Lydd & Dungeness

The Lydd and Dungeness area occupies the outer edge of Romney Marsh where a vast shingle headland meets the English Channel. Dungeness is a national nature reserve with flat, gravelly ground, pools and salt-tolerant plants, and a working fishing slip where small boats land on the shingle. A prominent power station sits on the headland and the shoreline is marked by a long, low sweep of pebbles rather than sand. Wildlife interest is strong, and gulls, terns and migrating waders are common along the foreshore.

Inland, Lydd is a small town on the marsh with a medieval church and a scattering of local services; Lydd Airport (sometimes called London Ashford) lies to the south of the town. The area’s pattern of drainage channels, pasture and reedbeds reflects historic reclamation of the marsh. A specific local detail is the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway: a 15‑inch gauge light railway that runs to the Dungeness terminus, bringing visitors across the marsh to the headland and the reserve.