Coasting along
When we picture a gay British seaside destination, our minds automatically dart to Brighton, or maybe Bournemouth, but our south coast has plenty of other rainbow treasures, as I discovered.
The first stop for my boyfriend, our dog Freddie and I is one of the country’s most unique landscapes. It is a little unsettling, having driven through the vibrant, green, rolling hills of Kent to then arrive in Dungeness. Flat and sparse — save for a few wild flowers, including the indigenous yellow-horned poppy — it is home to the UK’s only desert and has one of the largest expanses of shingle in Europe. It certainly seems to go on forever. There are shored-up boats decaying in the sun, and to add to the eerie, post-apocalyptic aura, in the distance, a huge nuclear power station looms large.
The handful of houses along Dungeness’s only road range from old converted railway carriages to fisherman’s cottages to a few newer builds that look more like bunkers than homes.
Although at first glance Dungeness might not seem to have much to offer visitors, a modest fisherman’s hut has always been a draw. Prospect Cottage once belonged to celebrated artist and filmmaker Derek Jarman,
