Whenever I get the opportunity, I love running away to the English seaside [read: literally any sun-filled excuse] and recently we loved a day trip to Margate beach enough to go back a couple of weeks later, hiring a beachfront apartment for a leisurely three day break.
One of the things I miss the most about living in New Zealand, is the easy access to beaches. They (whoever ‘they’ are) reckons that no-one is more than 1.5 hours drive from a beach in my narrow home country, so when I was home recently, I made FULL use of that access.
Each day over the 2 months, I basically managed to spend time at a beach, lake or pool – and I’ve very much brought that spirit back to England with me this summer.
Margate is outrageously easy to access from London; the trains are 1hr 20 or 1hr 40ish from St Pancras or Victoria, and the Margate train station is 2 minutes from the beach – many British beaches are a good walk up or down hill from the nearest station.
Our trip was absolutely lush.
Super chilled, we grabbed a few outfits, both packed emergency coffee supplies (the mark of excellent people IMHO), made sure we had plenty of SPF and just rolled onto the train.
“It’s hard to believe today, but Margate was once a small fishing village. ‘Meregate’ had a large, partly-12th century church of St John’s set on a hill and a track down to a cluster of houses round the harbour. But the 1730s brought a passion for sea bathing, sparking the growth of Margate as a fashionable resort. Hoys, or sailing vessels, later steamships and eventually trains all brought countless visitors down from London.”
If you’re visiting Margate there are a few things to keep in mind:
- It gets SUPER busy at the end of the week and weekends
- Many businesses (like the delicious Creole Po’boy place we found) only open until Thursday-Sunday
- Keep an eye on the tide times because it goes out extremely quickly
- There is a minimum 2 ice cream a day rule (apparently ;D)
- Westbrook bay beach is a lot quieter than the main Margate beach, but the main beach has lifeguards
- There’s a fair amount of seaweed at both bays but you walk past it in the water fairly quickly
Did I mention how long our beach commute was from our apartment?
We specifically chose a relaxed break; we booked early in the week to avoid crowds, our plans consisted of exploring, sun bathing & reading, and a little wandering amongst the quirky lanes.
Things to do in Margate
This is a very brief list because we just wanted to relax –
- Visit the Shell Grotto
- Play games at Dreamland (only open weekends and school holidays)
- Visit the rotating exhibitions at the modern Turner Contemporary art gallery
- Swim & sun yourselves (the water quality is considered ‘acceptable’ at the time of writing
- Explore the quirky antique & book stores
- Walk along the seafront
- Drink cocktails along the seafront
- Build sandcastles (the sand is excellent and most of the supermarkets stock buckets & spades, deck chairs etc plus there are wind breaks etc to hire on the main beach)
- …. you get the idea.
Where to eat & drink in Margate
Now, I don’t live in Margate, or pretend to be an expert, but we really enjoyed:
- Morelli’s Gelato (EPIC)
- Ramsay and Williams Ice Cream parlour (I adored their pear and ginger sorbet)
- Greedy Cow did an amazing breakfast roll; mine was bacon, egg and fennel pork sausage, my friends was halloumi and guacamole)
- Peter’s Fish Factory for quick fish & chips
- Po’Boy, the Creole Fish Hut (their samurai chips and prawns are so good)
- DRINK (for coffee & sweet pastries taken to the beach)
- The Glass Jar for great cocktails
There are a selection of Michelin Star places, and great vegan options – but we just wanted to spend as much time outside in the fresh air as we could.
Ooooh, baby, do you know what that’s worth? Ooooh, heaven is a place on earth…
Just remember, every ice cream you enjoy supports the local community. (How on earth did I type that without laughing…)
I must pull together a list of my favourite beaches close to London!
What’s your favourite beach/thing to do?