Beautiful Broadstairs

We had the cliff walk to ourselves.  The path curved along the white sandstone cliffs while the sea churned against the rocks ..Magnificent.

Often we don’t have a clue where we are going or what we will see… I kind of like it that we never know what is around the next corner.  This was the case when we came to the end of our walk to Broadstairs.  Before us was the Italianate Greenhouse.   It was originally located in Bretton Hall in Yorkshire (Ey up!)  It was one of the first curved greenhouses designed to capture maximum light.  So let’s hear it for Yorkshire!

We walked into Broadstairs, past the beach huts and the ice cream sellers and into the quirky town.  

Charles Dickens House was of course first on the list.

An old thin, bent guy who looks like a Dickensian character himself,  took our money .  Ebenezer Fumbler maybe.  He checks our 5 pound note, drops it, tries to tear off a ticket,  botches it, and it flutters to the floor. Luckily a cool and collected Guide steers us into the exhibition.  She is so good.  We get a picture of Dickens, his father in the workhouse, Dickens himself a child living on the street. 

I loved seeing how he worked...  the original copies of the books in their serial form  were on display-, as well as copies of the illustrations by  Phiz.  Oh so well worth a visit ... or even two!

We tear ourselves away and head off for the bus... total confusion as to where the bus stop is.  I ask a guy wearing, what we come to think of,  as "Ramsgate Gear" - bright yellow and purple streaked top with orange shorts.  He can't show us the bus stop but he says "come on hop in" and takes us back to Ramsgate.  Yay!  We would have invited him back in for a drink but then we think he might not be so keen on the "neighbourhood"