Set on the wild south-east Kent coast, The Beach looks out across the English Channel from Dymchurch — a small seaside village at the edge of Romney Marsh, one of the most atmospheric and quietly beautiful corners of England. It is a landscape of big skies, low light, endless sandy beaches and centuries-old smugglers’ pubs; a place where steam trains still whistle through the marsh and Napoleonic Martello towers dot the coast.
The main draw sits right on the caravan’s doorstep. Dymchurch’s long stretch of soft golden sand is a five-minute walk from the park entrance — a rare thing on the south coast, and long enough that even in high summer you can find a quiet patch to yourselves. At low tide the beach opens up into an enormous playground for buckets, spades, kites and long barefoot walks; at sunset it turns pink and gold over the Channel. Just next door, St Mary’s Bay offers a quieter alternative for the days you’d rather have the shore all to yourselves, and a short drive west brings you to the vast dunes of Camber Sands.
Behind the coast, Romney Marsh unfolds — a flat, otherworldly patchwork of sheep pasture, drainage dykes and hidden medieval churches, with more sky than land in every direction. Follow it south and it opens onto Dungeness: one of the strangest and most beautiful places in Britain. A vast shingle headland scattered with fisherman’s huts, wildflowers, its lighthouse and weather-beaten cottages, it is often described as Britain’s only desert — and on a still afternoon, you can see why. The 13.5-mile Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway, one of the smallest public heritage steam lines in the world, runs from Hythe through Dymchurch all the way down to Dungeness and back, and remains one of the great small pleasures of a Kent holiday.
There is plenty more for a family stay nearby. Fifteen minutes inland, Port Lympne Hotel & Reserve is a 600-acre safari park run by The Aspinall Foundation, home to over 900 animals across 75 species — gorillas, tigers, lions, giraffes — with a truck safari and a Dinosaur Valley to keep younger visitors happy. Closer to the coast, Brockhill Country Park near Hythe offers woodland trails, a lake, meadows and a popular café for slower days, and Ashford Designer Outlet makes a reliable rainy-day rescue.
The area also punches well above its weight for food and drink. The Neptune, a five-minute walk from the caravan, serves a generous carvery with seaside views. A gentle cycle along the Royal Military Canal path — flat, traffic-free and part of National Cycle Route 2 — leads to Botolphs Bridge Inn, a 400-year-old family-run country pub with award-winning ales, a log fire in winter and a beer garden by the water in summer. A little further on, Unit 1 Riverside is a canal-side microbar with local craft beer and cider, stone-baked pizzas on Thursdays and pop-up street food kitchens Friday through Sunday. For a special evening out, The Waterfront on Hythe seafront serves fresh local seafood, traditional British dishes and a much-loved all-day Sunday roast.
The nearby town of Hythe — a former Cinque Port and one of Kent’s most handsome coastal towns — is a short drive away, with a lively high street, independent shops and a picturesque seafront. Aldi, the main supermarkets and everyday essentials are all within a few minutes, and the caravan itself has free on-site parking — a rarity on this part of the coast. High-speed trains from Folkestone Central and Ashford International reach London St Pancras in around an hour, but once you are settled on the deck with a glass of something cold, the Channel murmuring in the background and a distant steam whistle drifting across the marsh, the city feels very far away indeed.
