With evidence of settlement by Romans, Saxons and Jutes in the area, Folkestone’s long history is interwoven with rejuvenation.
The former fishing town once stood in the shadows of its coastal neighbours in Kent and Sussex, but major events changed its course of direction. A harbour was built in the early 19th century, from where steamships departed for Boulogne, followed by the railway from London.
Reconstruction after heavy air raids during both World Wars attracted holidaymakers and daytrippers and the arrival of high-speed trains and the Channel Tunnel accelerated the town’s development at the start of the millennium.
Since 2008, the town has held a major arts triennial, for which commissioned artworks have found a permanent home around the seafront and on the hillsides. It is now the UK’s largest urban outdoor exhibition of contemporary art and includes more than 70 pieces of work by Tracey Emin, Yoko Ono and others. For a map and more information, see creativefolkestone.org.uk.
In the past five years, £20m of levelling up funding has transformed the town’s layout and public spaces, while new life has been breathed into the forlorn harbour in which local entrepreneur Roger de Haan – Chairman of Saga, which his father founded in Folkestone – has invested, alongside other local charitable projects.
A major new attraction has opened in time for Easter – the Sea Salt Scrub sauna is right on the beach and is currently the UK’s largest of its kind.
Quick guide
Nearest station: London St Pancras High Speed trains take 56 minutes to reach Folkestone Central from the capital, with a further stop in Dover. There are slower trains from London Charing Cross. Transport: Bus services from a newly created hub on Middelburg Square connect other seaside towns including neighbouring Sandgate and Hythe (104), Dover (104 and 105) as well as Canterbury (16) and Ashford (10). The seafront is easy to get around on foot, but getting up to the elevated Leas promenade – whose popularity with Victorian visitors is evident in the villas that overlook the sea – requires a bit of puff, until the Leas Lift funicular reopens later this year after renovation. Stay: Find holiday lets in the Shoreline development through Bloom Stays. Try the Victorian The View hotel in The Leas. Eat: Sailbox, Radnor Arms, Rocksalt, Herbert’s Drink: The Lighthouse Champagne Bar, Shop: Creative Quarter Visit: Folkestone Harbour station, Richard Woods’ Holiday Home, Sunny Sands beach, Lower Leas Coastal Park, More: creativefolkestone.org.ukThe best places to stay
Shoreline is an ambitious beachfront development of luxury homes by Roger de Haan that ripples like a clam shell in glazed white bricks, triple-glazed glass and marine-grade steel. While the spacious beach houses cost more than £1m to buy, a few are available as holiday lets through Bloom Stays, starting at £350 per night. They come with uninterrupted sea views, private parking and high-spec kitchens, some with patio gardens and direct beach access.
Apartments and houses at Shoreline overlook the Channel (Photo: Shoreline/Matt Rowe)In the Leas, The View hotel occupies a Victorian villa and has modern bedrooms, some of which have accessible features, from £61 per night.
The best thing to do
It’s a few minutes’ walk along the boardwalk from Shoreline, past the Lubaina Himid’s Jelly Mould Pavilion to Sea Scrub Sauna, which claims to be the UK’s biggest beach spa. It commands a big plot in the middle of the shingle beach, and has two large wood-fired saunas, two cold plunge pools and a hot tub, as well as a Japanese café and fire pit. Open from 8am-8pm, it’s the ideal spot to start (or end) the day with invigorating contrast therapy – there’s a profound sense of tranquillity to be found in a quiet moment in the cold plunge as the day begins. One hour from £17.
The Sea Scrub Sauna is thought to be the biggest beach spa in the UK (Photo: Provided)The best place to shop
The Old High Street is the main artery of the Creative Quarter. The pedestrianised street snakes upwards, lined with independent shops, studios, cafés and galleries. Browse the windows for handmade jewellery, hipster tattoo inspiration, comics, vintage clothes, vinyl and fun beachy souvenirs from Laes, including graphic sweatshirts, kids’ t-shirts and beach toys.
A don’t miss attraction
Folkestone Harbour station opened to transport guests from trains to steamships in 1850, with the last train – the Venice Simplon Orient Express – running in 2009. The line closed five years later and fell into dereliction. It was brought back to life as a linear park a decade later and is now a unique and award-winning place to wander and linger by the seafront.
Harbour platforms have been imaginatively brought back to life (Photo: Ray Orton/Getty Images)Walk over the harbour – looking out for Richard Woods’ cartoonish, floating Holiday home bobbing on the water – along the viaduct, with its plants and seating areas, to Victorian platforms repurposed as seating areas along the curved trackbed. The 1915 signal box is now a coffee shop and, along both platforms, doorways open onto to cafés, a taproom and a street food and events plaza.
The best place for a sundowner
Folkestone Harbour (Photo: Marc Bruxelle/Getty/iStock Editorial)Continue from the platforms to the end of the Harbour Arm, where The Lighthouse Champagne Bar is an atmospheric spot on a sunny evening, with tables outside the 19th-century lighthouse overlooking the water. Order a chilled glass of Chapel Down sparkling Bacchus or Kentish pip Skylark cider to enjoy under a dusky pink sky.
The best place for dinner
Walk back up the Harbour Arm to She Sells Seashells, a seafood restaurant housed in restored antique train carriages on Platform 3. Rope-grown mussels, crab and lobster come from the fishmongers on the harbour, and fresh fish is landed in nearby Dymchurch, with wine from Biddenden.
The best beach
The main beaches are shingle, but continue west from the harbour to Sunny Sands. You’ll want to get there early on high days and holidays, since this is the only sandy beach for miles. Artworks to look out for here include Tracey Emin’s Baby Things series, and Cornelia Parker’s sculpture The Folkestone Mermaid.
Look out for Richard Woods’ ‘Holiday Home’ installations in and around the harbour (Photo: Mike Kemp/In Pictures via Getty Images)The best place for lunch
Walk back to the Harbour Arm for a fishermen’s breakfast or pancakes at Sailbox. For a longer lunch, head up to “Bouverie Village” at the west end of Folkestone, where the Radnor Arms serves a modern pub menu including woodfired seabass and roasts such as Orchard Farm porchetta on a Sunday.
The best place to relax
Go for a wander around the Lower Leas Coastal Park. The zig-zag pathway down to Mermaid Beach was inspired by Italian cliffside promenades, and is dotted with hidden seats and secret grottos among the verdant greenery, as well as artworks that include David Shrigley’s Lamp Post. The grassy spots are popular with picnickers on sunny days, and there’s also a playground. The listed Leas Lift funicular is being refurbished and will offer a swift route back up when completed later this year.
You can follow the coastal path all the way to Sandgate, Folkestone’s smart village neighour where H G Wells once lived.
The best place for a treat
Fish restaurant Rocksalt by the harbour has been winning awards for 15 years. More recently, laid-back Little Rock has opened above it, with a terrace that’s ideal for a sunset cocktail, small plates of seared Folkestone scallops or potted Hastings mackerel pate. After, head for artisan gelato – perhaps Gypsy Tart – at Herbert’s next to the fish market.
Three things you might not know about Folkestone…
1) King Edward VII would regularly take his mistress Alice Keppel – great grandmother of Queen Camilla – to the former Grand Hotel in the Leas.
2) Folkestone is home to F51, the world’s first purpose-built multi-storey skatepark, with suspended concrete bowls.
3) Former footballer and Match of the Day presenter Jimmy Hill once played for non-league side Folkestone Town in the 40s, while he was stationed in the town with the Army.
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