Camber Sands facts for kids
Quick facts for kidsCamber Sands
The beach at Camber Sands
|Location||East Sussex, England, UK|
Camber Sands is a beach in East Sussex, UK, in the village of Camber, near Rye. It is the only sand dune system in East Sussex, and is east of the estuary of the River Rother at Rye Bay stretching 3 miles (4.8 km) to just beyond the Kent border, where shingle and pebbles take over again. It is one of three stretches of non-tidally submerged sand east of Bournemouth Bay, which just exceeds the three in total length, on England's south coast, the others being West Wittering and Avon Beach. Two holiday resorts are near Camber Sands owned by Pontins and Parkdean Resorts just off New Lydd Road and Lydd Road respectively in the alighting village of Camber.
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 getting larger by accretion. The dunes are managed to prevent problems with wind-blown sand.
Second World War and inland to the east
The dunes were fortified and used for exercises in the Second World War. There is a roughly square MoD danger area and base inland of the east of the area. The dunes resemble topographically those seen in parts of Normandy and challenging desert terrain. Similar training facilities exist at Braunton in North Devon, in Scotland and in Pembrokeshire.
Three main car parks co-exist. Western car park on New Lydd road has a large overflow one, all opposite Central car park and its overflow. A third, smaller car park is on Old Lydd road.
Central has main access to the beach; one can negotiate quite long, steep sandy paths over dunes from Western car park, unsuitable for prams, or wheelchairs. The Western car park closes at 8pm in the summer.
Camber Sands Station
Camber Sands railway station was the terminus of the Rye and Camber Tramway. It opened on 13 July 1908 and closed, with the line, in September 1939.
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. There is also an annual professional darts tournament held at the Pontins resort by the British Darts Organisation.
Camber Sands Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.