Things to do in Margate with kids

Margate stopped apologising for itself about ten years ago. It was right to. Margate has always been good for kids. What changed is that it got good for everyone else too — which means you can now do a proper family day out and also eat somewhere decent and walk around an interesting town without it feeling like a compromise. That wasn't always the case. It is now. Dreamland is the thing everyone mentions and it earns the mention. Vintage rides, an arcade, a roller disco that somehow works for every age, a crazy golf course that takes about 45 minutes and causes at least one argument per family — entry to the park is free and you pay per activity or buy a wristband. On a busy summer Saturday it gets loud and hectic. On a grey Tuesday in May it's almost peaceful and the queues disappear. Main Sands is the beach. Wide, sandy, shallow water — it works well for small kids in a way that some of the Kent beaches further along the coast don't. The Shell Grotto is five minutes inland and is one of those places that's hard to explain until you're standing in it: an underground chamber covered entirely in shells, Victorian lighting, and absolutely no consensus on who built it. Kids find it either magical or slightly creepy. Sometimes both. Broadstairs is ten minutes down the coast and worth knowing about as a quieter alternative — smaller beach, smaller crowds, same quality of light. Between the two you've got options. Margate for the spectacle, Broadstairs when you want to actually get a spot on the sand before 11am.