Sea Hive Surf Park at Betteshanger – Where Does It Stand?

For the past few months here at Kent Surf, we’ve been trying to find out what is actually happening with the proposed Sea Hive Surf Park at Betteshanger Country Park, near Deal.

When the concept first appeared, it certainly caught attention across Kent’s surfing and outdoor community. The idea of a modern inland surf lagoon in East Kent sounded exciting, a facility that could bring consistent waves to a county where surfers normally rely on North Sea storms and a fair amount of patience.

But lately things have gone very quiet.

Over the past several weeks we have tried repeatedly to reach out to Sea Hive to understand whether the project had started, was about to begin, or if plans had changed. Unfortunately, every attempt has led to the same outcome.

Emails to the contact addresses listed for Sea Hive bounce back as undeliverable, never a good sign, and calls have gone unanswered. When we contacted Betteshanger Country Park, the response was simply that they had no further information and that everything appeared to be “up in the air.”

This uncertainty follows another major development tied to the site in 2025.

It emerged that plans for a £30 million hotel at Betteshanger Country Park have been quietly dropped after the intended operator withdrew from the project. That hotel development had been controversial from the beginning, facing significant opposition and taking almost two years to secure planning permission before ultimately falling apart.

With the hotel proposal now shelved, it naturally raises the question:

Where does that leave the Sea Hive surf park?

Despite occasional comments in media reports suggesting the surf park is still proceeding, from where we sit it currently looks more like a drying lagoon of good intentions rather than an active project.

That’s disappointing, because the concept itself had real potential.

At one point, the proposal suggested a state-of-the-art wave pool that could deliver reliable surf sessions, beginner instruction, and potentially become a year-round destination for watersports and outdoor recreation in Kent. Developments like this have worked extremely well elsewhere in the world, bringing new tourism, jobs, and sporting opportunities to their regions.

Yet here in Kent, ambitious tourism projects have a long history of drifting into uncertainty.

Many locals will remember the snow dome project once proposed between Whitstable and Herne Bay. That development spent years in planning before eventually disappearing, only for a similar concept to be built elsewhere in the UK, where it went on to become a major leisure attraction.

Kent has sometimes struggled to move forward with large-scale tourism innovation, even when the ideas themselves are strong.

To be fair, the Sea Hive project was never without its complications.

Its location at Betteshanger raised environmental concerns from the start, with campaigners worried about potential impacts on nature and the surrounding landscape. Those concerns were serious and deserved discussion.

At Kent Surf, we debated the project internally as well. Steve was strongly in favour of the surf park from the beginning, seeing it as a positive step for the local surfing community. Wesley was more cautious, questioning whether Betteshanger was the right place for such a development.

Eventually, despite those reservations, we agreed to support the idea publicly — believing that if done responsibly, a surf park could be a valuable addition to Kent.

Interestingly, during all of this we were approached regarding rumours of an entirely different surf park proposal somewhere else in Kent, potentially in areas such as Ashford, Maidstone, or even near Canterbury.

Nothing official has been confirmed, but we were contacted by individuals exploring the concept and even asked whether Kent Surf would consider selling our domain name and website if a new surf resort moved forward. Naturally we declined.

However, we did say we’d happily stay in touch and contribute our thoughts to any future project, something that, ironically, never happened with Sea Hive itself. Despite numerous attempts, Sea Hive never spoke with us directly, nor returned calls or emails, even though they later suggested we had never reached out – which was not true.

That lack of communication has only added to the uncertainty surrounding the project.

So where does that leave things today?

At the moment, the Sea Hive surf park remains an idea without visible momentum. There’s no clear public update, no confirmed timeline, and no obvious activity suggesting construction is imminent.

That doesn’t necessarily mean the project is gone for good. Large developments often pause, restructure, or re-emerge under new plans. But from what we can currently see, Sea Hive feels very much like one of those Kent projects that began with excitement and then slowly faded into silence.

For surfers in the county, the dream of a wave pool is still very much alive.

And if a surf park ever does come to Kent, particularly somewhere central with strong motorway access, it could become a remarkable destination for both locals and visiting surfers. For now though, the Sea Hive lagoon remains calm and still. Whether waves will ever break there remains to be seen.

At Kent Surf, we remain hopeful, but also realistic.