"Broadstairs, Kent" a Broadstairs Travel Page by diosh

We went down for the day, 06/03/08, by train.Woke up to a delightful sunny, cold day and decided to go.
We noticed quite a few changes.The town's being made more upmarket-after all these years!
More coffee houses and more fashionable shops and a curry place!
We sat outside Chiapinni's, having a coffee, looking at the bay and jetty, in the sun.Lovely..
The sun shone all day .We had chips on the jetty, before walking along the beach.
Excellent train service, there and back- from Victoria.

If you want to visit a traditional English seaside town, go to Broadstairs in

Kent.It's absolutely delightful.

Its beautiful sandy beach,Viking Bay is huddled under the steep cliffs.At the

far end of the bay is the jetty, overlooked atop the cliffs by Bleak House,

where Charles Dickens lived and wrote.The place has hardly changed from

the time he was in residence in the 19th Century.It remains unspoilt by

modern tourism.

See pics of Broadstairs on my "Me and the Boys" page, with my kids.

Incidentally- the new advertisement for E.ON Power is set in Broadstairs!

It shows people being blown about in all the favourite places in

Broadstairs, on the prom,atop the cliffs, on the beach, on the jetty, up

York Street, by the

Bandstand, in Voctoria Gardens, etc. A lovely ad for the place, with the

delicious Bill Nighy doing the voice over:-)

The ad is entitled "Wind of Change"

This is the main bay of Broadstairs, a huge sweep of sandy beach,(cleaned every day in the summer).
The beach can be reached from the promenade by flights of steps,(fine going down but not so funny going up after a hard day's bathing!)

The writer -John Buchan found his inspiration for his book, "The 39 steps",

from the original Victorian steps that were built into the cliffside of the

adjoining bay-Stone Bay.There are in fact over 70 odd steep steps, but

Buchan decided to make it 39 as it sounded better!

They are quite treacherous to walk up or down, as they get very slimey,

from all the undergrowth that hangs over them.

So take care- if you're following in the 'steps 'of Buchan!

The best place for ice-cream is at Morelli's Ice Cream bar.It's on the

promenade and has remained the same since it was built in the 1930s.

Its a beautiful, stylish bar and cafe, whose decor is in the 30s style of

chrome, pale green and pale pink, with a fountain in the centre that

changes colour as the different lights play on it.The scrumptious ice-

creams are to die for.