19/07/08
Hi ?
I just wanted to say that what a brilliant job you have done on this site. I enjoyed it way better than the "official" sites. I have to say too that your photographs are exceptional.
It was great to se a lot of places that I know. I now live in Australia and have done so since 1979. I lived in Swalecliffe in Herne Bay Rd. The pictures of the bus stuck under the bridge by Swalecliffe station bought back memories of the chip shop, opposite where we used to hang out as kids. When I lived there, Whitstable seemed such a dull place,maybe that's why I buggered off and joined the Royal Navy to pursue a career in diving.
I have been back a few times the latest being in 2004. Whitstable has changed a lot since then. All those people from London have moved into the area, now it seems to be a trendy place to live which seems ironic to me. Wheelers had not changed at all from when I used to go in there as a teenager and eat huge amounts of cockles after a few pints.
Anyway I just wanted to say thanks for bringing back a lot of memories.
Kind Regards
13/08/07
Hi Jon,
Thank's for remembering me!
We had a great holiday, thank you. We stayed above the shop Frank (65 Harbour street). Firstly our accommodation was fantastic! A great little flat for up to 4 people to stay.
We were a few doors along from the Quayside pub. This seemed either very busy or completely dead each time we walked past it. We ate there on the last evening and I have to say it was a big disappointment. An expensive disappointment at that! The chap behind the bar was a lovely fella but both myself and the children were overwhelmed at the amount of food served. It wasn’t that nice either. I'd have rather paid half of what it cost and received half the portions.
Unfortunately, within the first few days I did my back in! I went to the Doctors/Health place almost opposite the indoor bowling place. We got there at 8.00am and I was amazed to be seen at 8.40am! The doctor was fantastic and her medication saved our holiday!!! So thumbs up to a fast and efficient doctor's in Whitstable.
Ok the trendy shops in Whitstable are very nice but also very pricey! There also seemed to be a lack of a good baker's! We ended up buying rolls from Somerfield everyday!!!
There must be a thriving crafting community because I think there were at least four shops that sold wool!! All our wool shops have closed down and there is only one big one in Southend that is very expensive! Boring I know Jon, but I bought some wool whilst on holiday!!!
I thought that the charity shops were brilliant and the people that we met that worked in all the shops were all very friendly and helpful. The chip shop that was opposite and along from us was great and they were very nice people. The kids liked the little old fashioned sweet shop nearby! Whitstable seemed quite an expensive place to shop/live but I suppose if you live there you get to know where to buy things from. We also enjoyed a scoop of ice cream that was served in a boat style dish that was from a shop a few doors down from Frank.
The beaches were great as I presume due to the stones, were not too busy even on the hottest of days. The kids were able to swim in the sea and we also enjoyed walking at the bottom of Tankerton slopes. We went to the fair at Tankerton on the Sunday and the kids loved the craft stalls.
Amazingly Jon, we only saw one piece of dog's mess!!! That was behind that big hamster wheel thing down by the harbour and appeared to be quite old!! ha ha My daughter is mad on dogs and we have never seen so many dog's being walked yet no dog mess!!! I know you mentioned this problem on your website and it is one of my pet (!) hates but I can honestly say that we didn’t see any other than the bit at the harbour! Maybe there has been a recent clean up campaign.
I was also impressed by the litter bins. OK they don't look great but I never saw them over filled and we hardly saw any litter in Whitstable so that was a good thing.
The yacht club seemed to be a thriving place and I would imagine that it is 'the' trendy place to go to for local people. There seemed to be a mix of people and families that were there.
Being with young children, I didn’t sample the nightlife so I can't comment on what it is like for socialising in the evening. There certainly seemed a lot of places to eat and drink but of a night we were not disturbed by any revelers! Or maybe we were too zonked out by all the fresh air from the beach!!!
We used the stagecoach bus services on a couple of days into Canterbury and for a visit to Druidstone wildlife place.
The buses were noticeably newer and cleaner than our local buses. We were not told on the first trip that we could have got a family day ticket even though I asked the driver for the cheapest day ticket for all of us. The next bus journey the driver was much more helpful and we bought a ticket for £5.00 which meant we could hop on and off buses all day.
The bus journey was excellent as it was a very picturesque route to Canterbury, so no complaints there.
We walked from the station to our accommodation when we arrived, but when we left I used Whitstable cabs. They are the ones based at the station. We had a lovely driver who was really helpful and informative. He dropped us off at the London side so we could get on the train easily and I was gobsmacked when he only charged £2.50! A similar fare where I live would be £6.00. So either it's really cheap in Whitstable or really expensive in Leigh on Sea!!!
I took the children bowling. Sadly due to my back, I couldn't play but the children enjoyed it. The very young staff there were extremely helpful unlike at the nearby Public swimming baths. My daughter didn’t want to go in the pools but my son did and we watched through the glass. There was only a few people in the pool but 3 lifeguards were playing with there mobile phones and not paying any attention to the pool. I wave frantically at them through the glass until I caught a young girl's attention and she came out to see me. She seemed surprised that I wanted to ask her and the other life guards to pay attention to my son in the water! She claimed that they were listening to each other's new ringtones!
In the waiting area of the swimming baths there were two very unruly children who progressed from running about all over the place and shouting to throwing food and then cans of drink, one of which narrowly missed my daughter. When I stood up looking for the parent in charge of them, the lady at the desk called out to the children to sit down!! She had been sitting there all that time whilst these children ran riot and they were her own children!! Thank goodness we had good weather so the children could swim in the sea and not there again!!!
The castle grounds were very nice but not of enough interest to two children who wanted to go back to the beach!
Sorry if I'm going on Jon, but you did ask!!!
I think your website gave a good assessment of Whitstable but as our being tourists we tended to see the good things. And obviously everything looks much nicer on a sunny day! I think the council may have made more of an effort in recent times concerning litter and dog mess hence my own personal findings. If the local people made a fuss about your website maybe it gave them food for thought and it has brought to their attention some issues which may now have been attended to.
I don't think that a week in Whitstable was enough, ten days would have been better. We spent two day's visiting Canterbury so I would have like to have explored Whitstable more. My children thought it was a fantastic place to visit and stay and really loved the beach. Maybe it's not the place for more sophisticated teenagers but my children (9 and 12) thoroughly enjoyed themselves. My daughter is still wearing the pebble with a hole in it that I made into a necklace for her! Sorry for this theft from your beach but it is only a tiny pebble!
I would definitely come back to Whitstable as there is so much more to do and see than we covered.
I'll let you know when, and do another review for you!
Best wishes
