Cliftonville Week 1

This has been my first week in Cliftonville, Margate and so far it has surpassed my expectation. The people I have met, the communities I have been in touch with have been so friendly and inviting.

At the start of the week I met the owner of Walpole Bay Hotel, Jane Bishop. She was giving a talk to a group of 40 seniors about the history of her Edwardian hotel and invited me to tag along. She retold the fascinating story of her and her husbands love affair with the hotel, and purchase in the 90’s when it was about to be demolished. Not only has the hotel been restored to its former Edwardian style glory, but Jane has created a museum dedicated to memorabilia and documentation of the Isle of Thanet, where people are so dedicated to the cause that they donate their precious historic artifacts to Jane and the museum for their display. Brilliant stuff! Jane was a top host, friendly and full of stories, and even offered me tea and a biscuit in china from a by gone era.

I have lots more planned for next week, let’s see what direction the project will take! So I’ll leave you a beautiful view of the coastline I took whilst out running this morning.