South coast safari

Vicky Lissaman is filled with Hythe spirit as family go back to the future

- Vicky Lissaman

We arrive in Hythe at sunset, when the sky is a gentle shade of coral and our shadows are cast long. It's a Friday and there are a few dog walkers about, the odd runner and cyclist making their way along the prom, but there's barely anybody else on the beach.

With the sea like a millpond, the pebbles crunching underfoot sound loud, and the stones were skimming out to sea seem to dent the entire ocean. It's a perfect spring evening on England's sleepy south coast.

This historic market town on the edge of Romney Marsh in Kent does, however, have a few claims to fame. Its Norman church, St Leonard's, appeared in the Domesday Book and within its walls is an ossuary.

For just £5 for adults and £1 for kids we had the honour of standing before the largest and best-preserved collection of ancient human skulls (around 1,200 of them) and bones in Britain, believed to be from graveyards in the Hythe area that had fallen out of use.

The Royal Military Canal, built between 1804 and 1809 as a defence against invasion by Napoleon - runs through it and boats are available to hire.

After watching the sun sink behind the fishing boats perched on the beach, we head back to Blackbird Cottage in Ottinge, near Lyminge, our beautiful accommodation for the week.

This two-bedroom thatched barn conversion, that we'd booked through Sykes Cottages, dates back to the 1600s and has original features, stained glass windows and oak beams. Clean and cosy, and set in beautiful gardens, it felt like the set of The Darling Buds Of May, which was filmed just 20 miles away in Bethersden.

Next day we visit Folkestone. The last time I had been there I was in primary school, the purpose to catch a ferry across the Channel to France - and wow, what a transformation.