Bodiam BoatingStation

Bodiam Boating Station is a family-run activity centre on the River Rother near Northiam, run since 2012 by Alex and Vanessa, who moved from Bath to set it up after several years running a tapas bar and cafe there. The business hires out kayaks, canoes, rowing boats and stand-up paddleboards across more than ten miles of flat water, and runs guided cruises upriver towards Bodiam Castle and downriver towards Rye, with kingfishers a regular sighting. Boat hire and camping run from March to October, with cruises operating April to September; the on-site Lime Wharf Cafe serves breakfasts, lunches and cream teas year-round and holds a bar licence for evening drinks. A riverside campsite with electric and non-electric pitches, campfires and dog-friendly pitches sits alongside the boating station, within view of steam trains on the neighbouring Kent and East Sussex Railway line.