Visit Dungeness Day Trip: What To Do And History

Is Dungeness a desert? See my photos of the beach, mini railway and old lighthouse.

Dungeness feels apocalyptic. Like a movie which takes place after a disaster.

Or the wild west, once the gold rush has disappeared and the town falls in ruin.

Either way, the atmosphere is quite eerie.

Dungeness is the best seaside town in Kent according to Which?, competing against the likes of Broadstairs and Deal…

Dungeness holds the title of the largest expanse of shingle in Europe. The pebbled beach is habituated by abandoned old boats, long past their sea-faring days.

A couple of small buildings in similar state stand solitary on the beach.

The outline of a rail track leads nowhere.

Things to do in Dungeness

In 2019, Dungeness was voted one of the best places to visit in the UK by Rough Guides.

The Telegraph also included Dungeness in its list of top 20 beaches in the UK.

But apart from spending the day at the beach and taking photos of abandoned objects, what else can you do at Dungeness?

The conditions make Dungeness perfect for wildlife to flourish. A unique national nature reserve home to 600 species of plants, which is a third of all plants found in the UK.

There’s a brilliant food stall serving fresh seafood (which is the busiest part of Dungeness it seems, but worth the wait).

Dungeness Railway

There’s also a miniature railway which has been running since 1928, making it fun to visit neighbouring towns Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch. Fun fact, the Dungeness railway was actually opened by Laurel and Hardy cutting the ribbon…

Dungeness Lighthouse And Power Station

You can visit the old Historic Grade 11 lighthouse, which offers views at 46 metres high, and the EDF power station.

And it’s worth visiting Prospect Garden which was once owned by the late British director and artist Derek Jarman. For the first time, it’s now possible to see the interior of the house as it was bought by the Art Fund.

Prospect Garden

I’d also recommend bringing an umbrella. It was once claimed Dungeness was Britian’s only desert, due to the low rainfall (the Met office has debunked this myth). It rained heavily for about 10 minutes! I was lucky as I had a car, but many did not have any shelter and were soaked!

Here are more of my photos of Dungeness.