Kent Coastal week

Thanet will be showcasing what its coastline has to offer this month (October), as it plays host to around a third of all the events taking place to mark Kent Coastal Week.

This year’s theme is the creative coast and you can get creative through photography, learning and exploring in a number of different events, run by the Thanet Coast Project.

It all starts from Saturday 22 October and runs until Sunday 30 October, with one of the first events looking at wildlife photography. You can pick up tips from ecologist Brett Lewis and Tony Flashman on how to take professional shots of coastal wildlife in this full one day workshop. It costs £10, thanks to a subsidy from Kent Coastal Week.

Sea Safaris are taking place all week, either out to see the seals in the Sandwich and Pegwell Bay National Nature Reserve or to view the coastline along Broadstairs and North Foreland and learn more about the area’s famous people and landmarks. All the one hour trips with Horizon Sea Safaris leave from Ramsgate’s Royal Harbour and are available for a subsidised rate of £10 per person.

If you want to stay on dry land, you can search out some of Thanet’s elusive shore life with marine ecologist Ian Humpheryes on the Rocky Shore Discovery Tour. This is suitable for the whole family and is aimed at 4-14 year olds. It meets on Sunday 23 October at Dumpton Gap, Broadstairs. You can also take a Storytelling Walk and Treasure Trail at locations around our coast with the Scandalmongers storytellers. Both events are free, thanks to support from Kent Coastal Week.

Families can also get involved with the Easy Sunday Special “Beach Huts and Sea Hats” on Sunday 30 October, starting at 1.00pm. A family workshop collaboration between the Thanet Coast Project and Turner Contemporary, you can help to make a “beach hut” and create your own “sea-themed hat”. It costs £2 per child payable at the Turner Contemporary reception on the day, with under threes and accompanying adults going free.

You can also learn more about the area’s unique chalk cliffs, rocks, flints and fossils with the Rock Doc, with the next walk taking place on Wednesday 26 October around Minnis Bay in Birchington.

Cllr. Chris Wells, Cabinet Member for Community Services, said: “The Thanet coast features strongly with more than one-third of all the Kent Coastal Week events this year. Creativity is now part of our coastline with the new Turner Contemporary and also many of our local events and activities – from wildlife photographic workshops to fun family marine treasure trails for family teams to take part in.”

For more details, and to book on many of the Thanet events as part of Kent Coastal Week, visit the Thanet Coast Project website. Many of the events are being run at a subsidised rate, thanks to the sponsors of Kent Coastal Week.