New Romney

New Romney sits at the edge of the Romney Marsh, a Cinque Port town that lost its harbour when the shingle accumulated and the sea retreated. The town is small and functional, its railway station the most significant visitor draw. The Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway -- the world's smallest public railway, with 15-inch gauge track -- has its operational headquarters here, including the engineering workshops where the fleet of steam and diesel locomotives is maintained.

The RHDR Heritage Centre at New Romney is included in standard RHDR admission and gives access to the working sheds and historic rolling stock, including detailed documentation of the railway's 1927 origins as a serious engineering project rather than a leisure attraction. For those travelling the full line from Hythe to Dungeness, New Romney is the natural midway point where the Romney Marsh landscape is at its flattest and most open. Littlestone beach, 1 mile east across the Marsh on foot, offers a stretch of coast that functions without the infrastructure of the larger Kent resorts.

April to October is the main RHDR operating season with up to five services per day; a reduced timetable runs the rest of the year. Spring and autumn are the better seasons for the Romney Marsh itself -- the flat landscape and wide sky have an atmospheric quality in low light that summer suppresses. Birding on the Marsh reaches a peak during spring migration.