Season: autumn
Technically classified as the UK’s only desert, Dungeness beach is the second largest shingle formation in the world. It’s a wildlife paradise, featuring bats, stoats, marsh frogs, varied birdlife and several RSPB hides, as well as around six hundred different species of plants and rare insects. There’s a public car park or you can arrive by steam train from Hythe, using the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway . The “patch” or “boil” is a favourite angling spot and bathing isn’t recommended, so this is first and foremost a wildlife destination. Dogs are allowed and there’s a lighthouse, a couple of pubs, fish ‘n chips, plus a plethora of characterful beach shacks, including filmmaker Derek Jarman’s Prospect Cottage. Finally, I recommend a visit from late morning to The Old Lighthouse, commissioned in 1904 and decommissioned in 1960. Standing forty six metres high, the internal mezzanine slate floors and their steel beams are particularly impressive.
A mother and daughter beach celebration.
The scene at Britain’s only desert.
