Folkestone - more than just Eurotunnel, Travel Britain
Folkestone is well-known for its Eurotunnel link to Calais, only 35 minutes across the Channel. However, the former ferry port has much more to offer than a terminus building for people travelling abroad. A relaxed, friendly resort on Kent's south-east coast, it's blessed with exceptional scenery, both on land and by the sea. Families, nature-lovers, geologists, cyclists and walkers can all enjoy the town, situated beneath the North Downs. The blue-flag Sunny Sands beach is popular, although sea views, reaching to France on a clear day, are most dramatically viewed from higher ground. The marvellous, mile-long Leas Promenade, which can be reached by lift, winds along the clifftop past Victorian buildings, green lawns and drifts of woodland. There are plenty of places up here to eat - restaurants, pubs and fast-food joints - while taking time out to watch fishing boats and yachts sailing in and out of the harbour. Leading down from the cliffs to the beach is the award-winning Lower Leas Coastal Park. Planted with a Mediterranean flourish, it provides an amphitheatre with free music and entertainment, and an adventure playground for children. The East Cliff and Warren Country Park, meanwhile, is a haven for all sorts of wildlife, from birds and insects to wild flowers, and it's also a great place to find 100-million-year-old fossils. The "rainforest paradise" at nearby Swingfield shows off tropical butterflies. Elsewhere in Folkestone, for anyone liking a flutter, is Kent's only horseracing course. Other sporting attractions include golf, bowls, tennis, fishing, riding and skating. Walkers joining the North Downs Way or the Saxon Shore Way will be fabulously rewarded, as will cyclists following NCN routes, and visitors staying in town can enjoy indoor sports, shopping and sightseeing in the Creative Quarter, an arts and crafts community in the oldest part of Folkestone.
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