Deal

Close enough to the ferries for a day trip to Calais, but far removed from Dover’s industrial bustle, Deal is a pretty town with well-preserved period buildings and Kent’s only pier jutting out from a long, unspoilt pebble beach. It’s a wonderful year-round destination, full of cosy pubs and restaurants for dark winter nights, with stunning coastal walks. Once smugglers would use lanterns to lure ships aground on the treacherous Goodwin Sands, and the town was a bawdy playground for off-duty sailors. Now it’s a friendly, quirky place, where everyone seems to rub along nicely. There’s a big gay community here, lots of artists, writers and musicians, and it’s popular with DFLs (that’s weekenders down from London).