Romney Marsh

Romney Marsh is a flat, low-lying pastoral landscape between Folkestone and Rye, reclaimed from the sea over centuries through a network of medieval drainage channels and sea walls. It is one of the most distinctive landscapes in England -- almost completely level, extremely wide-skied and populated by a scatter of medieval stone churches, each serving a parish that was once, in many cases, a separate island. The churches are the marsh's most undervisited asset, and several are kept unlocked during the day.

St Thomas Becket at Fairfield is the most celebrated. The church sits alone on a raised island in the marsh, reached by a farm track off the B2080 and a short walk across a field, with no car park and no visitor infrastructure at all. The building is a small brick-and-timber structure from the 13th century with a Georgian interior and plain glass windows that let the marsh light in directly. It encapsulates the character of the landscape better than any visitor attraction.

The Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway runs 13.5 miles of 15-inch gauge track from Hythe south to Dungeness, with stops at Dymchurch and New Romney. A day rover ticket covers the full route and the final section to Dungeness -- across open shingle with nuclear power station and lighthouses in view -- is among the most unusual train rides in Britain. RSPB Dungeness is a separate reserve at the southern tip and merits a dedicated visit.