The Coastline of South-East England

Great Britain with a dog. England. The White Cliffs of the South-East.

So often overlooked. Simply neglected. We don’t, of course. When we get to know a country, we do it properly. And so, we spent the first month of our very first trip to the British Isle exactly where we first set foot on land: At the famous White Cliffs of Dover, with residence in Deal, a 20-minute drive to the north. We then booked into a hotel in Eastbourne for another two weeks to enjoy the coastline of the South Down National Park and the Seven Sisters.

We deliberately didn’t travel to England by ferry, but took the car train through the Eurotunnel, from Calais in France to Folkestone in England. The journey took just half an hour and was much easier on our dogs’ nerves, as we could all just sit in the car together. My nerves would have preferred to cross the English Channel above water, but what won’t you do for the dear creatures in the trunk?

I don’t want to beat about the bush: The UK as a whole is fantastic. The landscape of South-East England took our breath away. The dog-friendliness is out of this world. We were constantly being told about the beauty of our dogs. Every day we had to stop people from cuddling them, which Tia and Sandy, bitchy as they are, didn’t appreciate at all.

Leashes are hardly ever enforced here. Every meadow, every beach, every field is accessible. You barely see any fences. We were not used to this kind of freedom of movement and tolerance in strictly regulated Germany, nor in most other countries in the world. We felt freer than ever before. Especially when it came to our dogs.

May I briefly anticipate?

Of course, our journey did not end at the White Cliffs of the South East. We traveled around Great Britain for a total of 12 months. England, Wales and Scotland. The boundless freedom only ended when we left the island.

And now I’m taking you on a photographic journey through our first six weeks in South-East England. From the White Cliffs of Dover to the Seven Sisters in East Sussex.