Summer sky over Margate

JMW Turner famously chose Margate to paint his seascapes. In brilliant sunshine, sparklingly clear air, I could imagine what would attract painters to this town at the edge of Kent. Most recently, local artist Tracey Emin returned home. Maybe she had enough of painting in London’s smoke.

In Margate, the Turner Gallery showed a charming exhibition called ‘Seaside: Photographed’. A range of takes on the beach with its holidays and entertainment as snapped by photographers since the 1850s.

I am adding here, unasked, my own shots.

Spending time on the beach in Broadstairs:

The most popular episode of ‘Only Fools and Horses’ in the 1990s was the lads’ outing to Margate – and you will find numerous references to this sitcom peppered throughout the town:

The restored frontage of Dreamland, built in 1935, a revolutionary piece of architecture that influenced what new cinemas looked like throughout the country: