Bucket List: Prospect Cottage, Dungeness

Bucket list item checked!

Prospect Cottage

Visiting Prospect Cottage has long been on my bucket list, and finally standing there, in front of Derek Jarman’s black-tarred cottage with its golden windown frames and wild shingle garden, felt quietly profound. The place holds a presence that’s hard to describe—at once fragile and defiant, personal yet universal. It’s a home, but it’s also a work of art, a manifesto written into the landscape. The tour itself was made unforgettable by our guides, Lucy and Claire, whose warmth and knowledge shaped the experience beautifully. They didn’t just talk us through the history of the house - they gave us a sense of Jarman the man: his humour, his creativity, his courage. Listening to them in those rooms, with the garden framed through the windows, felt less like a formal tour and more like being welcomed into someone’s story. That intimacy, combined with the small group size (just six people at a time), made our timed slot feel both precious and deeply personal.

Prospect Cottage

Part of that story, of course, belongs to Keith Collins, Jarman’s partner, who continued living at Prospect Cottage after Derek’s death in 1994. Keith cared for the house and garden for more than two decades, keeping it alive as both a home and a place of memory, until his own death in 2018. After that, a campaign was launched to save Prospect Cottage for the nation - a movement that reflected just how much the house means, not only to those who loved Derek personally, but also to artists, gardeners, and visitors who see it as a symbol of creativity and resilience.

Even without going inside, the garden is extraordinary. Built from driftwood, stones, and hardy plants, it rises out of the shingle as though it has always belonged there, shaped by both resilience and imagination. Wandering around it with the sea wind whipping across the flat expanse, you feel the strange, stark beauty of Dungeness pressing in from all sides.

The Old Dungeness Lighthouse

Dungeness is far more than just Prospect Cottage though. The landscape is otherworldly, dotted with weathered cottages, vast skies, and the looming presence of the power station. There’s plenty to explore. If you like heritage railways, the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Steam Railway is a charming ride through the flat marshland. For breakfast, the End of the Line café by the station opens at 9.30 and does a hearty cooked breakfast—perfect fuel for a day out. The RNLI lifeboat station, a permanent reminder of people's bravery and the power of the sea stop, and if you’re feeling energetic, climb The Old Dungeness Lighthouse for spectacular views (do check opening times first). The massive power station itself can’t be toured, but its sheer scale is strangely impressive from the outside. And for something quieter, the RSPB Nature Reserve is a birdwatcher’s haven, stretching across shingle and marsh.

Power Station, Dungeness

Food-wise, The Pilot Inn is the go-to for many visitors. People rave about the fish and chips, but I can personally recommend the chicken, ham, and leek pie. There’s also the Britannia Inn nearby and the Dungeness Snack Shack if you’re after fresh seafood. One important note: there are no shops in Dungeness itself, so you’ll want to stock up in Lydd or, as we did, stop at Jempsons in Rye. Their deli section is excellent and made for a perfect spread back at our Airbnb.

Speaking of which, we stayed at a really lovely two-bedroom Airbnb in Dungeness - comfortable, with a great kitchen and living space, just right for relaxing after a day outdoors.

Airbnb living room

Church of St Clement in Old Romney

If you have the time, it’s worth venturing a little further afield. The Church of St Clement in Old Romney is only about ten minutes away and is where Derek Jarman and Keith Collins are buried side by side. It’s also famous as a Disney filming location for Dr. Syn, Alias the Scarecrow (1963), when the company paid for restoration and painted the pews pink - a quirky detail that remains to this day.

Derek Jarman and Keith Collins, side by side

A bit further on, about a 35-minute drive, you’ll find Smallhythe Place, the former home of Victorian actress Ellen Terry. Now cared for by the National Trust, the house feels like stepping into her world. Every room is crowded with traces of her extraordinary life and career - books she read, paintings of and by her circle, photographs, gifts, and busts in her likeness.

Smallhythe Place

Ellen Terry's Lady Macbeth costume

Among the treasures is her most famous possession: the shimmering beetle-wing costume she wore as Lady Macbeth, glittering with iridescent green. It remains one of the most striking and iconic stage costumes ever created, and standing before it you get a sense of the scale of her fame, the power she must have had on stage.

Outside, the gardens offer a gentler contrast, and tucked away in a converted barn is the theatre her daughter, Edith Craig, built in her memory which still hosts performances.

For me though, Prospect Cottage was the heart of the trip. To stand in a place so closely tied to one man’s vision, cared for with devotion by his partner Keith, and to hear Lucy and Claire speak about it with such clarity and care, was something I’ll never forget. Dungeness is stark, raw, and surreal, but it is also deeply alive. And at its centre, Prospect Cottage glows quietly, defiantly - a reminder of creativity, resilience, and beauty carved out of the margins.

Ellen (right) with her mother Joy, who also had 'visiting Prospect Cottage' on her bucket list

You can listen to us discuss Derek Jarman's film Jubilee (1978) on Excellent Adventures - the Time Travel Movie Podcast. I also make mention of Jarman in my chapter on film in Counterculture UK - a celebration.

Bucket List Item Completed: Prospect Cottage (26 September 2025)