Camber Sands

Camber Sands

Camber Sands is a beach at the village of Camber (near Rye), East Sussex, England. It is the only sand dune system in East Sussex^[1] and is located east of the estuary of the River Rother at Rye Bay all the way to the East Sussex/Kent border.

Dunes

A large section of the western end of the dunes lie within the Camber Sands and Rye Saltings Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), while the rest is designated a Site of Nature Conservation Importance. The dunes are accreting (gradually getting bigger). The dunes are managed to prevent problems with wind-blown sand.^[1]

Second World War

The dunes were fortified and used for exercises in Second World War. There are also several MoD bases around the area.

Parking

There are three main car parks in Camber, Western car park on New Lydd road which also has a large overflow car park opposite, Central car park, and the new car park on the old crazy golf site on Old Lydd road. Central also has a large overflow car park. Only Central has direct access to the beach, as you have to negotiate long steep sandy paths over the dunes to reach the beach from Western car park, unsuitable for prams, or wheelchairs. The Western car park closes at 8pm in the summer.^[2]

Sporting activities

The beach has become a popular location for kitesurfing, Kite landboarding and kite buggying due to its sand and favourable wind conditions. Kite launches are only allowed in the designated area at the eastern end of the beach near the Jury's Gap car park.^[3]

Leisure

The beach has two Holiday parks adjacent to each other owned by Park Resorts and Pontins

Cultural references

Camber Sands at Low Tide

Camber Sands, with its wide bay and large dune system, has been used in a variety of creative media.

Films

The beach was used in the 1958 film Dunkirk starring John Mills to recreate Operation Dynamo. They were used again as Normandy beaches during D-Day in the 1962 epic The Longest Day.

Carry On Follow That Camel was shot on location here during the early months of 1967 when Camber Sands doubled for the Sahara Desert although filming had to be stopped several times because the dunes were covered in snow.

The Monuments Men was shot on location in the early part of 2013 starring George Clooney and Matt Damon^[4]

Television

Camber Sands holiday resort was 'featured' in an episode of the E4 teen comedy The Inbetweeners. although no filming actually took place there. It was also featured in Series 2 of Green Wing. Alan Statham and Joanna Clore appear both on the beach in the finale as well as in the Park Resort Holiday Park. The dunes were featured in a 2010 advertisement for 'Walls'.

Camber Sands was the planet 'Aridius' in the 1965 Doctor Who story 'The Chase' and then in 1986 was the filming location for a scene in the final two parts of the story Trial of a Time Lord, as part of an elaborate illusion generated by the Valeyard in the Matrix.

Music

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 (EP). 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 second 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 photographed at Camber Sands.

Paul McCartney and his band 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 English 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"^[5] 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.

All Tomorrow's Parties (music festival) takes place at Pontins holiday camp in Camber Sands. It was founded by Barry Hogan in 1999 as an alternative to larger, more corporate festivals like Reading, with a tendency towards post-rock, avant-garde, and underground hip hop, along with more traditional rock fare.

Visual Art

Artists Boyle Family famously made some of their first casts using resin and fibreglass on the beach at Camber Sands in 1966. These initial studies - some of which were unsuccessful - culminated in the Tidal Series of 1969 in which fourteen separate casts were made of the same 150 x 150 cm area of beach. Made over a period of one week, the fourteen pieces showed in microscopic detail the way in which the tide effected the sand as it washed over the beach twice a day.

References

Coordinates: 50°55′59.5″N 0°47′45.9″E / 50.933194°N 0.796083°E / 50.933194; 0.796083