Camber Sands was very interesting. Miles of open beaches with a sea that can be very dangerous when the tide suddenly comes in as was shown in 2006 when seven men drowned - five of whom lost their lives on the same day.
The area leading to the beach was full of tacky beach souvenir shops. The beach area was a mix of golden sands and shingle but a lovely expanse and there were some outstanding beach side properties that can be hired. One in particular was outstanding and had five bedrooms and charged a cool £5,000 plus for a week. The only thing that could be said is it was a piece of luxury living and would take a matter of seconds to get onto the beach.
Apparently Camber is a very expensive area - something the local shacks and snack bars seem to revel in as I saw a fridge magnet which said "Half a Magnet - prices are so high we couldn't afford a whole one." It's strange that such an outwardly tacky place could charge such "exclusive" prices.
Camber Sands becomes interesting when you look at the number of films and television programmes it is featured in.
The beach was used in the 1958 film Dunkirk starring John Mills to recreate Operation Dynamo, which is better known as the evacuation. That Dunkirk film is so much better that the 2017 re-run. It was also used to represent the Normandy beaches in the 1962 film The Longest Day - a little bit of France comes to East Sussex.
It gets even more exotic in 1967 when Camber Sands is used to represent the Sahara Desert in Follow That Camel, although ironically filming had to be stopped several times because the dunes were covered in snow.
The Monuments Men film was shot there in 2013 (a film that in my humble opinion was a pile of piffle). The Invisible Woman was shot there in 2012. It's the story of Nelly Ternan who wasn't actually invisible but who was the mistress of one Charles Dickens.
The Theory of Everything, which was a decent film about the life of Stephen Hawking, had a number of scenes shot on the Sands and way back in 1962 scenes from The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner were filmed on the beach and the dunes.
The Dunes were also notable for appearing in a 2010 advertisement for Wall's ice cream. Even better was their depiction as the planet Aridus in a 1965 Doctor Who story and then a location for a two part Doctor story Trial of a Time Lord.
Coming more up to date, Camber Sands was used for the Netflix series After Life where Ricky Gervais walks his dog in episode three and finally The Inbetweeners episode Caravan Club is shot on the sands.
Music-wise according to Wikipedia, Camber Sands is mentioned in "Europe Is Our Playground" (B-side to "Trash") by Suede, "Pulling Mussels (From the Shell)" by Squeeze (also covered by Head Automatica), "Diamonds and Pearls" by The Holloways, "Heavyweight Champion of the World" by Reverend and The Makers and "Caravan" by Nick Heyward. It was also used as a title to Fatboy Slim's EP single Camber Sands. Feeder's 2003 video for "Forget About Tomorrow", was partially shot on the beach. Nine years later, Feeder later referenced Camber Sands in "Oh My", the opening track of their Generation Freakshow album. The song "On Camber Sands" appears on Gordon Giltrap's album Troubadour, and is a common feature in his live sets. Jose Vanders refers to Camber Sands in her song "For Now".
The cover of the 1980 LP record Beat Boys In The Jet Age by mod revival band, The Lambrettas, was photographed on Camber Sands. The cover of the Bucks Fizz album I Hear Talk, was also photographed at Camber Sands.
Paul McCartney and Wings filmed the music video for their Back to the Egg album track "Baby's Request" at Camber Sands in 1979. This was shown as part of their 1981 TV special, on BBC 1, featuring many videos recorded entirely in the Sussex area to accompany the tracks.
The cover of Dream Theater's 1997 album Falling Into Infinity was photographed at Camber Sands by graphic designer Storm Thorgerson.
The Fall mention Camber Sands in a song called "(We Are) Mod Mock Goth": "We take Viagra / And go to Camber Sands / Our shirts are well out of our pants / We are mod mock goth" on the 2003 single "(We Wish You) A Protein Christmas".
The music video for Gabrielle Aplin's 2012 song "Home" was shot in and around Camber Sands.
So now you know. From Camber Sands we popped into Rye for a cup of coffee and look round. Hope you enjoy the pictures of our trip.