Around the Kent Coast by Stephen Emms
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Chilston Park
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Boats on the beach, sunken castles, wild coastal flora, the smell of wood fires burning – the Kent Coast’s centuries-old resorts have a creamy nostalgic quality. But few first-timers realize that this dramatic stretch is as stunning as Cornwall or Devon (you can even surf here!), or that its wide bays drip with history: it’s where Julius Caesar invaded, after all, and where the seaside holiday began, in Margate, back in 1750.
Even better, its handy location (just 1-2 hours from London) and pleasing microclimate means it’s ideal for a trip in or out of season. In season, the towns fizz with life: the main beaches are packed, the rising number of galleries, boutiques and cafes throb with visitors, and festivals (and even impromptu street parties) take place every weekend.
At the height of August, however, only the prettiest resorts like Broadstairs and Whitstable are over-subscribed. Pull up on Deal’s elegant Georgian seafront, and you’ll be treated to a huge swathe of beach to yourself, a seat at an alfresco café, and a quiet saunter in an ancient backstreet for a post-swim pint.
Out of season, you’ll be able to book that sought-after table at the finest restaurants like Wheelers or the Sportsman (don’t forget the area’s home to Dover Sole, Whitstable Oysters and Romney Marsh lamb). Then there’s the thrill of feeling like a local as you rummage in a second-hand bookshop or antiques emporium, the rain pelting down outside.
But it’s the great outdoors that’s the real clincher at this time of year: cobweb-clearing walks along windswept, empty beaches, the sun high above the ragged White Cliffs and, best of all, the bleak beauty of Dungeness on the westernmost tip, the only place in the UK classified as a desert. Half a million tourists descend in the summer months, but on a bright winter’s day, when the tide is at its furthest and there’s not a soul around, it’s a world-beating landscape.
In Season
Port of Ramsgate
Awake early and catch the deep orange sunrise over Ramsgate’s cosmopolitan marina – the only royal harbour in the country. With the clink of the masts and gulls wheeling over the turquoise water, you could almost be in St Tropez (OK, maybe Honfleur). After a coffee at an alfresco cafe, take an hour’s hike along the coastal path to Broadstairs for one of its many summer festivals, from its celebration of Charles Dickens, who regularly holidayed here (June 20 – 24) to its Food Festival (Sept 30- Oct 4). And if you’re an oyster fan, don’t miss Whitstable’s Oyster Festival (July 18-26).
Sandwich
Did you know that medieval Sandwich was the first town in England to have a conservation order slapped on it as a whole? If that’s a ‘no’, spend a dreamy morning wandering its listed buildings and narrow streets with names like ‘Holy Ghost Alley’, and then snap up some local asparagus at the famous No Name deli on the quirky street with no name (1, No Name St)
Arts
The Kent coast is a hot potato for the arts, with Whitstable its buttery centre – so hotfoot it to the Horsebridge which this year celebrates its fifth anniversary (11, Horsebridge Road) or the not-for-profit Fish Slab. Snapping at its heels is Margate, whose waterside Turner Gallery will be completed in 2010.
In the meantime, head to the Turner Contemporary in a former M&S store, the galleries on the restored harbour arm or the new Ingoldsby (2 Lombard Street). Over at Folkestone, last year’s successful Triennial gave the town a needed boost (next one 2011), and its steep-cobbled Creative Quarter is dotted with galleries.
Castles
Yes, you’re a bit old for a castle but kids will love them, and their gloomy interiors may even set your imagination racing. Most are closed out of season (Oct – March) except Dover and Reculver (near Herne Bay), a cliff-top ruin free to visit. Henry VIII fans should head to sunken rose-shaped Deal Castle, and idyllic Walmer Castle, where you can make like Henry and scoff a cream tea on the battlements.
Beaches
You really can have the beach to yourself. Thanet’s 26 miles of coast boast the best beaches (10 have a Blue Flag), but avoid the crowds flocking to Broadstairs’ Viking Bay or Ramsgate’s Main Sands by parking up at Kingsgate, Walpole or Botany Bay, an Algarve-like affair with white cliffs and secret caves. For a surf spot try Joss Bay, with its surf school for the rusty (or uninitiated).
Out of Season
Antiquing
As the wind howls, take shelter in a dusty antiques emporium: try The Clock Works (14 New St) or All Our Yesterdays (3 Cattle Market) in Sandwich, or The Malthouse in Hythe, a treasure trove of stalls selling everything from antlers to Toby jugs (Malthouse Hill).
Dungeness
Known by beardy types as the “Fifth Quarter”, after Asia, America, Europe and Africa, Dungeness is a treeless landscape unique to the U.K. and Europe. Dominated by its brooding nuclear power station, it’s like a weird Midwestern town in America, with ramshackle wooden houses and undulating boardwalks taming the arid wilderness (which actually hides 600 species of plant) – the largest expanse of shingle on earth.
Film director Derek Jarman put it on the map in the 1990s with his black and yellow wooden-slatted fisherman’s cottage and garden. Dozens of architects have since built homes, including Simon Condor’s award-winning black rubber-clad beach house. Upping the surreal factor is a miniature railway that connects the peninsula with Dymchurch and Hythe
Shell Grotto
Equally enigmatic is the Shell Grotto in Margate (Grotto Hill), discovered in 1835 by a young boy named Joshua Newlove playing in his garden. It’s a 2,000-foot subterranean temple covered in 4.6 million undateable shells, which could be the work of anyone from the Phoenicians to the pre-Victorians. But be warned: it’s very cold down there.
