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Ramsgate b&b, guesthouse and hotel accommodation

Visit Ramsgate and the surrounding villages and stay in bed & breakfast accommodation:

Ramsgate, Kent, gained importance as a port after Sandwich silted up. It became a fashionable resort after George IV spent a season there in 1827. It is now a very popular holiday resort, and like many others on the south east coast features Victorian architecture, especially along the front. There are good sand beaches.

About 1 mile west of the town at Pegwell Bay is a novel monument to an important event in early English history: the replica of a Viking longship which commemorates the landing at Ebbsfleet (now some distance from the sea) of the legendary Anglo-Saxon leaders Hengist and Horsa in AD. 449. This ship, the Hugin, was sailed across from Denmark by a party of Danes in 1949 in an anachronistic representation of the craft and warriors of 1,500 years before (5th-century Anglo-Saxon war boats probably had no sails; and the Danish onslaught on England did not begin until more than three centuries later). After being shown in London and several other places, it was presented to Ramsgate. Today it rests in a concrete cradle, and in the season is decked out with colourful Viking shields and oars.

Not far away is the base for a much more modern craft, the Ramsgate Hoverport, opened in 1969. From here hovercraft skim across the Channel. reaching Calais in 40 minutes. The hovercraft carry both motorists and their cars, as well as other passengers.

Some distance inland is a memorial of another important landfall - that of St Augustine with 40 monks in A.D. 597 to bring Christianity to the Anglo-Saxons. The spot where the saint is supposed to have met King Ethelbert is near some lavender gardens on the Minster Road, and is marked by a Celtic cross.

Ramsgate is not rich in ancient buildings. St Lawrence's Church, with a massive square tower, stands on a prominent hill; it attained its present form early in the 13^th century and much of it dates from Norman times. St George's, the parish church, dates only from 1827, and is built in the florid Gothic Revival style of the period. The tower, similar to that of Ely, is 137 ft high; the Trinity House authorities helped towards its cost so that a lantern could be placed on it to guide shipping. There are some fine stained-glass windows commemorating the Dunkirk evacuation. The Roman Catholic St Augustine's Abbey and Church, dedicated in 1851, is considered Pugin's finest work. Its interior furnishings, especially the oak screens, stained glass and metalwork, are good examples of early Victorian design.

Nearby cities: Canterbury

Nearby towns: Birchington, Broadstairs, Deal, Margate, Minster, Sandwich, Whitstable

Nearby villages: Broadstairs, Chillenden, Cliftonville, East Stourmouth, Eastry, Elmstone, Elvington, Eythorne, Garlinge, Goodnestone, Great Mongeham, Grove Ferry, Kingsgate, Knowlton, Manston, Reculver, Ripple, Sarre, Sholden, St. Nicholas at Wade, St. Peters, Staple, Tilmanstone, Walmer, West Stourmouth, Westgate on Sea, Wingham

Have you decided to visit Ramsgate or the surrounding villages? Please look above for somewhere to stay in:

• a Ramsgate bed and breakfast (a Ramsgate B&B or Ramsgate b and b)
• a Ramsgate guesthouse
• a Ramsgate hotel (or motel)
• a Ramsgate self-catering establishment, or
• other Ramsgate accommodation

Accommodation in Ramsgate:

Find availability in a Ramsgate bed and breakfast, also known as B&B or b and b, guesthouse, small hotel, self-catering or other accommodation.