AT first glance you may think you’ve landed in an eerie post-apocalyptic wasteland - or on the set of a Western blockbuster.
But this is not quite the end of the world - rather, it is the edge of Kent, in the spectral headlands of Dungeness.
This barren landscape has been dubbed “the only desert in the UK” and, over recent years, its sparse beauty has made it a tourist destination - especially for Londoners enjoying a long weekend in its rising number of Airbnb rentals.
When The Sun visited on a windy day this week, tourists had flocked from across the country to explore the "creepy" shoreline, which has even attracted the attention of celeb property moguls.
Not only do residents live in the shadow of two power stations, but the ground is littered with relics of the past - from old rusty abandoned cars to ghost boats and ruined buildings.
According to Rightmove, house prices in Dungeness now cost an average of £844,770 - an incredible 101 per cent rise from the previous year.
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But while some enterprising locals have cashed in on the property boom by renting out their quirky pads, it has also led to problems.
Trevor Bull, 63, a former fisherman who has lived in Dungeness for the past 36 years, is one of many residents who have tried to protect their property from tourists.
"They are not too bad," he explains. "It just becomes a problem when they interfere with your life and you get people trespassing across your property. I've had people peering through my windows.
"I'd be in my bedroom and there's someone looking into my window and when I go out to say anything to them, I get letters from the owners of the rentals' solicitors saying I'm rude!"
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Dungeness boasts one of the largest shingle beaches in Europe, and is also one of the warmest in the country, with a high of 18C in the spring.
Shops are few and far between, but there is a local pub, the Britannia Inn, a restaurant named End of The Line, and the Snack Shack, which serves fresh seafood.
It is also a fiercely protected conservation area and one of the best places to find rare breeds of bees, moths, and other bugs.
As a child, Rebecca Jessup regularly visited Dungeness with her father and when the opportunity to buy a property came up, she just couldn’t resist.
Her home has been built around an old train carriage dating back to the now-defunct Southern Railway. Rebecca occasionally rents it out as a holiday let.
The 50-year-old property investor told us: “I would say the area is quite unique and I’m probably quite unique too. I think it’s a great place for anybody who has got any kind of creativity.
"If you’re a writer or into art or anything like that, it’s a great place. It’s nice being near the ocean and collect your thoughts.
“You get people from all walks of life here. There are the ones that have been here all their lives. My neighbour next door has been here for a long time.
“When my friends come in, they don’t even recognise the place as it’s so different from the rest of the UK. You do feel like you’ve come abroad somewhere."
While Dungeness has grown in popularity in recent years, Rebecca remembers a time when that wasn't the case.
"Many years ago, a bank offered people loans to buy these properties because they were empty for so long. Nobody wanted them.
"And the kids of the people who did buy them didn't want to say they came from Dungeness because it wasn't classy back then - it's the same as Sandbanks, which used to be a council estate - look at it now."
Many locals here attribute its increasingly arty status to the filmmaker and gay rights activist Derek Jarman, who bought his black Prospect Cottage property in the 80s.
Nicola Robinson, who works as a cleaner and has lived in Dungeness for 35 years, says she understands why people are now flocking to the isolated spot.
She says: "I think it's lovely living here. It's so picturesque and peaceful and completely different from anywhere else. There's so much beauty and history here.
"I've lived here for decades and before, nobody would come here then and now it's the place to be. Tourists don't bother me but I've noticed that people have started putting up lots of fencing now.
"People do tend to walk wherever they feel like."
Rude trespassers
Long-term resident Trevor says many of his neighbours have moved out of the area, and been replaced by second-home owners, which can lead to friction.
He says: "It's lovely living here. I've enjoyed it for all these decades. Since Derek Jarman bought his property many years ago and started advertising Dungeness, we do get a lot of visitors now.
"The community of fishermen that used to live here aren't here anymore. A lot of them sold out and moved away. Now many people have bought the properties and are using them for holiday lets.
"Everybody was so close and everyone kept an eye on each other's kids if they were about. I always liked the community spirit down here - it was good."
While Trevor doesn't mind holiday rentals, he admits it has changed the community.
He has now had to put barriers up on his property, thanks to trespassers who "think they can do whatever they want because it's Dungeness."
"People come up here and park, ruining all the verges along Dungeness Road," he says.
"One of my neigbours has the same problem as me. People park on his drive so when he comes home from work, he's unable to get in."
"And these people that rent out these properties don't mention it to their guests and they should do so people can stop trespassing.
"When I first moved here, you'd never see any fencing but now people have roped their land off to keep tourists out. It's got worse and worse."
Security concerns
But tourists aren't the only ones who have been descending on Dungeness in recent years - there has been an influx of migrants that have arrived on small boats.
Rebecca says: "We get lots of migrants arriving on the beach - huge amounts. It’s difficult because the majority of them that come here are young. For me, there’s no worry.
“The only problem is that these are bad people that are trafficking these migrants. If that bad person gets off here and doesn’t decide to wait for the coaches and just goes wandering off, that worries me.
"It's the ones that don't want to be found that bothers me, not the ones that do."
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Nonetheless, the estate remains popular and attracts up to one million visitors each year.
One of them, who wished to remain anonymous told us: "It's like marmite - you either hate it or love it here. And I absolutely love it."
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