Monday 21 February 2011

Wild for Whitstable



I'm still feeling slightly worse for wear after my birthday this weekend. I had been imagining one of those beautiful, crisp sunny winter mornings but woke on Saturday morning to horizontal, lashing, cold rain. Not going to be defeated by the typical February weather, sixteen of us met at Victoria train station armed with enough croissants, coffee, champagne and bagels to feed the whole station and hopped on the train to Whitstable. My brother Ned and his lovely girlfriend Anna had been a few times and suggested that a day trip to the Whitstable Oyster Company would be a great outing for my birthday. They couldn't have been more right and it's now my new favourite hang out. Whitstable is an adorable seaside town in Kent, only an hour and a half on the train from London. The main street is full of little crafty shops - has a homespun feel to it, old fashioned sweet shops, home made cupcakes, bric-a-brac shops...Ideal for pottering even in the pouring rain. The restaurant is bang on the sea front and on a good day you can sit and watch the fishermen bringing in their catch. It's all gorgeous white clapboard, red and white check table cloths and floor to ceiling windows looking out to sea - very Nantucket.
The food is great, all caught that day. The town is renowned for their oysters so we thought we would all share a huge platter and even the non-oyster fans (me) were converted by the end of lunch. I tried to be swanky by choosing lobster which was delicious but I was rather jealous of my brother Tom's posh fish and chips which were a proper sensation. Definitely having that next time. We spent the rest of the afternoon pottering around, trying to recreate the Burberry campaign on the cobbled beach -as you do, and hanging out in The Neptune, apparently 'the oldest pub in the land'.
I am already excited about our next outing, the lovely Dee from the restaurant has given us the details of a house that sleeps 20 on the beach...Im thinking June would be good.









No comments: