A Personal Perspective on Broadstairs

About Broadstairs

This page is all about one of our favourite places to relax. Janie and I have lived in the area for over 30 years and have now lived here in Broadstairs since 1998. It is a quiet town on the Kent coast between Margate and Ramsgate on the Isle of Thanet. It is sometimes referred to as the Jewel in Thanet's Crown. It is also known by the translation of the Town crest motto Stella Maris - Star of the Sea. There is quite a lot of history associated with the area, smuggling was prevalent for many years and of course Charles Dickens lived and wrote here.

I have added a Local History page to the site, I am no historian but hope it will encourage anyone interested to do some more research.

This picture (click on it to enlarge) was taken around 10am on 31st May 2001 showing Viking Bay in Broadstairs at its best in the sun, it got somewhat busier later in the day! On the left you can see the tower of the new Beach Lift (opened in 2000) which now gives easy access to Viking Bay for anyone who find stairs difficult for any reason. There is no charge to use the Lift and you get a good view of the bay on the way down!

There are a number of bays in and around Broadstairs, all of which are sandy and reasonably safe for children, although only Botany, Joss and Viking Bays have lifeguards. Viking Bay is also dog free from May until September!

The "Big Freeze" continues and here in Broadstairs we have had more snow at the start of 2010. See more photos here.

Well we have had some snow in Broadstairs in 2009, not as much as many other places, but it did look very picturesque. There was even one hardy soul taking a dip! See some more photos here.

Sea Sunday took place again this year, there was a parade through the town from Pierremont Hall to the Harbour where several boats were anchored both in the Harbour and offshore, the Coastguard aircraft dropped poppies over the Harbour. See some photos from Sea Sunday 2009 here.

On Monday 19th January the ship Sinegorsk lost part of its cargo of wood overboard, later in the week some of this wood washed up on the Kent coast between Broadstairs and Ramsgate. Some photos of what was washed up are shown here. There is also some video available to watch on this page.

On 9th November 2007 there was a reported North Sea surge causing a danger of very high tides and possible flooding, fortunately it all passed off without any loss of life or major flooding. However the few photos shown here do give some idea of just how rough the sea was. If the tide had been higher who knows what might have happened.

On 28th and 29th September 2007 there were particularly high tides at Viking Bay, some of the beach huts nearly got washed away! There are some photos here.

On Sunday 26th August 2007 the RNLI held a fund raising Trawler Race from Ramsgate to Broadstairs Jetty and back. There are some photos of the Broadstairs end of the race here.

On Sunday 12th August 2007 Broadstairs had a visitor not seen for quite a long time in the harbour, a Thames sailing barge. This barge, called the Lady of the Lea arrived and moored against the Jetty near where many years ago similar barges could be seen delivering coal etc. Built of wood at Rotherhithe in 1931 by Hyam & Oliver for the War Department for Carriage of explosives from Waltham Abbey. The last sailing barge built she followed plans of canal barges of a century ago. To see some photos please go here.

On the 22nd May 2007 The Grand Turk was involved in a fund raising event in aid of the Cancer Care Appeal for the QEQM Hospital Margate. This involved a short trip out of Ramsgate Royal Harbour followed by a display by two WWII P-51 Mustangs, called 'Janie' & 'Big Beautiful Doll'. To see some photos of this event please go here.

For the school summer holiday period there is (weather permitting) a traditional Punch & Judy show on Viking Bay.

Each year over Viking Bay,during the summer holiday period, there is a firework display, if the wind is not too strong! See events for details. The photo is one of the fireworks which burst on the water and has become a regular part of the display.

On Thursday 9th June 2005 the Viking Longship at Pegwell Bay was returned to public display following restoration by Tommi Nielsen & Co, a firm specialising in maintaining historic sailing ships. This restoration was funded jointly by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Thanet Council. The photo on the left is before restoration and the one on the right is after.

Being a very picturesque place film crews sometimes use the various bays around Broadstairs. You can see some recent photos here when James Nesbit (star of Cold Feet) was at Viking Bay filming.

Also recently Disney was here filming for the children's TV show Diggin It. There are some photos here.

Weather for Broadstairs

Current Weather Conditions

Local Weather Forecast for next 2 days.

Tonight Very Cold	Tuesday Mostly Cloudy	Tuesday night Very Cold	Wednesday Mostly Cloudy
Low: -4°	High: -1°	Low: -3°	High: 5°
E	E	ESE→NNW	NNW
13-20	13	7-15	13→18
mph	mph	mph	mph
None	None	None	None

Local Tide Forecast for today.

                   Time   Height(M)
   Low Tide:   1:47   1.7
  High Tide:   8:01   3.8
   Low Tide:  14:36   1.6
  High Tide:  20:42   3.8

Major Events Broadstairs & Thanet