Days out with the Dogs…

Here at the Falstaff Hotel all guests are welcome, including the much loved dog companions. The hotel has a select range of rooms which are suitable to guests with pets. We particularly love Room 8 and our two apartments which each have direct access to their own private gardens, making it the perfect spot for yourselves and your dog(s) to come relax. We have put together a selection of local places to visit for the ideal dog-accompanied holiday, from blissful beach walks to doggy ice-creams!

Breakfast

First off on the is our Falstaff Breakfast Club & Deli right inside the hotel itself, with the continental breakfast included within each guests stay - it’s hard to say no! But if you do fancy a change, here are some local dog friendly spots for breakfast we reckon everyone will enjoy!

Zest, The Galley and The Bus Cafe are our top three breakfast spots in Thanet. Zest sits in Ramsgate town centre, run by an amazing couple who make excellent breakfasts - they are particularly brilliant for their vegetarian and vegan options including renowned homemade hash browns. The Galley are another lovely spot, located a 5 minute walk along the seafront slope from the hotel. The food is classic english breakfast with a beautiful view overlooking the harbour. The Bus Cafe is a little further afield but makes a great starting point for your day in our trendy neighbouring town of Margate. The award winning spot is nestled on Margate seafront and comes in the form of a literal bus with sea view and indoor or outdoor seating.

Wondrous Walks

We are lucky to have a wealth of natural beauty in Kent, with Thanet itself full of stunning uninterrupted coastline stretching for miles on end. All of our beaches in Winter are dog friendly between the beginning of October and the end of April. With the Summer months seeing certain beaches available to dogs and others restricted, it is important to know which ones you can let your furry friend run wild and free on. So with this in mind, we’ve put together a list of our favourite dog friendly beaches all year round and some of our favourite walks too!

Ramsgate to Margate - 6.8 miles (11km) Starting from our Hotel, walk down the street and you’re met with the Royal Marina Harbour right at the end. We are a short 5 minute walk to either Ramsgate Main Sands or the lovely Western Under-cliff Artificial beach. Either direction takes you off on a gorgeous stroll, with the artificial beach being dog friendly all year round and the main sands requiring dogs on leads during summer months; but don’t let this stop you! Walking from Ramsgate main sands you can stroll all the way along to Broadstairs beach and even further to Margate beach on a 6.8 mile (11km) stretch of uninterrupted sands at low tide.

If this is a bit ambitious for your holiday stroll, take a relaxing stroll to Broadstairs along from Ramsgate main sands (2.4 miles / 47 mins) with the low tide allowing for beach after beach of beautiful shoreline and our famous white chalky cliffs. Dumpton Gap Beach is the perfect dog friendly point to aim for, and if you walk up onto the esplanade above Broadstairs main beach you will find Morelli’s Ice cream Parlour. Morelli’s even do a dog friendly ice-cream, so your furry friends won’t be missing out on a good treat!

Lunch

All this walking’s probably got you hungry, so here are some of our favourite lunch spots to take yourselves to.

Taking a right at the end of the harbour facing hotel street will take you to The Churchill Tavern Pub - Churchill’s is a warm, welcoming place serving classic english-tavern style food accompanied by local ales and a comforting British pub atmosphere. Just round the corner from The Falstaff hotel by a few minutes and just before the Western Under-cliff Stretch - it’s the perfect pit stop for a classic pub bite and welcomes four legged friends alike. A little bit further afield is the Belle Vue Pub, at the other end of the Western Under-cliff. You can take a stroll from one to the other, a short 22 minute walk overlooking the sea and a beautiful beer garden awaits you; overlooking the stunning Pegwell Bay Nature Reserve below the cliff garden.

The opposite direction to walk can take you on a lovely stroll around the Royal Marina Harbour, with bounteous dog friendly bars and cafes such as the wonderful Archive Home Store on the harbour arches and Little Ships on the harbour bar strip, it is no doubt you could find some lovely spots to stop by for coffee or lunch whilst staying local to the area. This is the perfect walk for older dogs or any which benefit from shorter walks due to the many pit stops available and close proximity to the hotel. A short stroll around the harbour arm can vary between 10 and 20 minutes. Archive Home store & Kitchen is a design-led lifestyle store offering a unique and fresh collection of interesting and beautiful homewares, stationery, bits and pieces for children and food & drink - making it the perfect spot for families as well as a quiet place to sit and relax. They make amazing coffees, light lunches and have an array of interesting bits and bobs in their carefully curated store. This, saddled with the breath-taking views, makes it a brilliant lunch contender.

If you walk to the next town over, the beautiful stroll from Ramsgate to Broadstairs will find you in another brilliant seaside town with amazing businesses such as Smiths Coffee Shop serving a great coffee to go and tasty pastries or our firm favourite Flotsam and Jetsam. Located just by the beginning of the pier and off to the beach, Flotsam and Jetsam serve takeaway seafood to a new level of tastiness, with a contemporary spin on seaside classics such as muscle and cockle popcorn and crab stuffed battered courgette flowers (seriously good, we vouch). Should you venture further afield for a brilliant day out in Margate, a firm favourite spot is Roost. Run by a dog-loving owner called Mel who is wonderful, but her award winning food is even better! Serving lobster, roast chicken to vegan cheeseburgers - there’s a little bit of something for everyone.

Make a memory

To take it that little step further, we wanted to suggest some truly unique things to do on your stay at The Falstaff Hotel in Ramsgate. Swimming at Walpole Bay tidal pool has to be one of our all time favourite local experiences, and even better its free and dog friendly! Walpole Bay is the countries largest tidal pool, a grade 2 listed structure dating right back to 1937, the pool expands 4 acres wide and fills with fresh seawater. At high tide it submerges beneath the sea for an hour or two, but prior to this it’s a haven for wild swimming and a hot spot for locals. Often we head down there in Summer to see families picnicking on the sands and dogs swimming deep in the pool with their owners. It has a real sense of community and will be an experience you won’t forget.

We recommend booking up with the Haeckels 'Victorian' sea bathing machine - this machine traditionally would be transported down to the beach and people would be able to enjoy a luxurious sauna before jumping into the cold sea water to cool down. The Sea Bathing Machine by Haeckels is available to the public free of charge, and just requires you to book in via a Facebook page which can be found on their website haeckels.co.uk. Popping by their shop a short few minutes walk away is also well worth the visit. Haeckels are an eco-conscious and sustainable cosmetics brand which sources locally from Thanet beaches to make products rich in local nutritious produce such as the seaweed from the beaches bays. They have made a beautiful set of perfumes, including one called Walpole Bay (although our favourite is Dreamland, based on the local vintage pleasure park) and make a great keepsake for your visit to Thanet.

Finish this off with cream tea at Walpole Bay Hotel, just above the Tidal pool, the hotel offers a beautiful cream tea with finger sandwiches, strawberry scones and tea. Alternatively hot chocolates might warm you up after that rejuvenating swim in the fresh seawater! This hotel in itself is a stunning location to visit, a time capsule to its 1914 era - very little has changed in it’s decor keeping it a constant quirk of Margate not to be missed.