Turner Gallery at Sandy Sutheast Margate & Turner in London

The Turner Gallery

 The Turner Gallery in Margate is the  attraction credited with being the key to launching Margate as a revived attraction on Englan'd south east coast. Why put a Turner Gallery in Margate. Because that's where Turner grw up and went to school, lived on the sea front and went back throughout his life.

I associate Turner with water and skies and swirling lines and misty views of London. 

The Turner Gallery is a big, bold building. It holds rotating exhibitions so you should see something new on a first or returning visit.

It's easy to get to, being near the railway station.

Margate's Attractions

What else is in Margate? A former police station is now a museum. Margate was famous for its funfair. But with summer sun in June 2025, the sandy beach is the top attraction for families. So, indoors or outdoors, something for veryone to see at Margate. You can borrow wheelchairs onsite. 

The Turner Gallery's Best Features

I looked at the design of the gallery and wondered, why all straight lines? Why not restful soothing curves, like the Guggenheim in New York, the sails of Sydney opera house, Gaudi's cathedral, and houses? Then I thought, to hang pictures you need flat walls. At least it has a sloping roof to cope with England's rain. You would not want a flat roof gallery liable to leaks onto the artwork underneath.

All those steps! Maybe there's a lift for wheelchairs in that tower next to the steps on the right.

The gallery offers visitors a cafe, restaurant, free entry and free exhibitions. 90 minutes by train from London. 

The restaurant has a sea view. You can see their menu online.

You can check their prices, the Indian dishes, drinks including coffees and Prosecco.  

The food is not particuarly cheap, 6 to 10 pounds on the breakast and lunch menus, but the gallery is free, so heigh ho.

What if you don't care for Turner? The weird thing is that they don't have ermanent Turner Paintings on display. 

Instead the Turner Gallery in Margate regularly show works inspired by Turner. And they run free workshop events for children in some afternoons. 

Turner Contemporary Gallery, Margate.

Their webstite says step free access. The nearest car park is 5 minutes away and makes a charge. It is near the lifeboat station. You can borrow wheelchairs onsite.

Turner Art in London

If you want to see Turner pictures, the gallery with the largest collection is the Tate Modern in London. So you might go there first, and follow up with the Margate landscape and seascape which surrounded Turner when he grew up. Turner bequeathed (left in his will) his paintings to the nation, and you can see them in the Tate Modern aas well as in the National Gallery which is on Trafalgar Square in central London.

Useful Websites

https://turnercontemporary.org/visit-us/accessibility#wheelchair-and-physical-access

The Tuerne Gallery's Louise Food

https://www.louieonsea.com/about/

https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/joseph-mallord-william-turner#:~:text=Turner%20bequeathed%20much%20of%20his,are%20now%20at%20Tate%20Britain.

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Free Fun On A Fine Day - Ruislip Lido

 At Ruislip Lido.

The main entrance from the street, Reservoir Road.

Panels tell you about the birds, and the history of the lido and area.

Steps down to the waterside.

Here come the green headed ducks and other water birds.

Close up of the water birds.

Walking around the lido, level, fine for pushchairs, bikes, children, the elderly.

Guide to the bird life.

At the far side, a stile to a path amidst the trees.

We walked anti-clockwise around the water towards the sand, reminising about our past trips here. I remembed how our son had though that the sand was sugar and tried to eat a mouthful of it. He quickly spat it out in disgust.

Continuing clockwise, you reach the sandy beach, busy with families and delighted children. A feature for play is the large mock pirate ship.

Another area with water play showers.

In summer a small train runs around beyond the beach area. Beside the beach at the back are a cafe and toilets.

If you want more food and drink, you have the WatersEdge on the same street, visible from the park entrance.\

Back on the main road is the Majestic Warehouse. They stock a vast range of wines, as well as soem unusual nuts and crisps.

Useful Websites

https://www.stonehouserestaurants.co.uk/nationalsearch/london/thewatersedgeruislip/breakfast#/

https://www.stonehouserestaurants.co.uk/nationalsearch/london/thewatersedgeruislip/sunday-menu#/

Why Go To Malta? Everything (but sandy beaches are on the outskirts).

Looking for a break in spring or autumn, somewhere sunny and south - I wanted somewhere I had not visited before and picked Malta - what a marvellous choice.

Geography
Where? Mediterranean islands. The three main islands are Malta, Gozo, and a little stippling stone between them with one hotel, Comino. The largest island is Malta.
Gozo is 14 km long and 7 km wide. You can see two or three sites in a half day trip going across on the ferry with or without your car.
How long? The flight is only about three hours.

Weather
Warm? A quick check on the weather showed 13 degrees C, around the fifties, much warmer than the UK and most of Western Europe. Malta is south of Sicily, north of Libya and the North coast of Africa, which makes it the ideal warm place for an off-season break; its location as a stepping stone between Africa and Europe means that traders and raiders have filled the place with culture and history. Let's start with language and place names.

Language
Language-wise Malta is ideal. Everybody in shops, museums, transport, passers-by in the street, speaks English, mostly better and easier to understand than people in London. Plus the delights of finding that many of the words and people are from other countries and you are constantly learning about other cultures, since your new smiling friend is keen to chat and tell you how they are half Maltese, half something else - one was Welsh-Romany, some lived in the UK, studied in the USA or were brought up in Australia.
Maps and signs are in two languages at least, English and Maltese. It's quite easy to read and understand the Maltese which is written in our letters with a few little squiggles. For example, mappa is map.

The local language is written in our alphabet although words sound familiar, since the origins or base are Arabic/Aramaic/Semitic/Hebrew, but they have thrown in lots of Italian from nearby Sicily, English, having gained independence from England in the older generation's lifetime, September 1964, and since Maltese is not a worldwide language many schools use English as the language base, and speak a second or third language which is either English, Italian, French, Spanish or German.

Street names are simple. Walking around the pedestrianised narrow streets in the capital Valetta, and many of the other towns, streets are mostly Trik, meaning track or street. You can see that the local religion is Roman Catholic because of the madonnas and saints on every street, many niches, street corners where tiny statues with a book in their hand beckon you as if to guide you to a parking place, whilst signs all around warn of permitted hours or parking zones.

The cities are a visual delight, every hill has a domed church, a walled fortress, a city wall, undulating streets like San Francisco, a photographer's delight, and houses of yellow sandstone, with projecting glassed balconies, where Romeo and Juliet could tryst, reminding me of photos of Yemen, water everywhere, sailboats and cruise liners, marinas, harbours.










British and Multi-cultural
You'll also find Costa coffee bars with wifi, Marks and Spencers unaccountably near orange and lemon trees and a statue of queen Victoria outside the church. Palm trees and olive trees and fir trees, and folded umbrella shape trees. If you want local Malta, many restaurants offer rabbit stew, like a chicken casserole, and Maltese sweets featuring whole and ground almonds clusters, biscuits and cakes and all kinds of nuts, figs and fruitcakes.

Bargain Breaks
Off-season bargains include hotels such as the Excelsior and Phoenicia in the centre of Valetta.

More Info
More information from the Malta tourist board (office on the arrivals side of the only airport, open late at night - I found it hidden beside another tourist office which was shut. Pick up the brochures and look for discounts on restaurants and tours and other offers on the hop on hop off buses and museums and tours.