Welcome

What could be better than a location on the sunniest coastline in the UK? Work or study during the day and be down on the beach, on your bike, meeting and eating with friends and colleagues within minutes.

A bracing walk along the ridge of the North Downs or the long views of Romney Marsh, this is THE place for calm reflection, and quiet contemplation of a better quality of life.

Vibrant Folkestone with its creative spirit and growing cultural scene; historic Hythe full of history with the Royal Military Canal and Martello Towers and on to the villages with a charm all their own and the unique landscapes of Romney Marsh.

People make a place from people powering the district’s creative transformation like Roger De Hann and Alastair Upton to local artists capturing the diverse landscapes of town and country, and street food vendors on the Harbour Arm.

Where else can you work on the beach, visit the UK’s only desert and go on safari in Kent’s very own savanna? Where else can you choose to live by the sea, on the slopes of the North Downs or splendid isolation in one of the country’s most unique and wildlife-rich landscapes, Romney Marsh?

The district is home to one of the South East’s fastest growing centres for creative and digital businesses, with its heart in the Creative Quarter. Folkestone’s cultural heart.

The Glassworks and The Workshop, offering flexible workspace of all sizes that are perfect for start-ups, freelancers and SMEs in the creative and digital technology sector.

Designers and filmmakers; musicians and dreamers; artists and makers. The district is waiting to be explored, from cool cafés to watch-the-world-go-by bars, performance spaces and modern venues.

This isn’t just one place with a creative scene. This is Kent’s creative coast after all, including a new sculpture park set up by The IMOS Foundation on Romney Marsh to the beautiful murals in New Romney.

The landscape of Folkestone & Hythe district is a place of contrasts from the North Downs escarpment, to open savanna at Lympne and mesmeric Romney Marsh with its amazing light, long views and sense of splendid isolation.

It’s then on to the sea, with miles of shingle and sandy beaches to free the mind, leading to the unique landscape of enigmatic Dungeness, the UK’s only desert. All this space to breathe, think, play and escape comes for free. This is a place where life comes first.

With Eurotunnel Le Shuttle on its doorstep and regular HS1 services to and from the capital, this district is one of the best-connected locations in the UK. London is just 53 minutes away and Calais can be reached in 35 minutes. High speed broadband is essential in the ambition to see Folkestone & Hythe as the best place to start a new business and the council aims to have rolled out high speed broadband in rural areas by 2023.

The district is linked by the diversity and variety of events and attractions that take place. The Folkestone Triennial returns for its fifth outing in 2021 adding to a valuable legacy of permanent art in the town.

Other go to events include Charivari Day Carnival, The Hythe Festival, JAM on the Marsh, Cheriton Light Festival and the Folkestone Book Festival.

With huge skies, fresh sea air, unspoilt marshes, a coastal nature reserve and more, the district is an absolute gift for nature lovers.

Marvel at the 1,000 hectare RSPB Nature Reserve at Dungeness – mile upon mile of shingle, fresh water, grassland and meadow habitats. Romney Marsh Visitor Centre is our tip for an introduction to the area. It’s not just native wildlife, there’s also the 600 acre Port Lympne Reserve safari park.

Folkestone and Hythe doesn’t need the ‘hard sell’ to show what an extraordinary place it is.

A real place, real history, real people and a very real future ahead of it.

Talk to people living and working here, visit the many attractions, the special places that call it home.

We’ve based this campaign on real and authentic stories – they speak for themselves.