They want to build a theme park here? Swanscombe peninsula, Britain’s newest protected place

Our writer falls for the charms of north Kent, well aware that developers want to get their hands on this site of special scientific interest

As I set out for the Swanscombe peninsula from Greenhithe station, on the south bank of the Thames near Dartford in Kent, on a dull winter day, I tell myself to be realistic. I’m heading for Britain’s newest site of special scientific interest (SSSI) but it’s not going to be a wildflower meadow or an ancient woodland. This is a former industrial site situated on a part of the river long associated with the hidden, the forgotten and the thrown-away.

But something magical happens. Following signs for the England Coast Path, I fall through a wormhole in time and find myself in an unexpectedly lovely waterside village of flint cottages, old ship chandlers and cosy pubs. Here, in Greenhithe’s high street, is a slice of the old Thames. The air heavy is with woodsmoke and the only sound is of waves slapping against the banks. Out on the river, close to the spot where Sir John Franklin and his crew set sail on their ill-fated quest to discover the Northwest Passage through the Arctic, a flock of redshank are probing the mud as a tug guides a container ship out to sea.