Margate, Broadstairs & Ramsgate

As we say above, the coastal landscape drew JMW Turner to this stretch of coastline and today it is now fittingly home to the acclaimed Turner Contemporary gallery, which brilliantly showcases historical and contemporary works from artists locally and internationally.

Regeneration has seen the revival of Dreamland - an iconic amusement park reimagined with vintage rides, pop-up entertainment, live music, street food, bars and restaurants.

Just outside of Margate lies the treasure trove of curios at Quex House & Gardens, home of the Powell-Cotton Museum - from Angolan fertility dolls to Japanese jade. For those on a similar quest of discovering  The Shell Grotto showcases subterranean passages lined with 4.6 million shells.

Characterful Broadstairs was Charles Dickens’ "freshest, freest place". Explore these literary links at the Dickens House Museum - once home to Miss Mary Pearson Strong, aka Miss Betsey Trotwood in David Copperfield. The town boasts seven beautiful beaches and bays in its vicinity, with the curling, Viking Bay being the iconic beach below Broadstairs' colourful houses and the chalk stacks of Botany Bay a couple of miles away. For sweet treats, retro-style, head to the resort's famous ice cream parlour - Morelli's.

Ramsgate is a wonderful blend of maritime heritage, that can be learnt about at Ramsgate Maritime Museum, and war air raid Ramsgate Tunnels alongside architectural finery with Georgian and Regency squares and cosmopolitan pizzazz.

Ramsgate offers a waterside café culture, swish marina and award-winning sandy beach. Visit The Grange, the Gothic home of architect Augustus Pugin or St Augustine’s Church for the family vault and the shrine to St Augustine. Head out on a boat trip from the only Royal Harbour in the country or learn about the history and ideas of home computers at The Micro Museum.