Dungeness is a headland on the coast of Kent, England, formed largely of a shingle beach in the form of a cuspate foreland. It shelters a large area of low-lying land, Romney Marsh. Dungeness is also the name given to a “village” situated along the beach, and to an important ecological site on the same location. It is one of the largest expanses of shingle in the world. It is of international conservation importance for its geomorphology, plant and invertebrate communities and birdlife.

Dungeness is not truly a village, more a scattered collection of dwellings. Some of the homes, small wooden houses in the main, many built around old railway coaches, are owned and lived in by fishermen, whose boats lie on the beach; some are occupied by people trying to escape the pressured outside world. The shack-like properties have a high value on the property market.

Perhaps the most famous house is Prospect Cottage, formerly owned by the late artist and film director Derek Jarman. The cottage itself is painted black, with a poem, part of John Donne's “The Sunne Rising”, written on one side in black lettering. The garden however is the main attraction. Reflecting the bleak, windswept landscape of the peninsula, Derek Jarman's garden is made of pebbles, driftwood, scrap metal and a few hardy plants.

There is a remarkable and unique variety of wildlife living at Dungeness, with over 600 different types of plant (a third of all those found in Britain). It is one of the best places in Britain to find insects such as moths, bees and beetles, and spiders; many of these are very rare, some found nowhere else in Britain. The short-haired bumblebee, declared extinct in the UK nearly a decade ago, but which has survived in New Zealand after being shipped there more than 100 years ago, is to be reintroduced at Dungeness in the spring of 2010. Date 21 April 2012, 13:45 Source Dungeness 21-04-2012 Author Karen Roe from Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, UK, United Kingdom