The White Cliffs of Dover were a wonderful sight on a beautiful day.

I often plan something to do in that twilight zone between an early morning landing after an overnight flight. Too early to check into the hotel (besides we want to get on a new time schedule asap), no desire to sleep away the day, but maybe not at our sharpest . . . . I have found a great solution is to arrange a private guide. This way we get picked up at the airport, our bags are safely stowed for the day, and after our adventure, we’re delivered to our hotel.

Today we aimed to get up close to the White Cliffs of Dover, something my husband really wanted to do. Most of the time, he goes along with everything I want to do – so I wanted to make this happen.

We had a bit of a drive to get to the coast which was ideal for a snooze or chatting with our entertaining driver (guess who did what).

The Cliffs were gorgeous. We saw them from two perspectives, ground level and on the rim. The ground-level experience was a country park created at the foot of Shakespeare Cliff, with fill from the creation of the Chunnel between England and France. Previously, the base of the cliffs dropped right into the sea, but in this park, now with Samphire Hoe Country Park, there is a gorgeous 74-acre (30-hectare) nature preserve with room to walk.

With the English Channel on one side and the towering cliffs on the other, we shared the breezy middle ground with grazing sheep, cows, and just a few other scattered human visitors. Visitors walk easily through chalk grassland and sea buckthorn scrub. Spoiler alert, this was my favorite perspective.

The park has Shakespeare to thank for its name. In 1606 he wrote about the cliffs and the Rock Samphire wild plant in King Lear. (At one time it was collected from the shear cliffs, pickled, and served as a side dish). A “hoe” is a piece of land that protrudes into the sea.

Passing through the town of Dover, we headed into the British National Trust Park “White Cliffs of Dover”. There is a trail all along the edge of the cliffs. There is no guardrail. It was breezy. The path was uneven. Need I say more? We saw enough to be very satisfied.  A bonus was the view of Dover Castle ‘guarding’ the coast.

The local expression says it all – ‘brilliant.’

Of note:

The Port of Dover has been in existence since Roman times, for more than 2,000 years, and is the closest port between England and Europe. It serves as the largest ferry terminal in the country in addition to handling over £100 billion of goods annually, providing 10,000+ regional jobs.

I was really surprised to see all the vineyards in the area. Kent is a center of England’s burgeoning wine industry. Warmer climates in England and wetter conditions in France have resulted in French companies buying land here. A few nights later at dinner with some good friends, we had the opportunity to sample a bottle of English sparkling wine (and a bottle of French champagne). The English was the winner!