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Ramsgate

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    • TravelerKent

      Isle of Thanet 2; Viking Coastal Trail

      July 6 in England ⋅ 🌬 16 °C

      The Viking Coastal Trail extends from Margate to Ramsgate via Broadstairs and is approximately 10 miles in length to walk.  From Margate (see earlier post), we walk along Marine Terrace and Marine Drive past the Turner Contemporary and up to the clifftops of Cliftonville.  Then it is on to Kingsgate via Botany Bay and then Kingsgate Bay; sitting on the clifftop of Kingsgate Bay is Kingsgate Castle - built in the 1760s, it is now split into private residential properties.  The clifftop walk takes us past Joss Bay and Stone Bay on to the town of Broadstairs; this seaside resort is known as the "Jewel in Thanet's crown."  We walk along the promenade (visiting the town itself tomorrow - see separate post) past the beautiful Viking and Louisa Bays and carry on south to Ramsgate; the town has one of the largest marinas on the English south coast and the harbour here is the only Royal Harbour in the United Kingdom.  Ramsgate also has a very attractive coastline, particularly the Ramsgate Main Sands beach.  

      From Ramsgate, we take the Loop bus back up to Margate; it has been a good walk, and we were fortunate with the weather.      Read more

    • TravelerSoutheast England
      Day 2

      Museum Time in Ramsgate

      August 4 in England ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

      The title says it all. 🙂 We made a day trip to Ramsgate with the specific intention of visiting three museums. On the way there, we found a fourth.

      First up: Spitfire and Hurricane Memorial Museum
      Located at what was once RAF Manston, it still has an airfield. There is also another museum on the precinct detailing the history of the RAF station itself. We didn‘t go in, since the Memorial Museum already had plenty to see. The two aircraft it gets its name from, of course. On top of those, lots of wreckage pieces including enemy bits. Also shown are personal belongings and uniforms of various RAF personnel. Then there are war spoils in the form of a mixed bag of German items - from uniform pieces to weapons to crockery. There‘s even a Swastika flag torn down from German Military Headquarters near Caen.
      All in all a lovely museum well cared for entirely by volunteers. They are very knowledgeable and happy to answer questions.

      Second: WonderWorks
      Every model vehicle enthusiast will love it here. This is a small museum in the old Hornby Hobbies factory building. It details how models are made, from the idea to the planning to manufacture. Of course there are also pieces to see from many decades. I liked the WW2 planes best - no surprise here.

      Next: This Museum is (not) Obsolete
      An old printers shop turned into a museum stuffed to the brim with all kinds of obsolete technology and projects built from such items. It can get quite cacophonic in here since visitors are encouraged to push buttons and play the instruments. So if you‘re sensitive to noise, bring earplugs (this spoils lots of the fun, though). I am still fascinated with the creativity behind it all.
      This museum is not easy to describe, but if you imagine a modern version of Doc Browns workshop with triple the amount of machinery you‘re not far off.

      Last but not least: Ramsgate Tunnels
      Why we went to Ramsgate in the first place. This is a tunnel system used for air raid sheltering during two world wars. At first, a victorian railway tunnel was used to shelter in. The later expansion of the shelter system consists of purpose-dug tunnels deep underground. The tunnels follow the routes of public highways, this was planned so that they could progress fast with the building works without having to deal with private landowners. And so, when the worst air raid arrived on the 24th of August 1940 most of the towns inhabitants could sit it out 70 feet / 21 meters underground. The worst, you ask? Here in Ramsgate they call it „500 bombs in 5 minutes“. This must have been literal hell.
      In short, an impressive place to visit. Guided by staff you spend about 90 minutes underground in various parts of he tunnels. Bring a jumper, it never gets over 11 degrees Celsius in there. Many thanks to Martin and Luke, our brilliant guides!      Read more

    • TravelerEngland 2022
      Day 4

      bri'ish food

      July 9, 2022 in England ⋅ 🌙 17 °C

      Heute morgen wachen wir auf einer Platten Luftmatraze auf... unsere Reparaturkünste, um das gestern gefundene Loch zu kleben, haben wohl nicht gereicht... schade. Dennoch fangen wir den Tag gemütlich und lecker mit einem englischen Frühstück an. Wir kochen uns Rührei und Baked Beans.

