Dungeness

Thursday 19 August 2010

Dungeness is in the south east corner of England - one of the most densely populated regions of the UK, yet it is a desolate and lonely place, even when the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway brings in day trippers by the hundreds, as it did today.
According to "Secret Britain" on the BBC a couple of days ago, it's the only desert in the country. I'm not sure how a pebble beach qualifies as a desert, but if the Beeb says it is, that'll do me.
The place is a mixture of abandoned fishing boats alongside those still working, containers, homes made out of old railway carriages, huts (and latterly, designer huts), all kinds of abandoned fishing gear, two lighthouses and two nuclear power stations. It looks as if the whole lot was dropped willy-nilly on to Europe's biggest pebble beach (Something else I learned from that documentary).
On each of my three visits, there has been a coachload of visiting German tourists, always with the same guide. They visit the garden of the late Derek Jarman's house and wander amongst the chaos of old and new, abandoned and just built. It's a unique place.