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Ramsgate
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If Thanet had a capital, it would be
RAMSGATE
, a handsome resort, rich in robust Victorian red brick, but whose centre of boarded-up shops reveal its economic decline. Most of the town is set high on a cliff linked to the seafront and harbour by broad, sweeping ramps, with the villas on the seaward side displaying wrought iron verandas and bricked-in windows - a legacy of the tax on glazed windows. Overall the port has avoided Margate's vulgarity while retaining some of Broadstairs' class.
The most entertaining sight in Ramsgate is the subterranean Motor Museum at West Cliff Hall, just by the ferry terminal (April-Oct daily 10.30am-5.30pm; Nov-Easter Sun 10am-5pm; ?2.50), which spices up its eclectic collection of cars and motorbikes by placing each vehicle in its historical context. A 1905 Rex pushbike is on show alongside a newspaper proclaiming the increase of third-class steamer fares to the USA to ?6, and a 1904 De Dion Bouton is displayed along with details of events from the same year - the founding of Rolls Royce and the arrest of a New York woman for a shocking crime, smoking in public. Ramsgate's other sight, the Ramsgate Maritime Museum , in the harbour Clock House (Easter-Sept daily 10am-5pm; Oct-Easter Tues-Fri 10am-4.30pm; ?1.50; ), is brightened only by an illuminating section on the Goodwin Sands sandbanks - six miles southeast of Ramsgate - the occasional playing field of the eccentric Goodwin Sands Cricket Club. Ramsgate's train station is about a mile northwest of the centre, at the end of Wilfred Road, at the top of the High Street, and the tourist office is at 17 Albert Court, York Street (daily 9.30am-4.30pm; tel 01843/583333, ). For an overnight stay , the Spencer Court Hotel , 37 Spencer Square (tel 01843/594582; under ?40), offers comfortable accommodation in a listed Regency building, directly above the ferry terminal; while, in Eastcliff, the Victorian Eastwood Guest House , 28 Augusta Rd (tel 01843/591505; ?50-60) has some rooms with balconies. The Crescent , 19 Wellington Crescent (tel 01843/591419; under ?40), is an attractive seafront option in a Georgian terrace originally built to house the duke's officers. The nearest campsite is Nethercourt Touring Park , just two miles southwest of the town centre (tel 01843/595485; closed Nov-March).
The
Falstaff
pub
, on Addington Street by the seafront, does a decent ploughman's lunch, or there's the
Camden Arms
, in nearby La Belle Alliance Square, for good-value fish and chips - for cliff-top views, real ales and occasional live music, head for the
Churchill Tavern
on The Paragon overlooking the harbour. Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
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United Kingdom,
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