Whitstable is your oyster

The historic harbour bustles with the workings of the port and fish market. PHOTO/ROBIN THIRSTON

Here's the thing, though: oysters. Oysters love the waters in this Kent locale so much that they've made it famous.

Whether Julius Caesar himself ever actually came to see how his army was getting along in Britain is a matter of debate. But the locals say he was not only in Whitstable - he took home a supply of Whitstable oysters.

The legend has a starring role at the Whitstable Museum and Gallery, where less fishy tales round out the cast - including smuggling and shipbuilding tales and the invention of diving gear.

The "DFLs" - "down from London" - poke around Whitstable all year round, but not until September can they properly gorge on the best oysters. May, June, July and August, you see, don't have an "r" in them, and everyone knows you can only eat oysters in months that have the "r".

Come Septemberrr, the harbour bulges with tourists drawn by that tangy scent. Awaiting them is the spectacle of tens of thousands of oysters, whelks, cockles and prawns reclining seductively on beds of ice.

Women gifted with knives whisk open the oysters and line them up, raw and on the halfshell, in trays that the customers just as swiftly empty. Nearby is a table full of salt, vinegar and Tabasco sauce, though not as yet any spicy Thai dips.

Almost as close is the Crab & Winkle, a restaurant that's perfect for getting your fill within sight and smell of the harbour commotion.

The restaurant gets its name because its location was the terminus of Britain's first passenger railway. Launched in 1830, the railroad became known affectionately as the Crab and Winkle because that's what lay in store at the end of the journey from London. You can see its steam engine on display at the railway station.

The twin facts that most Britons take their annual holidays in summer and oyster fisherman don't have a lot to do in summer combine to give Whitstable an Oyster Festival every July.

Yes, old wives notwithstanding, you can eat oysters in July - it's just that they'll be smaller and not as flavourful. That doesn't stop July being Whitstable's busiest tourism month.

The Oyster Festival teams up with the visual arts of the Whitstable Biennale and the Whitstable Regatta to double the local population with visitors. Kids cut up their feet running around the pebble beach as their elders loll in deck chairs read¬ing the newspaper.

Brighton and Eastbourne have the same stony coasts, but Whitstable's is more pleasant without the noisy clutter of arcades, amusements and tacky shops.

In their place are rows of clapboard cottages in different bright colours, with front doors almost at the water's edge.

The narrow lane separating them from the North Sea is actually referred to as "the Street", veering out into the drink for nearly a kilometre. Head up to the grassy lawns of the Tankerton slopes for a magnificent view of the whole scene.

The beach is punctuated by wooden breakwaters known as "groins" that stop the rip tides from eating it away. Dozens of small lanes lead away from the shoreline back to the high street, among them Squeeze Gut Alley, so named for a game that boys used to play with the chubby local constable.

As the summer day ebbs, people stroll among the small boutique shops and art galleries on Harbour Street. Some loiter in cafes or enjoy a pint at the Old Neptune, the only pub perched on the water's edge.

The beach becomes quiet save the sounds of the sea, but even as the temperature drops sharply, there are many who linger to watch the spellbinding sunset.

Prowling for dinner on the high street, look out for the salmonpink facade of Wheeler's Oyster Bar, here since 1856 - the granddaddy of the popular global chain.

Vying for attention is the Whitstable Oyster Fishery Company, also longestablished and regularly recommended in the Sunday papers. Then there's the Crab & Winkle and Pearson's Crab and Oyster House, both on the harbour.

These names are magnets for Londoners looking for an oyster fix in a charmingly quirky coastal town. You can't really go wrong any month of the year.

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Remember: North Kent

Get to Whitstable aboard the regular trains from London's Victoria Station. Just make sure you're in the half of the train that's northbound once the coaches are split up at Faversham.

Whitstable is fun and easy to explore on foot, even the pebbly beach. (The groins and a concrete path make for easier strolling.)

Apart from the fine selection of restaurants, you can always get takeaway food on the high street and just keep on strolling.