Scenic Place in Kent

The White Cliffs of Dover are among the most iconic natural features in Britain, a wall of bright white chalk rising up to 110 metres above the English Channel at the narrowest point of the strait that separates England from mainland Europe. Their significance in national consciousness derives partly from their geological drama and partly from their role as the first sight of England for travellers arriving by sea from the continent, a function they have served for travellers, refugees, traders, armies and returning residents throughout recorded history. The cliffs are composed of chalk laid down during the Cretaceous period approximately 65 to 100 million years ago, when the area now occupied by the English Channel was a warm, shallow sea. The accumulated remains of countless billions of microscopic marine organisms settled on the seabed and were compressed over geological time into the dense, white calcium carbonate rock visible in the cliff faces. The characteristic dark lines of flint nodules running through the chalk faces are formed from the siliceous remains of sponges, concentrated and consolidated along bedding planes as the chalk was buried and compressed. The seven-mile stretch of cliffs managed by the National Trust between Langdon Cliffs near the town of Dover and St Margaret's Bay provides the best walking access to the cliff edge, with dramatic views across the Channel to the French coast on clear days. The distance from the English coast to France is just 33 kilometres at its narrowest, and the chalk cliffs of Cap Blanc-Nez are clearly visible on the French side, a geological continuation of the same chalk formation interrupted by the Channel valley cut during the last Ice Age. The wartime history of the cliffs and the tunnels beneath Dover Castle, used as military headquarters during both World Wars, adds a layer of historical significance to the landscape's natural drama.

Broadstairs is a small seaside town on the Isle of Thanet in Kent that has maintained its Victorian resort character more successfully than most of the southeast's coastal towns, its compact cliff-top streets, Victorian villas and the intimate Viking Bay below the town creating an atmosphere that retains genuine seaside charm without the tattiness that has overtaken some of its larger neighbours. The town is particularly associated with Charles Dickens, who spent many working holidays at Broadstairs between the 1830s and 1850s and wrote some of his most celebrated novels while staying in the town, and the annual Dickens Festival celebrates this connection with considerable enthusiasm. Bleak House, the cliff-top house now known as Dickens House where the novelist did much of his writing, is a distinctive feature of the Broadstairs cliff line and provides the most immediate visual reminder of the Dickens connection. The Dickens House Museum in the town covers the writer's association with Broadstairs in depth and provides context for the various locations around the town associated with his visits and his work. Dickens described Broadstairs as our English Watering Place in an essay of that title and his affection for the town was genuine and sustained, making the association one of the most authentic in English literary heritage. Viking Bay, the main beach at Broadstairs, is a sheltered, sandy cove below the cliff-face of the town, its compact scale and excellent sand making it one of the most popular beaches in Thanet. The beach is overlooked by the buildings of the town above, creating an enclosed and intimate beach environment quite different from the long, open beaches elsewhere in Kent. The chalk cliffs on either side of the bay and the coastal walking available between Broadstairs and the neighbouring towns of Margate and Ramsgate add a wider coastal dimension. The town also celebrates a Dickens Week each year and holds a Folk and Acoustic Festival with a well-established reputation in the UK festival calendar.