Two Kent beaches have been named among the best in the South of England in the 18th edition of The Times and The Sunday Times 50 Best UK Beaches guide.

Botany Bay, Broadstairs

Dungeness and Botany Bay secured places in the prestigious annual ranking, which is widely regarded as the most comprehensive guide to Britain’s coastline.

The Times and The Sunday Times 50 Best UK Beaches remains the only annual gazetteer of the British coast in which every listed beach has been personally inspected within the previous eight weeks.

Compiled following a five-week, 4,307-mile survey of 607 long listed locations, the guide celebrates the beauty and diversity of the UK coastline. Each beach is assessed against a rigorous 12-point checklist covering cleanliness, accessibility, parking, lifeguard provision, the condition of toilets and showers, dog-friendliness and, above all, water quality.

Dungeness Beach

This year, a new criterion has been added: community engagement. The judges said the passion and commitment of local people can make all the difference, transporting a beach from a seaside tourist destination into a thriving year-round community space.

For Kent, the recognition highlights two very different coastal landscapes. Dungeness if famed for its unique shingly headland, dramatic scenery and rich wildlife, while Botany Bay has become one of the county’s most photographed beaches thanks to its unique and striking chalk stacks.

Following campaigning from readers, this is also the first year the guide has expanded beyond mainland beaches to include entries from the Outer Hebrides, the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight.

Commenting on this year’s guide, Chris Haslam, chief travel writer at The Times and The Sunday Times said: I’m just back from my 18th annual circuit of the British and Northern Irish coasts and I’ve never seen our seaside look more beautiful.

In the past few weeks I’ve seen the moon rise over Horgabost on the Hedridean Isle of Harris, turning the wavetops into neon and making the white sand glow. I’ve waded through wildflowers on the Pembrokeshire Coast Path in search of bays that make Tasmania look tame and I’ve watched the sun go down, cheered by surfers, in a salt haze over Widemouth in Cornwall that beats anything I’ve seen in southern California.

We’re now heading into the third heatwave of what we might look back upon as a summer to match 1976, so it would be a shame to waste those sunny days sitting in airports, queuing at immigration machines and fighting for sunloungers. You can do that next year. This year, drop your towel on a UK beach.