      Vormittags geht es in die nächste größere Stadt nach Ramsgate. Dort finden wir viele schöne Häuser und einen schönen Hafen.

      Um 13 Uhr öffnet unsere heutiges Hauptziel: das Museum "This Museum is (not) obsolete". Ein kleines Haus voller alter Technik, vielen Synthesizern, unter anderem eine alte Telefonvermittlungsstelle, eine Wand aus 1000 Oszillatoren, einem alten Tetrisspiel und eine Kirchenorgel und vieles mehr. Alles zum ausprobieren und anfassen. Überraschend, wie viel man in so ein kleines Haus stecken kann und wie viele Geräusche gleichzeitig erklingen können.
      Nach über zwei Stunden hatten wir das Gefühl das meiste einmal gesehen und ausprobiert zu haben.

      Nachmittags geht unsere englische kulinarische Reise weiter: es gibt Fish&Chips in einem netten kleinen Laden in der Innenstadt von Ramsgate.

      Wir fahren weiter nördlich zu einem Sanstrand (den ersten den wir hier fidnen) und weißen Kreidefelsen. Nach einem kleinen Spaziergang und einem leckeren Eis geht es wieder Richtung Campingplatz zurück.

      Auf dem Weg halten wir bei Tesco Superstore und kaufen heute nochmal richtig englisch ein (sausages, baked beans, winegums, tomato soup, apple cidre, short bread und cookies)      Read more

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    • TravelerUnloxit 2023
      12
      Day 164

      Kentish temple

      June 13, 2023 in England ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

      Now it can be told---I much prefer Ramsgate to Skeggy! Not least because of a return visit to the endlessly civilised Royal Temple Yacht Club. The sailing season hasn't fully got going so all is quiet (apart from a quiz night on the Friday, and even that is restrained). They don't do breakfast but the Ship Shape in the cliff arcade, more than suffices. And then to a place that really is a temple, the charming Sailors' Church. The early Georgian terraces of Ramsgate are now familiar, in some cases appealingly overgrown and in others, put to use for an evening's tennis.

      On a rerun of the Margate-Ramsgate walk, I pass another example of Margate's gentrification with the creation of some giant street art. Round a headland, Joss Bay is having its week in the sun, while Broadstairs flaunts its Charles Dickens connections. The following day shows a beach scene in Deal. Although unmistakeably English, it's little more than 20 miles from France which makes London much further away.      Read more

    • TravelerUnloxit 2024
      Day 100

      DFL again

      April 9 in England ⋅ 🌬 10 °C

      Once again I'm in Ramsgate, Kent, joining the other DFL (down from London) types. As before, accommodation is at the peerless Royal Temple Yacht Club, with its magnificent view of the harbour---which our family used in our yachtie days. At quayside level is the Victorian sailors' church, a beautiful Victorian oasis of peace and quietness.

      More secular delights can be found with views of the beach---not fashionable but good and sandy---from the former casino. It's been converted into a Wetherspoons pub, the largest in the chain and very elegant it is too. A far cry from when I visited it in 2021, with Covid restrictions forcing me to order not from the bar but on the app---which I couldn't get to work! There's also time for a more traditional pub, the Horse and Groom, hidden in a back street in the town centre.

      Ramsgate always fascinates me with its intimate squares and gardens, that could almost be in Islington or even Kensington. The architecture is DFL too! The final shot is of a Victorian block of flats designed by the son of Augustus Pugin, architect of the Houses of Parliament and one-time Ramsgate resident. Its forbidding profile might be more suited to a prison or an asylum. Regrettably some of the block is empty and it all goes to show how even in this era of housing shortages there is so much wastage. But to look at, the building does have a je ne sais quoi.      Read more

    • TravelerUnloxit 2022
      1
      1
      Day 71

      Club with a view

      April 4, 2022 in England ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

      For the third time since the pandemic started, I am in Ramsgate and with a friend this time, Louise, for the first two days. This time lodgings are at the Royal Temple Yacht Club, a place oozing with character that I would have stayed at before, had I known it was open to non-yachties. Actually decades ago our family was yachty too, and we often used to put in at Ramsgate harbour, a long day's sail from the Essex coast where we kept the boat. Although we always stayed on board, we must have used the RTYC bar at times. The view from the balcony is matchless and the sumptuous bar attests to a long history of doing battle in the south North Sea.

