French energy giant EDF buys Dungeness Estate

Owner of local power station pays undisclosed sum for barren headland in south Kent, once home to the late artist and film director Derek Jarman

Dungeness Estate, the windswept stretch of shingle coastline where the film-maker Derek Jarman spent his final years, has been bought by EDF Energy, the French company that owns a nearby nuclear power station.

The sparsely populated, barren headland on the south Kent coast, home to disused railway coaches and sometimes inaccurately described as "Britain's only desert", has been snapped up by EDF for an undisclosed amount after being put up for sale in the summer for 1.5m.