For my birthday this year my wife Kirstin took me for a weekend away to seaside town of Margate in Kent. The present itself was to stay at the absolutely gorgeous Reading Rooms B&B, a restored Georgian town house a few minutes away from the seafront.

It only has 3 bedrooms and no dining area, so breakfast is served in your room. Hosts, Louise and Liam, bring you a delicious breakfast in a wooden tray up to your room, that you get to choose from the menu the night before. Yoghurts, fruit, muesli and a full cooked English breakfast and veggie options are available. What a way to start the day and our weekend!

First stop was an early walk along the beautiful beach before the (other) tourists descended. The cove-like sandy beach gave us a great opportunity to get our bearings and feel the refreshing sea between our toes on our way to one of the town’s main attractions, Dreamland.

Dreamland is the most photogenic theme park: you may have seen its colourful signs and rides all over social media. While this 2015 iteration of the park is brand new, the main attraction is almost 100 years old. The Scenic Railway is the oldest rollercoaster in the UK and yet feels right at home amongst the rest of the park.

Before we arrived in Margate we had scouted out some restaurants for lunch and dinner. We’d made a late-lunch booking for Buoy and Oyster, Kent Restaurant of the Year 2018, on the seafront to satisfy our seafood craving.

To start we opted for Broadstairs crab in the shell. Fresh local seafood prepared simply was hard not to enjoy!

For our mains I ordered the pan-fried wild halibut served with saffron mash, baby leeks, samphire, and Broadstairs crab bisque. Kirstin went for the Dover sole with cockles and seaweed butter. Both were absolutely stunning.

Of course, it’d be rude not to sample a local Kent gin. A beautiful Anno Kent Dry Gin G&T was just what I needed to unwind and enjoy the view after the meal.

Next stop was the old town and all its quirky cute little shops, followed by the Turner Contemporary gallery.

Keen to savour the sunset over the beach, we found ourselves a table at local cocktail bar The Glass Jar for margaritas (margs in Margs!), negronis and mojitos.

We didn’t have to go far for dinner with the bar’s next door neighbour being the Great British Pizza Co. Not only did their pizzas sound delicious, they also made their own gluten free bases. I couldn’t resist and, ordering crab for the third time that day, went for the crab, samphire and chilli pizza.

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Day 2 was unfortunately a bit grey, so after a relaxed start we headed to Cliftonville, an area of east Margate, to explore. The mysterious Shell Grotto with its unexplained origin and ornate walls was top of our list for the day and definitely somewhere to head to if you’re visiting.

Cliftonville is also home to some of Margate’s coolest coffee shops and we couldn’t resist drying off in Cliffs, a cafe/record store/hair dressers/yoga studio (there’s a reason it’s called Shoreditch-on-sea). After a delicious hot chocolate we were dry enough to face the outdoors and head back into central Margate.

Before heading home, back to London, we wanted to grab some lunch at somewhere we’d been tipped off about by a few people. The Bus Cafe is exactly as the name suggests: a vintage 1980s bus parked on the seafront, converted into a cafe serving locally sourced delicious breakfasts and brunches. Although it was windy and rainy outside, we were cosy on the bus peering out the top deck windows at those braving the beach.

There’s so much to discover in Margate but it’s still manageable in a weekend. Great food, lovely shops, a beautiful beach and rollercoasters… what more could you want!