About Thanet

Margate is the one that gets written about. Turner Contemporary opened in 2011 and shifted everything. Suddenly the national press was paying attention. The Old Town, with its network of Georgian streets and independent businesses, is one of the best places to spend a Saturday in Kent. The beach is enormous. The sunsets are extraordinary. The amusements on the seafront are defiantly tacky in the best possible way. Margate contains multitudes.

Ramsgate is the only place in England entitled to call its harbour Royal: a distinction granted by George IV who departed from here in 1821. The harbour is still working and the waterfront has excellent restaurants and a lively atmosphere. The town spreads up the cliffs in Victorian terraces. There are tunnels beneath the streets, dug during WWII. The local community is strong and the residential streets have a pride and solidity that's quietly impressive.

Broadstairs is the one people fall in love with. Dickens spent 20 summers at Bleak House on the cliff and the town has never let him go; Dickens Week is held every June. Viking Bay is a perfect cove framed by chalk cliffs and beach huts. The high street has excellent independent shops. The pace is slower, the architecture grander, the whole atmosphere one of genteel English seaside at its finest. Many Londoners who discover Broadstairs don't leave.

Birchington is the least talked about of the four and arguably the most liveable. The village centre has a proper square with independent shops and community feel. Minnis Bay, a walk from the village, is a wide sheltered bay with a promenade and beautiful sunsets. The pace is quieter, the properties more affordable, and the local community tighter. Pre-Raphaelite painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti is buried in the churchyard.