Visitors are being forced to brave a “perilous” walk along a busy road to a popular tourist attraction due to a lack of parking.

People fear it is an accident waiting to happen as dozens of cars are now being left along Kingsdown Road near Walmer Castle.

Families with young children have to tackle 40mph route, which has no pavement, on foot as the seasonal car park within the historic site’s grounds been shut following heavy rainfall.

As a result, the car park opposite and others on the seafront are often completely full.

English Heritage has apologised to people living nearby - but says a lack of restrictions along Kingsdown Road means there is little it can do to stop cars being left there.

It comes as the Queen Mother’s private apartment at Walmer Castle opened for the first time ever last month - boosting visitor numbers further.

The site’s picturesque gardens also include a woodland trail with play equipment for children.

Among those heading to the castle, near Deal, last week was Kate Nicol, 48, who said: “The current parking isn’t really doing its job. It’s a lovely place and many people want to come and visit, but they need somewhere safe to park.”

English Heritage members are able to leave their vehicles for free at the available car parks. But even those who can get spaces still have to contend with Kingsdown Road.

The lack of footpaths or crossing on the route has led visitors like Paul Mill, who was on his first trip to Walmer, to brand the walk as treacherous.

The 72-year-old told KentOnline: “I must admit it was my first observation as soon as I got out of the car park. This is dangerous.

“I think my main concern has to be the car park. First of all, it’s not big enough, and the walk from there to Walmer Castle is perilous. There’s no pavement or anything - the children have to walk on the road.

“This is on a weekday. I can only imagine what it's like on a weekend. It must be awful.”

Fellow visitor Carol Parker also raised concerns for those with disabilities.

The 68-year-old said: “I think it needs to be more accessible.

“We had to be dropped off while my husband found somewhere to park. The car park was full and I imagine it will only worsen as the summer comes.”

English Heritage says it is working with the relevant authorities to resolve the issues on Kingsdown Road.

Nina Pace, property manager at Walmer Castle, said: “While our seasonal car park in the castle meadow is too wet to park on, we have seen some visitors parking on Kingsdown Road instead of the Walmer seafront car parks.

“We are doing what we can to encourage people to use those options, but as there are no parking restrictions on this part of Kingsdown Road, we are unfortunately limited in what we can do to prevent parking there.”

She added: “I’d like to apologise to our neighbours. With a spell of good weather, it won’t be long until we can reopen the meadow car park on site.

“In the long term, our charity is looking at the feasibility of reinforcing the meadow car park in a similar way to what we have done at Deal Castle.”

A Dover District Council spokesman said while the authority understands people’s concerns, implementing new parking restrictions for safety reasons is the responsibility of Kent County Council, as the highways authority.

“The district council can only enforce the parking regulations that are currently in place,” they added.

Kent County Council said residents must first submit any potential changes to “on-street resident and limited-wait” parking regulations to district councils for consideration.