I love living in Kent and barely a week goes by that I’m not grateful for our decision to move here. Having said that, I also escape every opportunity I get and Bank Holiday weekends are usually spent in Europe or at least somewhere else on the British Isles. Imagine my horror then when a hen’s party was scheduled on bank holiday Saturday, thus thwarting our plans to escape to Poland.
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With just Sunday and Monday to spare on the bank holiday weekend, I decided to surprise Stephen with 24 hours away. I knew what I wanted – I wanted to go somewhere that would allow pets because I wanted to take our Labrador Molly with us and I was hoping for somewhere by the sea. I also wanted something a little old school or rustic and was looking at Canopy & Stars for glamping options as well as Airbnb.
I’ve always wanted to visit Whitstable and found inspiration over at Mummy Travels where Cathy and family spent a glorious 24 hours with kids. Definitely visit Cathy’s post for ideas of what to do in Whitstable with children. With inspiration and a little bit of research, my plans began to take shape and my itinerary was set.
Where We Stayed
We found a lovely Airbnb apartment located in Tankerton, a quiet suburb of Whitstable. Our host Anna was absolutely lovely and very welcoming of Molly. She was also accepting of the fact that we were only staying for one night on a bank holiday weekend.
The flat was very quirky and decorated throughout with personal photographs. There was also a theme of love flowing through the entire apartment, which suited our romantic needs perfectly.
If you’ve never used Airbnb before, I would wholeheartedly recommend it as an alternative to hotels or guest houses. It is definitely for people who would like to cook for themselves or will eat out but it is so much better than a soulless hotel or cottage. When you join Airbnb, you get a referral code so if you click here you will get £25 off your first booking and I will also get money off my next booking.
Where We Ate
We were only in Whitstable for 24 hours yet still managed to fit in three meals. We enjoyed a delicious seaside lunch at The Lobster Shack, Whitstable and had a romantic anniversary dinner at East Coast Dining Room. We also had a very bad breakfast experience at The Marine Hotel on Marine Parade. I won’t bore everybody with the details but you can see my review at Yelp if you wish. Suffice to say, avoid at all costs (unless you like rude and horrible service, in which case don’t).
What We Did
Warning: this is going to sound excessively dull to many people so proceed with caution.
Readers of this blog will know that I have a tendency to burn the candle at both ends and with that in mind, we planned to do absolutely nothing. Well, that’s not exactly true.
- We walked. On our first day we walked from Tankerton Slopes to Whitstable Harbour and we also took another walk on the morning we left
- We ate
- I instagrammed
Pebbly beach between Tankerton and Whitstable.
- I read my book and Stephen watched television
- We had an epic afternoon nap
- We sat and stared at the sea a lot
Yup, that is pretty much all we did and it was absolutely glorious!
What We Also Did (But Which Was A Bit Sad)
The one thing we did do which was sad but also incredibly meaningful to us was to release Josey’s ashes over the sea in Seasalter. We chose Seasalter because it is a very quiet beach (we didn’t want to upset any young children!) but we wanted to leave my big dog in a place where she could frolic along the beach and play with the seagulls. I think she would have liked it and now I’ll always have this peaceful place to think of when we think of her final resting place.
What We Will Do Next Time
It is no surprise that we couldn’t fit anything everything in to 24 hours and after the wonderful time that we had, we will certainly return to Tankerton and Whitstable one day. Next time we visit, we’d like to squeeze in the following activities:
- Stay in a fisherman's hut on the beach. Whitstable Fisherman’s Huts offer huts from £85 per night bed and breakfast and I have it on high authority that this is a great experience.
- Catch the train from Whitstable to Canterbury East (via Faversham) and walk back to Whitstable along the Crab and Winkle Way. The route is well sign-posted and the walk extremely scenic.
- I’m not entirely sure whether this would be in the same trip as above, but I’d also love to hire a beach hut and hang out at the edge of the sea for a couple of days. The difference is that the beach huts are far more rustic with less provisions. BeachHuts.com offer huts from £50/day or we even spotted one for £60 for three days.
- Spent time in Whitstable town itself, photographing all the quirky shop fronts.
Have you ever taken a quick 24 hour trip somewhere? Do share the details below.
