Pick and walk the way from the Sportsman pub to Seasalter
It takes over an hour to walk from Whitstable to the Sportsman, our pub in Seasalter on the North Kent coast, but we always say allow a bit more time. It's possible in less time, but you don't want to run to the end and arrive at the restaurant red-faced.
Taking a more leisurely approach means you can do a few stops along the way. From the station (an hour and 15 minutes by train from St Pancras), walk down Cromwell Road and turn right onto Oxford Street, where you will find Grain and Hearth. This bakery serves amazing croissants and really good coffee - fuel for the walk ahead.
Whitstable is an old fishing town; oysters were harvested there in Roman times. Think wooden houses and old fisherman's houses, narrow streets and numerous pubs, some of which are not much bigger than a front room. (For something stronger than coffee, head to the Old Neptune by the beach. The floor is very wobbly, you might feel like you're already drunk, but the more you drink, the harder it will get you). will look flat.) We've really seen Whitstable grow. In the 1980s it was a fairly poor seaside town, with squats and student accommodation; now the townhouses on Island Wall are selling for millions.
From the bakery turn left and left again on West Cliff and cross the golf course then head left on West Beach. There are lots of cute beach huts here, some brightly decorated - one is covered in shrimp, the other is laid out like a rainbow. Also watch out for some interesting plants, such as bugloss and yellow-horned poppies in early summer.
It is a pebble beach lined with wooden groynes, designed to protect Whitstable from the sea. They have been renewed fairly recently, but not the Seasalter ones, and as you move forward you will see that they have been beautifully eroded by the sea to create a sculptural effect.
heading west on the beach, you'll pass a row of mega-money houses on Preston Parade. They're all quite different - some very modern, some a bit more clapper. There's one that looks, to our eyes, like a giant can of baked beans. You will see the back of a pub called The Oyster Pearl and then the Seasalter Oyster Fishery. They don't serve oysters to eat, but you may be able to buy some in bulk. (We do not recommend picking oysters or mussels from the beach, as they must be processed first.)
If the tide is out, you can see the wreck of an 18th century ship in the mud, which has been exposed by quicksand and tides. Warning: it's incredibly runny mud and you might get stuck if you go out to investigate...
It takes over an hour to walk from Whitstable to the Sportsman, our pub in Seasalter on the North Kent coast, but we always say allow a bit more time. It's possible in less time, but you don't want to run to the end and arrive at the restaurant red-faced.
Taking a more leisurely approach means you can do a few stops along the way. From the station (an hour and 15 minutes by train from St Pancras), walk down Cromwell Road and turn right onto Oxford Street, where you will find Grain and Hearth. This bakery serves amazing croissants and really good coffee - fuel for the walk ahead.
Whitstable is an old fishing town; oysters were harvested there in Roman times. Think wooden houses and old fisherman's houses, narrow streets and numerous pubs, some of which are not much bigger than a front room. (For something stronger than coffee, head to the Old Neptune by the beach. The floor is very wobbly, you might feel like you're already drunk, but the more you drink, the harder it will get you). will look flat.) We've really seen Whitstable grow. In the 1980s it was a fairly poor seaside town, with squats and student accommodation; now the townhouses on Island Wall are selling for millions.
From the bakery turn left and left again on West Cliff and cross the golf course then head left on West Beach. There are lots of cute beach huts here, some brightly decorated - one is covered in shrimp, the other is laid out like a rainbow. Also watch out for some interesting plants, such as bugloss and yellow-horned poppies in early summer.
It is a pebble beach lined with wooden groynes, designed to protect Whitstable from the sea. They have been renewed fairly recently, but not the Seasalter ones, and as you move forward you will see that they have been beautifully eroded by the sea to create a sculptural effect.
heading west on the beach, you'll pass a row of mega-money houses on Preston Parade. They're all quite different - some very modern, some a bit more clapper. There's one that looks, to our eyes, like a giant can of baked beans. You will see the back of a pub called The Oyster Pearl and then the Seasalter Oyster Fishery. They don't serve oysters to eat, but you may be able to buy some in bulk. (We do not recommend picking oysters or mussels from the beach, as they must be processed first.)
If the tide is out, you can see the wreck of an 18th century ship in the mud, which has been exposed by quicksand and tides. Warning: it's incredibly runny mud and you might get stuck if you go out to investigate...
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