The weather is spoiling us here in the UK now, and you can’t waste a sunny weekend day in England – you never know when it’ll happen again! So, last Saturday, I decided to go on a day trip, which is one of my favourite things to do. I chose a destination I hadn’t been to before – Deal, a coastal town in Kent, south-east from London. I visited two Tudor castles, had a walk around stunning gardens and enjoyed the fresh air on the beach. Let me take you on that trip.

Getting to Deal from London

I took a direct southeastern train from London Stratford International station. The journey took around 1 hour 20 minutes.

Deal is a small town. The train station is just a few minute’s walk from the seafront, so I headed straight towards the beach.

Quick visit to the Deal Pier

When I got to the seafront, I decided to have a quick stroll on Deal Pier. It’s free to visit – there’s a cafe at the end of the pier, as well as free toilets (which is great news for tourists). Along both sides of the pier runs a continuous bench. There’s plenty of space to sit down, even on a busy day.

Deal Pier is the last remaining fully intact leisure pier in Kent. It’s made primarily of concrete, which is unusual. Most of the piers I’ve visited in the UK were essentially metal structures with wooden planks on the deck, and you can often see the water underneath through the gaps between the planks. It always gives me a little bit of anxiety and I make sure not to drop anything – especially my phone. Deal Pier has a solid concrete floor, which is great news for anyone scared of traditional piers.

That being said, Deal Pier is a functional structure, but not necessarily aesthetically pleasing, if you ask me. Sorry!

A visit to Deal Castle

After a quick stroll on the pier, I headed to Deal Castle, located just a few minutes down the road. The Castle is looked after by English Heritage. I booked my entry ticket online on the English Heritage website, the day before – it’s slightly cheaper than buying a ticket at the door.

Deal Castle was one of three artillery forts commissioned by Henry VIII mid 16th century, alongside Walmer and Sandown, built to protect against invasion from France and Holy Roman Empire. It’s tiny, with limited indoor space. It certainly wouldn’t have been suitable as a living space for the King with his court. Deal Castle was used during various military conflicts throughout the years, and even served as a battery operating post during World War II.

Visitors to Deal Castle can walk around the outdoor terraces. There’s also a small exhibition inside the Castle, covering major events from king Henry VIII’s life.

There was a tiny gift shop at the entrance to Deal Castle, and chairs and picnic tables in the outdoor area of the Castle.

A walk to Walmer Castle

Next, I headed to Walmer Castle. It was an approximately 25 minute walk along the beach. Peaceful and relaxing!

I bought my ticket to Walmer Castle online on the English Heritage website the day before. It’s worth mentioning that members of English Heritage can visit all sites run by English Heritage for free. In May 2025, the adult annual membership costs £82. I paid £9 for my ticket to Deal Castle and £15 for my ticket to Walmer Castle. If you travel a lot and like to visit historic sites around the UK, becoming an English Heritage member might save you money in the long run.

The entrance to Walmer Castle leads you through a gift shop. Once you’re inside the Castle, the first thing you see is the cafe. At that point, I was dying for a cup of coffee, so I decided to start my visit to the Castle with a quick break. I chose a large cup of cappuccino and a piece of fruit flapjack. It’s not something I’d typically go for, but it looked really good. It tasted even better! It was perfectly moist and soft. Quite sweet, but not sickly sweet. Apparently, all the baked goods sold in the cafe were homemade. Yum!

Fuelled with my coffee and cake, I was ready to start exploring Walmer Castle.

Walmer Castle is much larger than Deal Castle, with more generous interiors and vast gardens. First, I went to view Lord Warden’s private apartment. Quite frankly, the rooms looked like the most typical museal apartment you can imagine. Large bed, grandfather clock, puffy armchairs, colourful wallpaper and framed artwork on the walls – you know the drill. I can’t share any photos from that place because there was a strict photography ban, with numerous aggressive posters all around the apartment and a security guard explicitly informing each visitor of that rule. Frankly, I was a little bit annoyed with that. I fully understand bans on flash photography, but prohibiting photography altogether? In the most generic-looking old apartment? You can photograph some of the most significant paintings in art galleries in London, but you can’t photograph an old armchair in Walmer Castle. That’s just bizarre to me. I like to take pictures for this blog so that people can assess for themselves whether a place is worth their visit, but most importantly, photos are a way of sharing memories and experiences with my family abroad. I was rather disappointed.

Anyway, enough of the rant – let’s assume they had a good reason for the photography ban. Apparently, the apartments were worthy of a royal visit and even welcomed the Queen Mother.

I left Lord Warder’s apartment and went to explore the second part of the Castle’s interior, which included the bedroom of Duke Wellington.

And finally, it was time to explore the vast gardens of the Walmer Castle – the part of the Castle visit that I had been looking forward to most. The gardens have multiple sections, including an elegant area with a shallow pond, neat flower beds, a glasshouse, and most spectacularly trimmed bushes. Further away from the Castle, there is a wilder space with wildflowers, tall grasses and trees. There is a picnic area for visitors and a playground for the little ones too.

The moat around the Castle is also a garden, and you can walk around it.

I don’t necessarily recommend visiting Walmer Castle for its interiors (unless you really love your history), but the outdoor space is really great for a day out and a picnic.

Back to Deal

I left Walmer Castle and walked back to Deal. I headed to the High Street to check out the local shops and a few charity shops. I’m a big fan of High Streets in smaller towns, you can often find unique gifts there.

I noticed that there was a local museum nearby and decided to pop in. Deal Museum, located on one of the roads adjacent to the High Street, is tiny and free to visit – worth checking out if you have a few minutes. It’s home to many artefacts related to local history. Many of them were linked to harbour life, but there were a few other interesting items too. For example, I was intrigued by the cash register with local bank notes. I had no idea that up to mid 19th century many towns made and used their own currency!

After the brief visit to the museum, I went back to the High Street. I chose a local bakery and grabbed a takeaway coffee and a granola yoghurt pot, and walked back to the beach to enjoy the snack.

Near the pier, there’s another museum – the time ball tower, focused on navigation and signalling at sea. I didn’t visit the museum this time, but I was able to see the time ball drop. Time balls were commonly used for signalling time in the past. The ball on top of the tower would go up just before 1pm every day, and then drop exactly at 1pm. That way, sailors could observe the tower from afar and adjust their clocks.

In the summer season, the time ball in Deal drops every hour between 9am and 5pm, controlled by radio signal. To my surprise, the drop was completely silent. I expected some kind of sound signal as well!

Journey back home

Finally, I walked back to Deal train station and caught a train back home. It was a direct train to London Stratford International. The journey took around 1 hour 20 minutes.

If you’re looking for ideas for a chilled day trip from London, going to Deal might be a good idea. It’s not as packed with things to do as Brighton for example, but you can enjoy a peaceful day out away from major crowds.

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