. -
Room service
Bistro fare and an abridged room service menu are available between 11am and 9pm. -
Hotel bar
Not so much a bar, more of a cosy corner with a couple of sofas in the restaurant. Guests can also retire to the lounge with their drinks for a game of backgammon. If you're feeling patriotic, try the English wine from Chapel Down.
Also worth knowing
- Weddings This property is suitable for weddings. More...
The Gallivant New Lydd Road, Camber, Rye, TN31 7RB
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Smith extra at The Gallivant
A bottle of wine
Offers at The Gallivant
- Three-night midweek escape
- Two-night midweek escape
- Sunday night supper club
more
In the know
Our favourite rooms
Go for a beachy and breezy blue-and-white Beach Hut Suite for the most cat-swinging most space. They have white wooden floors, handmade feather sofas and a very wide bed, as well as their own patch of the motel-style decking outside. Fans of a good bed need look no further than a Double – each comes with a king-size number made from recycled wood.
Packing tips
Blue, white and beige to blend in with your coastal surrounds; beach-proof shoes suited to a hilly ramble.
Also
The chef runs regular cookery classes: go along with him to meet a supplier and watch what he does with the produce. You’ll then be able to eat it, too. There are boat-to-plate, field-to-plate and shoot-to-plate options on offer. What’s more, guests get a discount.
