This is our favourite pastime – grab a book and a towel and there it is, a few paces from the house. With miles of beach to enjoy, the town is surrounded by the sea with wonderful walks in both directions. It’s 3 minutes’ walk from the Boatman’s Reading Rooms. If you turn right, you’ll head for the picturesque village of Kingsdown with its tip top pub The Zetland Arms (booking’s essential) and onwards to the White Cliffs. We love it in winter too, when the path is empty, the wind is fresh and the pub fire welcomes you.
Turn left, and you are looking to build sand castles - head for Sandwich Bay, just 3 miles away, where there’s a gigantic sandy beach sweeping all the way around to Ramsgate (as there’s a charge for visiting this private beach, it’s not crowded).

A classic day out for us would have to feature a visit to an English castle. Within walking distance are Deal Castle and the beautiful Walmer Castle with its stunning newly opened gardens.
Deal Castle was built by the order of King Henry VIII it is one of the finest Tudor artillery castles in England, and among the earliest and most elaborate of a chain of coastal forts. With its distinctive round battlements and drawbridge, there’s a whole world of history at your fingertips.

At Walmer Castle learn about the Duke of Wellington in his role as Lord Warden, and explore exhibits covering his career, life story and the iconic 'celebrity' status he attained during and after his lifetime. William Pitt the Younger, Prime Minister, made his home here, and organized opposition to Napoleon Bonaparte. Find out how he orchestrated England's defences against invasion, as well as designing much of the castle's grounds.

Deal is home to interesting one-off shops too, even window shopping is fun. Wills and Yates is a home store plus gallery with fabulous textiles, books, artwork and more – a place we always visit. Dunlin and Diver is another of our favourite shops, from Moroccan slippers to contemporary ceramics, a great place to find a present. If you have young children, visit Whippersnappers in the High Street, trendy togs for the youngsters. For upcycled and new furniture, home ware and gifts, we recommend Smoke on the Water in Victoria Street. And there are so many other great individual shops.
In spite of the fact that a lot of the small drinking dens frequented by sailors are now long gone, there are some good local pubs which are well worth searching out, of course we’ve had to try a few. Mileage and Petit Brocante are great vintage shops if your looking to find something just a little bit different.

A 15-minute coastal drive will take you to Dover Castle, set high on the hill overlooking the town and the crashing waves of the sea. Above ground there’s the majestical castle and mediaeval keep, underground there are miles of secret WWll tunnels dug out of the chalk cliffs. As a military command centre with a hospital to treat the wounded.

The Deal Time Ball is a Victorian maritime Greenwich Mean Time signal located on Deal seafront. Established in 1855 the time ball, just like the Greenwich time ball fell at 1pm precisely, triggered by an electric signal directly from the Royal Observatory. Definitely worth a visit and has great views out to sea from the top!