The charming town of Deal in Kent is an ideal place to enjoy and explore for the weekend. Situated on the Kent coast and facing eastwards towards France just 25 miles away, Deal is a traditional town blessed with fine weather, fresh, breezes, historic sites and some of the best B&Bs in Kent.

A former fishing, mining and garrison town, Deal seems to have been sidestepped by the modern world maintaining much of its history. Julius Caesar first landed near Deal in 55 BC; Deal was also associated with the military and trade league known as the ‘Cinque ports’ that stretched along the Kent and Sussex coasts.

Over the centuries, Deal became a crucially important maritime town due to the safe anchorages - ‘the downs’ - that lie between the coast and the dangerously shifting Goodwin sands some distance off-shore. Deal was once one of the busiest ports in England, and by the 16th century, Henry viii constructed three castles (Deal, Sandown and Walmer) to protect the town against foreign naval attack and invasion.

Admiral Nelson and Captain Cook visited Deal, as did Samuel Pepys, Charles Dickens and the Great 18th-century traveller and essayist, William Cobbett. Today Deal is known for its friendly locals, its Brutalist pier, lifeboat station, Museums & Galleries and excellent shops, restaurants and bars. Deal boasts opportunities for swimming, sight seeing, bike riding, coastal walks, exploration and so much more.

The area around Deal is wonderful for cycling, since the landscape is largely flat and the roads are quiet. However, if you are a serious cyclist or triathlete Fowlmead park (which is less than two miles away) features a 2-mile flat tarmac road purely for cyclists. There are also running and off-road tracks.

 One of the best walks in England is close at hand, stretching along the top of the famed white cliffs of Dover. The walk begins within three miles from bear’s well quickly rising to 200 feet above the sea.