      Like other south coast resort towns, Ramsgate struggles to keep up with those in the more fashionable Devon and Cornwall, but puts a brave face on it. Various craft shops have drifted into the town and the seaside stalwarts, fish & chips and ice cream, are abundant. The sculptures on St. George's church could do with cheering up, however.

      Needless to say, the drinking options are plentiful. The "Sorry no Whitbread" sign at the Churchill Tavern refers to the dark days when keg beers of this ilk almost pushed decent beers like Gadd's to extinction. The stained glass comes from another fine old-fashioned pub, the Artillery Arms.      Read more

    • TravelerLoxit version 2.0
      Day 214

      On another Thanet

      October 6, 2020 in England ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

      After a month in London I'm headed for the coast again but in the other direction from Cornwall---east Kent. I know Ramsgate, a town of about 40,000 people, from family trips long ago on my father's boat. On one famous occasion, after a gruelling 12 hours across the Thames estuary from the boat's home port in Essex, the helmsperson failed to stop our boat in time to prevent the bowsprit smashing through the window of a moored boat. History doesn't record the reaction of that boat's owner.

      This time I am staying on dry land but the harbour is still a great attraction. The work of engineer John Smeaton, it dates from the late 1700s to reinforce defences against the Napoleonic forces and indeed, the French coast can still be seen on a clear day. All kinds of dignitaries have stayed here, from George IV (who gave the town royal status), Princess Victoria, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Vincent van Gogh. The reformer Elizabeth Fry attended to the needs of female convicts bound for the colonies and supplied each of them with clothing and a Bible.

      The first two pictures show the opposite ends of golden hour---a gorgeous sunrise over the harbour, and the lighthouse in late afternoon. What follows is an image of the 200-year-old clock house where Ramsgate's own meridian was established as 5 minutes 41 seconds ahead of that of Greenwich. Nearby is the town beach where in the distance, swimmers can be seen emerging fearlessly from the October water.

      The town also boasts some beautiful early 19th century squares that wouldn't be out of place in Islington and their names are, if anything, more fanciful. One is La Belle Alliance Square, with the Camden Arm (sic) at one corner. The S fell off but no arm in that! Another is Liverpool Lawn, whose connection with Merseyside is a former Prime Minister of that name. One could buy a house here for a third of the London equivalent and be within a two-hour commute of the Big Smoke.      Read more

    • TravelerUnloxit 2021
      Day 1

      Green shoots in Thanet

      June 6, 2021 in England ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

      Almost 6 months have passed since I spent a night away from home. It was a difficult winter with a long lockdown and there's no certainty of it being the final one. However in early June, summer has burst upon us and I choose to make my first escape revisiting Ramsgate, on the Isle of Thanet.

      It's an unpretentious place to the extent of being sadly neglected with too many empty shop fronts in the town centre. With booming resorts like Brighton and Southwold in their different ways, there's not enough to go round and Ramsgate could do with a lift, especially since the ferry services to France were discontinued. Which isn't to say Ramsgate lacks charm. On the contrary; the harbour is scenic, especially when viewed from above, and there's an air of a place waiting to be discovered. Best savoured now, before this happens.

      Besides the harbour views, there's an arcade beneath the road sweeping up to the west, hosting cafes and chandlers for yachties. Ramsgate being a hilly place, there's a Continental-looking flight of steps leading from one level to the next. And an abandoned Art Deco lift shaft hosting some creative street art.

      Along with the harbour came the creation of some wonderful terraces dating from around 1800 which wouldn't be out of place in parts of London. One of them, the quaintly-named Liverpool Lawn, is an echo of the road of the same name and period in Islington, London and named after Lord Liverpool.      Read more

    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Ramsgate, Ramsgato, رامس‌گیت, QQR, ラムズゲート, 램스게이트, Рамсгейт

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