To many people Margate will be synonymous with sandy beaches, candy floss and confectionery rock. This remains the case and Westbrook Bay features in the Blue Flag beach classification scheme (https://www.thebeachguide.co.uk/south-east-england/kent/)   Dreamland - a short walk from Turnstone Mews - can also be added to the list of traditional attractions, with its wooden roller coaster Scenic Railway, a 1940’s Caterpillar ride, an Amusement Arcade and a variety of restaurants and cafes.

But nowadays Margate is much more than a bucket and spade resort. The Sunday Times recently carried an article which said “Margate is now a thriving art hub, with galleries and a food scene to match” (The Sunday Times, August 18th,Culture supplement). This is most obviously illustrated by the Turner Contemporary, opened in 2011. The gallery is itself named after JMW Turner, who spent some time in the town and said that Margate’s skies were “the loveliest in all Europe”.  

And more recently, Tracey Emin, who was brought up in Margate, has opened a studio in the town. The Turner Prize will be in Margate this year and will coincide with Margate NOW, a festival of more than 500 artistic openings.

As for restaurants, Margate now has a number of first class outlets.  In the same article, the Sunday Times’ restaurant critic Marina O’Loughlin put it quite simply: “The idea that we’d be heading to eat out in Margate almost every weekend would once have been laughable, but that’s what we do.”

The town has excellent transport links, including the HS 1 rail line which runs to London St. Pancras in 1hr. 28 mins. and London Victoria in 1hr. 47mins.  So taking the train not the plane is an option.