England - South Coast

Counties: Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire, Dorset, Devon and Cornwall

The English South Coast, separated from France by the Straits of Dover and the English Channel, is climatically one of the most favored parts of Britain. Numerous flourishing subtropical plants adorn the area's many famous seaside resorts, which attract many visitors throughout the year. The scenery between the counties of Kent and Cornwall offers great variety. In many places along the eastern part of the coast chalk cliffs rear up from the sea, most strikingly at Dover, the history-laden "Gateway to England". Elsewhere the coast is fringed by marshland, as at Romney Marsh, east of Rye, while opposite the Isle of Wight estuaries and fjord-like inlets cut deep into the land. The limestone of Portland, a peninsula offshore from Weymouth, and a wide surrounding area, worked in enormous quarries, carried the name of Portland cement far beyond the boundaries of Britain and of Europe. Further west, the area around Torbay in the county of Devon earns much praise as the "English Riviera". Beyond the historically-important port of Portsmouth the fantastic coastal region of Cornwall begins. The English South Coast ends in this county at the aptly-named Land's End.