Down To Margate

My brother had managed to book a day off work so we decided it was time for another trip back to the coast and settled on a return to Margate. The journey down there was a tad on the challenging side as we had to negotiate six different sets of roadworks as the temperature inside the car steadily climbed to 30 degrees C but the second we saw the sea coming into view and those wide expansive skies all was forgiven.
We parked the car at the Lido just outside the town centre and then strolled back into town and along the harbour arm to have a pint looking out across the bay at Margate Sands.
My main image is of the 12 ft tall bronze statue, known as "Mrs Booth", or the "Shell Lady" as she's affectionately known, looking out across the bay towards the brutalist tower block of Arlington House on the horizon. The statue was created by the sculptor Ann Carrington and is a tribute to Sophie Booth, landlady and lover to the painter J.M.W Turner and inspired by the shell lady souvenirs sold at gift shops in the town.
It was then time for a walk through the town itself which is where I took the second, third and fourth extras. I love that there are some quite upmarket areas in the warren of close quartered streets slap back next to some fairly scuzzy parts of town which give it a really idiosyncratic feeling. We then stopped for a fantastically flavoursome lunch at a soul cafe called Olby's. Great food and lovely service from our smiley and very welcoming waitress.
Our lunch consumed it was then time to for a walk traversing the esplanade and back along the beach where my next series of extras were taken. Of course that meant we also had to stop for an ice cream - we devoured our 99's in the shade of the kiosk with sun now at it's full height and making us feel slightly woozy.
Before heading home we thought we should visit the Turner Gallery. It was staging an exhibition by the Brazilian artist Beatriz Milhazes. She is one of the leading abstract artists working today known for her intensely colourful large-scale canvasses which encourage the viewer to reflect on our own relations with the environment. My last image shows a view from a balcony that overlooks one of he artworks applied to the window spanning the full height of the gallery, with my brother silhouetted against it as he attempts to get one of his shots for the day (although one of his hands has been raised to add a bit of his own artistic licence!).
We then set off on the journey back home but still managed a pit stop at the village of Chilham for a quick drink. A great day out!