Visit the second best seaside town in England

Well, why would you want to do that? And why not go to the first best?

Before you ask, the second best seaside town in England is Broadstairs, in the Isle of Thanet, on England’s south east coast, Kent, as voted by Guardian readers. (Number 1 was St Ives, in Cornwall).

Broadstairs has retained its Victorian charm and even, at certain weeks of the year, its Dickensian characters. It has several lovely sandy beaches, a paddling pool, rides for kiddies on the beach and a bandstand where bands play on a Sunday afternoon in the summer.

The town can be reached in a couple of hours by car or train from London or elsewhere in the south and once there, unlike Cornwall, you can probably find a place to park. Although ‘Busy Broadstairs’ is full of families over the summer, it is never unbearably crowded and the railway station is only a 10 minute walk away from the beach.

There are events throughout the spring, summer and autumn in Broadstairs – with frequent firework displays over Viking Bay, Dickens Week in June, when characters parade around and take a dip in the sea in costume, to Folk Week in August when the town is taken over by musicians and dancers, to a grand Food Festival at the end of September and into October.

A gem of a tiny old cinema, the Palace, shows a regular programme of new commercial releases with a weekly art film evening on Tuesdays. Morelli’s huge original ice cream parlour, a preserved 50s classic, still serves knickerbocker glories, and huge specials made for two people.

A wide range of restaurants in the town make it a good choice for grown ups too, with plenty of coastal walks, top golf courses and historic locations in Thanet itself and nearby areas of East Kent.

Whether for a day trip by the sea (and the weather usually is better than inland) or a short break or a family seaside holiday, Broadstairs can’t be beaten.