We’d planned a camping weekend at Quarry Farm near Bodiam Castle (highly recommended by the way), and arrived mid-afternoon on a Sunday. We (well the kids, then us) were up early Monday morning and we cooked up breakfast over the campfire.

After filling up on bacon, sausages and eggs, washed down with a fresh coffee, I inflated the boards and headed down to the Rother river. We found a nice waist deep section and jumped in. The banks of the river are covered in wildflowers and reeds. The water was refreshingly (some might say freezing) cold.

A little further down the river towards Bodiam Castle was a good gravel bottomed area (in the wooded copse), which was good for the kids. Paddling on a small stream was a new experience. Turning isn’t necessarily possible so you end up reversing or paddling backwards.

However there is something quite magical about moving slowly up a river, accompanied only by the sound of birds, flashes of dragonflies and sound of your paddle dipping into the water. Even the kids were occasionally quiet!

The paddle to Bodiam Castle takes around 20-30 easy minutes. I’m usually quite a rapid paddler but this trip was at a very leisurely pace. We stopped at the Castle inn for a quick drink, before continuing down the river a few hundred metres to the castle. We couldn’t leave the boards so just enjoyed the scenery before turning and paddling back.

Once back at the campsite the weather cooled so it was time to hop out of the river and spend the afternoon flying the kite and gorging on foraged blackberries.