Dover.

It’s a town in the very south-east corner of England, and has been, for centuries, Britain’s gateway to continental Europe. Despite cheap flights and the Eurotunnel, it’s still a hugely important ferry link to France. In the years BC (before children), we’d take the car over to France and drive to one of France’s excellent naturist resorts, such as Arnaoutchot, 1000kms distant from the French ferry port of Calais. But when you’re young, the 9 hour drive (!) wasn’t so hard to endure, at least on the way down. A couple of weeks of naturist sunshine lay ahead of you. The drive back was more difficult. Back to reality and the English rain!

We did this a couple of times until the trip where Jim pulled onto the hard shoulder of the motorway and declared that he felt himself to be on the edge of falling asleep at the wheel. After that, we always opted to stop over for the night at the half way point and drive on (or home), refreshed, the following day. Happily, the roughly half way mark coincides with another excellent naturist site, le Colombier. 

Images of Le Colombier naturist campsite

Dover played a key role in Britain’s Second World War effort. Back from the ground to air defences, closer to London, lay RAF Biggin Hill, the main base from which Spitfire and Hurricane aircraft would take off to defend Britain from waves of Luftwaffe bombing attacks.

The White (chalk) cliffs of Dover would be made famous by British singer Vera Lynn, (she’s still alive, aged 100!) at a time when the thrust of WW2 was beginning to change. Having, alone, fought off the scourge of German fascism throughout 1940, Britain was now holding its own. Pearl Harbour brought the US into the war, on the Allies side. In January, 1942, the first American troops arrived in the UK. Glenn Miller had recorded a version in 1941 but, in England at least, it’s Vera Lynn’s 1942 version that endures.

The ‘bluebirds’ in the song not only point to a time when the skies are at peace again, but also reference the pilots defending the island, the ‘bluebirds’ being RAF pilots, in blue uniforms.

 

I’m telling you all this because today, Sunday, a new ‘White Cliffs of Dover’ sim opened, and it’s stunning.

The real life Dover Hall

Ella at the entrance to the SL Dover Hall

Scenes from the ‘Dover Town’ part of the sim

You can teleport to The White Cliffs of Dover, a graphically rich sim in which you could spend hours photographing. SL building at its very, very best!

Ella

 

Edited to add: a reader has already been in touch to say that there is a naturist beach at the foot of the iconic cliffs called ‘Abbott’s Beach’, and included some photos.

So…as naturism is apparently possible at the White Cliffs, I headed back to the sim…