"Oh I do like to be.....

.....beside the seaside!"

We have recently returned from another visit to Whitstable in Kent where we thoroughly enjoyed a few days with our eldest daughter and her family. Living as I do by the seaside and with strong family links to Devonian fishing stock, I think the sea and water is in my blood and I love to be near it, so the prospect of some time on the Kent coast appealed very much.

The seafront

Whitstable is a working port so there is always plenty of activity to watch and it is renowned for its oyster fishery. The harbour area attracts hundreds of visitors especially at weekends who come to sample the seafood as well as to soak up the atmosphere of the place....and Whitstable certainly has atmosphere.

Whitstable harbour

As I walked in the quiet streets, early in the morning, I was approached by two locals on different days, asking why people came to the town and what attracted them to it. In describing what I found appealing about the place, the working port, the architecture, the lovely flint pebbled beaches and the shabby chic, if not downright shabby, appearance of the town in places, we jointly decided that, from their point of view, it was possibly a case of, familiarity breeds contempt.

But the fact is, that it is a funny old place, without the sophistication of perhaps a Devon or Cornwall seaside town but with the enduring appeal of an historic, honest working town.

Whitstable High Street

Another notable fact is that it has one of the longest High Streets in the country populated almost exclusively by independent traders, no Superstores in the immediate vicinity, so an absolute delight.

Your hero 'crabbing' with two of his grandsons (the crabs kept dropping off!)

Staying in an extended fisherman's terraced cottage in the centre of town, we were ideally situated just five minutes from the High Street and the harbour.

Flying paper planes on the beach.

It was a lovely holiday and we're looking forward to visiting the place again, it does have an irresistable appeal.

'The Street'. a feature that appears on the shoreline at low tide.

Incidentally, we didn't travel in the Morgan on this occasion but in our newly acquired Volvo V70 which performed beautifully and despite its powerful, gorgeous 5 cylinder175 bhp diesel engine returned 50 mpg, calculated by me and not taken from the onboard computer reading. The big Volvos are very economical and this performance compares very favourably with our previous V70.

PS Make sure that you read Graham Tapper's story about his latest journey in his 4/4 through France to Italy on his blog 'Morgan travels with Graham and Helen' moggo-blog.blogspot.co.uk, lovely photographs and a great story.