Morning All! It’s our last day in Margate today 😁. Before we take the Train back to reality later this afternoon , we had a list – albeit a short one – of a few more places to visit here!
Welcome to ‘Day 4’ loyal Reader! – good to have you back – final day, final Post! 😘
On our list is the nearby Turner Contemporary and the famous Shell Grotto. Thanks to all of you who suggested the latter as a ‘must-see’. We’re mostly inside today, but at least we can enjoy the weather on the walk to our first stop.
10.45am: We checked-out and headed for our first stop. The Sun was now out making it perfect day for a walk and taking in our final views of Margate Seafront and Harbour (just!).
Turner Contemporary
11.10am: The building dominates the skyline here and it’s therefore impossible to miss!
Opened in 2011, Turner Contemporary is an art gallery intended as a contemporary arts space and catalyst for the regeneration of the town. The title commemorates the association of the town with noted landscape painter J. M. W. Turner, who went to school there, and visited throughout his life.
For the size of the building, there didn’t seem to be much to see! The more observant of you will have immediately spotted that there’s more than one building, but we just looked in the first.
Thirty minutes later, across the Ground and First Floor, all we could say was: “Well, that was all a major disappointment!” ☹️. Whilst we all appreciated the creativity clearly in evidence here, there just wasn’t much to see – a real waste of the public space and a missed opportuniy IMHO! 😕. We hoped our next stop would be more interesting!
Shell Grotto
It was! 👍
11.58am: After a fifteen-minute stroll, we arrived at the Grotto. All we’d read was that it is an ornate subterranean passageway full of shells. Almost all the surface area of the walls and roof is covered in mosaics created entirely of seashells, totalling about 2,000 square feet of mosaic, or 4.6 million shells.
Admission was £4.50 for the youngster and £4 for the rest of us. Even before we went in, this place looked interesting!
Shell we go in?… 🥴🥴
There was a helpful information area just before we descended, where it explained the history of this unusual attraction.
The detailed backstory revealed that the Grotto was a real mystery! Nothing was known about WHO created it, nor WHY or HOW! In some respects, it all sounded a bit ‘Stonehenge’ where, in its own way, had the same ‘Wow!’ factor albeit on a smaller scale.
It was 30 metres/100 feet in length and contained 4.6 million shells
It was fascinating! 👍. Well worth the visit, even if they doubled or even tripled the entry fee, we still would have visited! All the more fascinating because of the lack of information about its reason for being! Here are some of the mysterious facts we learned:_
– Discovered by chance in 1835
– Grade-I listed
– No documentation found about it prior to its discovery
– Some theories suggest it was a Roman Villa or an 18th century folly or built by the Knight’s Templars
Just ONE world really to describe this place…
WOW! 👍👏😁
This is is a must-see, but it left us with more questions than answers. Who?, When? but perhaps mostly, Why?
12.15pm: A quick glance at our watches suggested it was time to head in the general direction of the Station if we were to make our various connections. As it was also almost ‘coffee o’clock’, we headed back to the seafront in search of a sit-down.
1.04pm: A 99 (with obligatory flake), a banana milkshake, a Caramel Magnum and a Coke Zero (cheers Sue!), it did the job for us, and with batteries recharged, we were ready for the final push.
We headed back towards the Premier Inn to retrieve our luggage and said our final farewell to Margate.
Well, that’s it for this visit! Goodbye Margate, it’s been good getting to know you! You were a town of contrasts:- Old/New… Loved/Unloved… Hot/cold… ‘Buzzy’/deserted!… We’ll miss you!
1.39pm: We’re on the Train! It’s a slightly different return route allowing our driver to show off the potential of the HS1 track… An hour later, the Train was flexing its muscles!!!
Next stop St Pancras International and then Kettering! See you on the other side!
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