Lower Leas Coastal Park — Attraction in Folkestone and Hythe District

Hands down the most adventurous play park for kids in East Kent and probably somewhat beyond. Our children would often ask to go back especially and it never fails to excite. All that, combined with some of the most gorgeously framed and coloured sea views that I know of in Kent. This place offers so much to enjoy and variety for adults as well. The Victorian folly of the zigzag path is a delight, the variety of trees offer shade, colour and shape, flowerbeds below in dramatic settings, a starkly sereen looking pebble shoreline. Parking is usually easy, though can get crowded on beautiful weekends, and still free in some areas. The park has great convenience services, too, and a cafe towards the seafront. It isn't too far out of town to walk, and indeed the walk to and from town through the gardens is especially worthwhile thanks to additional landscaping. If we want to unwind and feel away from it all in our local area, this is where...

A nice place to visit with the kids. We would go again. The beach is all pebbles but not overly crowded and we were able to have a picnic without getting harassed by seagulls. The toilets were clean but there was no soap in the ladies and there are signs advising everyone to clean their hands frequently but no sanitiser anywhere so definitely take your own. My eldest loved the huge climbing apparatus and my two younger enjoyed the sand play areas. Only negative is it's hard to watch all kids at once due to the layout. I had to hope for the best with my eldest. And the enclosed toddler area was strange as they needed help to climb up onto /get down from platforms as too high. But these were relatively minor issues on the whole.

There's a lovely cafe near the play area but it's quite pricey. The formal garden walk beyond the play area was nice but nothing special.

We went for the kids and the kids...

Beautiful and serene, especially on those rare sunny days when the wind chill factor is low enough to allow you to sit on one of the nemerous wooden benches, that are usually donated by the local public or frequent seaside strollers, in "memoriam". This may sound strange to some, but whenever I stand by the sea here, I get the sense that I'm almost free! Once you somehow cross this narrow stretch of sea, ie the channel, then the entire eastern hemisphere lies before you. No more ferries, and no more borders and passport checks at least for some 4,000 kms! So when you sit in that wooden bench, dedicated by the late "Claude and Fatimah" in memory of all their moments together on the Leas, you have before you not only the picture post-card of a narrow stretch of sea dissolving into a vast horizon, but a dreamy gateway to the rest of the world. From here, freedom is no longer a distant dream. No longer...