Places To Stay On Kent Coast

[smurfchops]

Where is pretty... Deal, Ramsgate,somewhere else? Nice walks along seafront, with restaurants, etc but not too noisy! Thanks all x. And can you recommend a hotel or B&B ?

[SeaJayPea]

Broadstairs, perhaps. Or St Margaret's Bay. Whitstable's nice.

[Marshwarble]

Herne Bay maybe? Cliftonville? Whitstable is very busy.

[Buenchico]

I had the pleasure of working around the Whitstable area for a couple of weeks (with the company I was contracting for paying for my accommodation and expenses). It was so delightful I almost felt guilty when I came to invoice the firm for the work I'd done for them. (Only 'almost', though!).

The B&B was superb. I can't commend it to you highly enough!
http://www.copelandhouse.co.uk/

[ukbod2015]

Have you considered Folkestone it fits the bill on all the things you are looking for. Stay2a s a 3 room delight over Paul's restaurant which is brilliant. Clives breakfasts are worth going for on their own. Centrally located and just 150 yards from a very good ice cream shop. Seafront about 200 yards away.

[Marshwarble]

You are out of date, Ukbod. Paul's restaurant has been taken over and now has a silly name, can't remember what it is.

[Prudie]

I really must get back to Kent. I lived in Swalecliffe in the 80s and back then Whitstable, Herne Bay, Ramsgate, Margate, Dover and Folkestone were all dumps. Broadstairs, Deal and Sandwich not so much. The whole area has had a makeover (I'm led to understand).

[Buenchico]

To bring you up to date a bit, Prudie:

As stated above, Whitstable is a delight, with lots of specialist shops, a lovely museum and loads of great places to eat and drink.

When I was staying in Whitstable, quite a bit of my work was around Swalecliffe. It didn't strike me as one of the most attractive places I've visited (and the pubs and shops looked rather ordinary too) but neighbouring Tankerton is much nicer (both within the town and down by Tankerton Cliffs beach).

I've worked in Ramsgate too and I was pleasantly surprised to find it to be a rather trendy, upmarket town (rather than the dump that many current & former ferry towns have become), with a wide selection of good bars and restaurants.

Folkestone is another town where I've worked. Much of the town centre is rather drab but there are still some nice areas if you go exploring. The seafront road has been closed off and the area turned into an extremely attractive park, which is well worth a visit if you're in the area.

I seem to have had plenty of work in Kent, as I've stayed in Dover lots of times. While it might have a few redeeming features, there's no getting over the simple fact that it's a dump!

Ramsgate (which I visited on a day off from working around Whitstable) is struggling to get back on its feet but, until recently at least, it had the highest percentage of empty shops of any town in Britain, so it was inevitably very shabby. The Turner Contemporary art gallery has given it a bit of a boost, as (hopefully) will the reopening of Dreamland (after many years of standing derelict) this coming Friday but it's still got a long way to go.

[Prudie]

Swalecliffe was my first post uni 'home' with then boyfriend. Our flat was the pits and boyfriend was so tight he made us walk every weekend night from Swalecliffe through Tankerton (which had some great junk shops) to the Punch Tavern in Whitstable and back again at the end of the night.

We did all our food shopping in a big supermarket in Herne Bay and I did my first teaching practice in Broadstairs. Often went with friends to Dreamland to ride the old wooden rollercoaster.

[Buenchico]

A video to bring back some memories for you, Prudie:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-32656185

but you'll have to wait a little longer for the roller coaster to reopen:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-33019916

[Prudie]

Thanks, nice memories. hadn't realised it had fallen to such disarray.

[ukbod2015]

With regard to my answer above Paul's has changed name to The Tipsy Pigeon but still owned by Paul and the same chefs hopefully only the name has changed.