Broadstairs Castle, formerly part of the estate of Lord Holland but now converted into private residences. Broadstairs has a very mild maritime climate. The town is situated from both Dover and Canterbury, and about from the M25, London's orbital motorway. The town is also served by Southeastern train services to/from London, via either North Kent and Medway or Canterbury and High Speed 1. It is unusual in that trains to London can run either way through the station. As a seaside resort, the economy is mainly based around tourism; there are hotels and guest houses on and near the seafront to
Broadstairs 6 April 1850, may have been the prompt that led old Thomas White to present one of his lifeboats to his home town of Broadstairs that summer. The lifeboat saw its first use on 6 March 1851, when the brig "Mary White" became trapped on the Goodwin Sands during a severe gale blowing from the north. A ballad was written to celebrate the occasion, "Song of the Mary White". Solomon Holbourn of Broadstairs, coxswain of the "Mary White", had an aunt, Sophia, who married William Stevenson at Folkestone in 1813. Their eldest son, also William, became a mariner and boatman