English south coast Eastbourne to Dover (maybe Margate ish) - can't miss?
I'm British, early 50s, based in Derbyshire. My mother (early 80s, pretty healthy but gets tired quickly) has been going on about Dover castle for years, because her father was stationed there in intelligence during the war. But because we live so far away (she's in north Wales) and we hate the M25, we haven't been.
We've been to Portsmouth before and areas west of that, but not really eastwards (although i went to Brighton once as a student) but this July we're planning to finally go to Dover castle, and to avoid the M25 at least on the way down. We planned to head south first, then along the coast to Dover. We're seeing a play in Stratford one day so we thought we'd head down from there, and then eastwards.
What are people's must-see recommendations please for a 50something and an 80something who like history, nature and wildlife, boat trips, maybe a steam train, maybe a castle but not with millions of people or huge amounts of walking? We like a tea room and an antique shop, that sort of thing. I've got Hastings and the De la Warr Pavilion in Bexhill on my list (because of Foyle's War) and of course Dover Castle. I've seen several steam trains but not sure which is best - we'd probably only want to do one.
We have about a week to 10 days, and will have a car and would stay in hotels (unless someone has great recommendations for somewhere fun to stay) and probably wouldn't stay overnight more than 1 or 2 nights anywhere.