Whitstable is a town on the north coast of Kent, just five miles from Canterbury and two miles west of Herne Bay.

A quaint seaside town with independent shops and lots of eateries, I was super excited to make the two-hour trip to a place I once loved and spent lots of time in.

After finding a parking space very easily, I ventured down to the harbour which I remembered to be pretty and surrounded with independent shops in sheds.

Whitstable immediately seemed quiet despite it being the summer holidays but I didn’t mind, it meant navigating the streets was easy.

To my surprise, the harbour was extremely quiet, but the stalls were open so I got a chance to look around which was nice.

Some of the seafood stalls were closed though which was disappointing, but luckily there were other eateries to pick from.

After a short walk around the harbour, I headed up to the main shopping street where again a few shops were closed.

I decided to opt for a cheese toastie for lunch after seeing rave reviews about a small independent cafe online.

Prices in popular seaside towns are expected to be high but after paying £11 for a plain cheese toastie with no side salad or crisps, I was shocked.

With there not being a spare table within the cafe, I headed down to eat it on the beachfront which was much busier than the town itself.

The weather was glorious albeit windy but sitting on the pebbled beach took me back to my teens when I spent a lot of time in the sea.

After finishing eating, I had a stroll up the beach where there was quite a lot of litter on the floor, but people were cleaning it up as I was walking.

Heading back into town, I went for an ice cream in a shop that had a huge queue outside, so I thought it was bound to be good.

Many flavours were advertised on the boards but when I reached the front of the queue, none of those flavours were available so I had to make a quick on-the-spot decision.

Nonetheless, it was a good ice cream and with it, I headed back down to the beach for a walk to The Old Neptune, a famous Victorian inn with period decor.

Due to it being a sunny day, I sat outside and enjoyed a drink overlooking the ocean, and it was just like I remembered.

This was definitely my favourite part of the day after feeling disappointed that the town wasn’t as good as I remembered.

Luckily, there are lots of surrounding areas and things to do including visiting Whitstable Castle & Gardens as well as heading to Canterbury for a punting tour.