Kids

Take Whitstable, for example (01227 275 482/www.visitwhitstable.co.uk): less than an hour and a half from London Victoria by train, yet more than a million miles aesthetically. Its cluttered harbour, sleepy town centre and shingle beach seem immune to the ravages of passing time. Grown-ups may fancy a local oyster or two at the famous Whitstable Oyster Fishery Company (Horsebridge, 01227 276 856). Feature continues

The coastal path from here, along the grassy Tankerton slopes, takes you the 6.5 kilometres (four miles) or so to Herne Bay (01227 361 911/www.canterbury.co.uk). Here, Victorian summer gardens, a playground and intriguing World War II defence turrets, currently rusting like abandoned robots 11 kilometres (seven miles) or so out to sea, all add to the singular English seaside atmosphere.

Young TV addicts may be more amused by the promenade’s regular appearance in the first series of Little Britain, but sit them through a screening of The Dambusters before heading out and they’ll be blown away by a stroll to neighbouring Reculver, five kilometres (three miles) or so east of Herne Bay on the old Saxon Shore Way coastal trail. It was here that Barnes Wallace’s famous bouncing bombs were first tested in the shadow of ruined St Mary’s church, the twin towers of which are still used as a navigational waypoint by passing ships.

More military associations can be found in Ramsgate, where the white cliffs once overlooked the launch of 4,200 boats to rescue British soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk. One of those ships, the Sundowner – then commandeered by one CH Lightroller, formerly a senior officer on the Titanic – remains moored in Ramsgate’s Royal Harbour, and is open to the public.