The Dining Club
Brrr. Warm up with a set five-course feast at secret hang-out The Dining Club. Hidden in Deal’s conservation area, proprietors Andrew Kirkwood and Ralph Cade have converted a Georgian house into five candle-lit rooms with the intention of creating a private dinner party, where you bring your wine and meet fellow guests.
Hiking
Now work it all off with a hike. On a coastline packed with varied walking, the most exhilarating is a 10-mile trek from Deal’s genteel promenade, where a plaque marks Julius Caesar’s landing in 50 BC, to the ragged White Cliffs of Dover, which harbour 80 million years of geology. At Kingsdown, a picturesque village on the beach, the path climbs and the scenery becomes increasingly dramatic, before you skirt the vast industrial port of Dover, which smokes and ticks beneath the cliff.
Where to Eat
No expense spared
The Sportsman, Faversham Road, Seasalter Kent
The interior feels slightly tired now, but this pioneering Michelin-starred gastropub still serves up first-class grub on an isolated stretch of beach. Try native oysters from nearby Whitstable, pink lamb as soft as marshmallow and rhubarb sorbet crackling with nostalgic 70s ‘space dust.’
Age & Sons, Charlotte Court, Ramsgate, Kent
An ambitious three-story conversion in a tiny court behind the seafront housing an all-day deli and delightfully airy upstairs restaurant, which specializes in local fish, free range meat and seasonal flavours (like samphire or purple-sprouting broccoli). Don’t miss the atmospheric basement bar, where you can work your way through the grown-up cocktail list.
Middle of the road
Wheelers, Whitstable
Dating back to 1856, this is the finest restaurant on the coast. Its pea green rear parlour holds just four tables, so book upfront, even for a weekday lunch. It’s charmingly eccentric (outdoor toilet, BYO booze, phone and doorbells ringing endlessly), but chef Mark Stubbs serves incomparable oysters, pink bream, and mackerel tartare.
81 Beach St, Deal
Good seasonal cooking in a simply-furnished brasserie opposite the beach; plump for crisp whitebait with garlic mayo, or hearty fare like smoked haddock risotto or grilled pork chop with saffron mash.
On a budget
Oscar Road, 15 Oscar Road, Broadstairs, Kent
Much more friendly than some of Broadstairs’ grander eating institutions is this tiny seaside cafe just off the seafront, with retro Cath Kidston-esque stylings, which offers indulgent specialities like lobster rolls (call first), doorstep crab sandwiches, homemade quiche and a table staggering with melt-in-the-mouth cakes. Sunny garden too.
The Pilot Inn, Dungeness
Crammed with artefacts and local history books, The Pilot’s original incarnation was built from a Spanish shipwreck in 1633, and nowadays it serves rafts of battered fish and chips to locals, arty types and tourists.
Pubs, Bars and Clubs
Ferry House Inn, Harty Ferry Road, near Leysdown, Isle of Sheppey, ME12 4BQ
16th-century refurbished pub with rooms in idyllic end-of-the-world location. Well worth a detour from mainland Kent for a pint on the stone terrace enjoying the views over the Swale estuary.
The Coastguard, St Margaret’s Bay
Down a steep road studded with pine trees on the prettiest cove on the coast, where Noel Coward owned a white Deco house, which he later sold to Ian Fleming, you can sample local wines on a terrace with outstanding views at this self-proclaimed ‘closest pub to France.’
World Bar, Margate 5 Market Square, Margate
Stylish corner haunt in an increasingly trendy old town, which serves huge a array of beers, wines and cocktails. Mixed crowd.
Shopping
Cooks, 92 High Street, Hythe
Lovely deli and wet fish shop at the rear in cornerplot on this colourful, ancient high street (pick up bargains like local huss or brill caught off the beach).
Urbanista, 24 Harbour Street, Whitstable
Whitstable is the best place to shop on the coastline, and Harbour Street throbs with stylish boutiques, but the queen of them all is this outlet for home and travel accessories.
Qing, 7 Marketplace, Margate
Gorgeous emporium for traditional and contemporary oriental art as well as furniture and home furnishings.
Fun Facts
Local catch: Tracey Emin likes to relax on the veranda of the charmingly time-warped Walpole Bay Hotel in Margate when she’s in town.
Ear we go: You’d never have guessed that Vincent Van Gogh lived at 11 Spencer Square in Ramsgate, and taught round the corner at 6 Royal Road. No such celebrity coyness in Broadstairs, where you can’t miss the Charles Dickens pub, the Dickens House Museum, and Bleak House
Eerie go: Underneath the 11th-century church of St Leonards in Hythe, the crypt, open to the public, is lined with a terrifying 2,000 skulls and 8,000 thighbones.
Raise a glass: Charles Hawtrey, poor chap, was banned from every pub in Deal by the time he kicked the pewter jug in 1988.
Raise a club: the Royal Saint Georges gold course at Sandwich is reputedly one of the most challenging in the world.