Discovery Centre shop

Rowan Bunney, Assistant Manager of the Rye Harbour Discovery Centre, talks to us about the Discovery Centre shop

What does the shop stock that might surprise visitors?

People might not be aware that we sell a range of plastic-free sustainable home items such as wooden toothbrushes, reusable face wipes, plastic free hair ties and organic cotton shopping bags. Once a month we host a pop-up stall from The Kind Table, a zero waste and refill shop based in the centre of Rye who are able to bring in a much wider range of refillable products such as household cleaning sprays, shower gels and shampoos as well as lots of other excellent sustainable products.

Aside from the individual products, I hope people are surprised by the overall colour and a bit of a sense of fun in the shop too.

How much local content are you able to source?

I’m pleased to say we have many suppliers that are local to us such as Jennifer Moore, an illustrator based in East Sussex who makes pocket-sized bird watching log books specific to different environments including one of Rye Harbour Nature reserve. We have natural wax candles made in Tunbridge Wells by PureWix. We have beautiful cards supplied by many local artists including Annie Soudain who lives very nearby. And of course the Friends of Rye Harbour Nature Reserve also produce a range of products celebrating the reserve such as map tea towels, mugs, cards and coasters. It’s brilliant to be able to stock products made in Sussex and nearby. We receive a lot of requests by local artists, makers and writers to stock their products, however, due to the size of the shop this isn’t always possible.

Does the stock in the shop change much seasonally?

Yes, there will always be things that we stock all year round such as wildlife guides, books and binoculars but some of the stock is changed seasonally to reflect the changes in the wildlife that you’re more likely to see at different times of year or the different weather conditions. At Christmas I would say we branch out a little as many people choose to buy Christmas gifts from us, so at Christmas we had a beautiful selection of decorations, paper advent calendars, UK made chocolate in countryside-inspired packaging and nature-themed games that we’d not stocked before.

We also try to reflect some of the activity that is already happening on the reserve with some of the shop stock. Our Communities and Wildlife team have recently launched a Lost Words Community Arts Project using the book The Lost Words by Robert MacFarlane and Jackie Morris as its inspiration. The book is a response to the loss of some nature-based words from children’s vocabulary and many of the species mentioned in the book can be seen at Rye Harbour Nature Reserve. As such, we have this book and other items from the same series available in the shop.

What age group are you aiming for?

We try to stock items that appeal to a wide age range. We have a specific children’s section with books, games and other items that hopefully help to get children interested and inspired by nature. Aside from the items that are specifically designed for children, I think age is less of a consideration than other factors. Ideally, the products we sell in the shop should be well designed, useful, made from sustainable materials and promote interest and engagement with the outdoors.

What’s the cheapest item?

A multi-coloured wooden pencil (95p).

Most expensive?

A pair of binoculars: Opticron Traveller 10 x 23 (£389).

What’s been a bestseller recently?

Our best seller recently has been the Seaside Flowers of Rye Harbour Nature Reserve by S C Morgan and our Reserve Manager, Dr Barry Yates. It’s great to see something so relevant to the reserve being so popular with our visitors. Aside from that, our fair trade papier-mâché baubles were extremely popular in the run up to Christmas.

What are your Christmas opening hours? 

The Discovery Centre closes at 2pm Christmas Eve. Then it is closed Christmas Day and Boxing Day all day. The Centre reopens Tuesday 27th, 10am-4pm as usual. Then open as normal over the New Year (10am-4pm daily). The reserve is a very popular place over the festive period so we thank our lovely customers in advance for their patience during busy periods. We'd like to also wish everyone a very happy Christmas and New Year and thank people for their support this year.