Hi, and welcome to our video of Folkestone
Another English coastal town
that has undergone a transformation
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Folkestone is in the southeast corner of the UK
in the county of Kent
it's one of the gateways to Europe but I'd like
to persuade you not to bypass the town
In this clip we're going to be discovering
The Leas, the beach, the harbour
and the harbour arm, the Creative Quarter & the Bayle
So let's start with the Leas then
The Leas is a Victorian promenade
split into an upper and lower region
and we're going to start by heading past the bandstand
towards The Metropole and Grand hotels
It was from The Metropole that the war poet
Wilfred Owen left England to fight in the Great War and
The Grand still operates as a rather fine hotel to this day
From the Leas you get stunning views of the beach
and the English Channel
but let's head down to the lower Leas coastal walk
via the Zig-Zag path
styled in the 1920s the path adds a grotto-esque route
to the coastline
this path leads you straight into Folkestone
if you want to go the other way
it will take you to Sandgate along the shoreline
Now we arrive at one of Folkestone's beaches
this is a pebbly affair, but to allow access to all
there is a wide wooden pathway across the stones
If you follow the path you'll discover some
of the artworks Folkestone is becoming renowned for
including the Jelly Mould Pavilion by Lubaina Himid
You will also discover the pebble poppies
to remember those who left this shoreline
to fight in the Great War and maybe never return
the best view of the poppies though is
from where remembrance road joins the upper Leas
We now head towards the Harbour Arm
As you can see it once housed a railway station
that station closed its regular passenger service in 2001
however, the Orient Express continued until 2009
and the station was officially closed in 2014
but as you can see it has now been restored
and contains a few surprises
I love the way the signs are bilingual
it gives you a taste of the continent ahead
So for clarity, this was filmed towards
the end of September, past the peak season
We are eager to return on a beautiful summer's day
when the harbour's arm is in full swing
There's so much choice it's gonna be difficult
The original waiting rooms have now been repurposed
and are now home to some interesting little places
Once again public art can be found
along the Harbour Arm
including Another Time by Anthony Gormey
and then a champagne bar in a lighthouse
how Rock 'n' Roll
From the end of the Harbour Arm
once again you get some stunning views out
into the English Channel
The upper walkway, popular with anglers
takes you back towards the town
Before you reach town though
you'll come across the harbour
and a pretty little thing it is too
have you noticed the house floating in the harbour?
it's part of the holiday home art installation
by Richard Woods
there's another in the corner car park too
Now let's take a stroll back to town
Folkestone has a fine selection of different restaurants
for all budgets
one of our favourites is Rocksalt which opened in 2011
the brainchild of Kentish chef Mark Sargeant
and offers stunning views over the harbour
for a more modest budget then why not
try Chummys on the harbour edge
I think it's time to have a quick look around
Folkestone's Creative Quarter
Does anyone know the name of that flag?
please leave us a comment below because
we'd love to know
Let's take a stroll up the old high street
It's a bit of a climb but it's worth it
So, are you interested?
And now another side of Folkestone
The Bayle
Pretty terraced houses and a historic pub
the British Lion
where Charles Dickens is said to have frequented
It's only a short walk from here to
the road of Remembrance
where you can rejoin the upper Leas
but we're heading back through the town
towards the harbour again
as I said Folkestone caters for all budgets
but we skipped Bob's and headed towards
The Smokehouse - a modern take on fish and chips
So we arrived at the end of our day and there
was so much more to see and do in Folkestone
So we'll be back, are we likely to bump into you?
So we'll end up Folkestone's other beach Sunny Sands
with the Folkestone Mermaid by Cornelia Parker
We hope you enjoyed our brief visit to Folkstone
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