Talk:Fairlight Glen

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I was last there in June 1990. I was travelling with a friend from college and looking for a few days of recovery after college exams in London. We stopped at Fairlight Cove to set up camp for the night. This form of impromptu camping is generally frowned upon in the UK and we half expected to be told to move on early the next day.

We were awoken early in the morning by strange scraping sounds. I peered out of the tent and was astonished to see a short, chubby, deeply bronzed, ancient man with folds of flesh hanging to his knees digging into shingle with a spade. Most astonishing of all he was completely naked. I withdrew into the tent and pinched myself. I did not even try to explain what I had seen but instead insisted that my companion look for herself!

We emerged from the tent and found that this strange man was friendly, he introduced himself and offered to bring us fresh water the next day. We slowly realised that we had landed on a beach used by people who choose not to wear clothes. As the first day progressed we decided to remove our foolish bathing costumes and become one with the community. Ironically the nights were bitterly cold that year and we went to sleep wearing all the clothes we had with us.

Over the next week we met many interesting and gentle people from all walks of life. It soon became clear that many of the people who visited the beach each day had known each other for years. It appears that the nudist scene is relatively small or perhaps I should say, that there are few places for people to mix with like minded lovers of naturism in the UK.

One memory that stands out was the irritation expressed by a group of naked people one evening, as a young couple coupled publically in the waves in glorious silhouette to the setting sun! The group feared that the press would use such behaviour to make a connection between nudism and sexual abandon, the local press might even campaign to have nudism banned on this quiet beach.

I was at Fairlight Cove in 1990. I have found it listed here in the Wikipedia as a nudist beach. I would advise anyone wishing to visit this beach, or any other publically accessible place used by nudists, to check before visiting as local authorities in the UK are very sensitive to complaints from the public about nudity.