The county of Kent is known as the Garden of England thanks to its agricultural heritage, rural beauty and traditional hop gardens. Kent is situated in the southeast of England. Indeed it is England’s most southeasterly county, where it juts out into the English Channel just 21 miles from the shores of France. Kent shares boundaries with East Sussex and Surrey. It stands on the opposite side of the River Thames from Essex, connected by the famous Dartford Tunnel and Queen Elizabeth II Bridge. The north west of Kent blurs into the ever-expanding conurbation of Greater London, and for centuries Kent’s proximity to the capital has resulted in prosperity. From the Roman Watling Street that connected London (Londinium) with Dover (Dubris), to today’s role of commuter belt and dormitory towns, Kent has enjoyed intrinsic links with London.

Many people seem eager to charge straight through Kent en route to somewhere else on the M20, the M2 or the Eurostar, but they are missing out. Kent offers a diverse selection of fascinating attractions, world heritage sites, beautiful towns and villages. It also has some of the most iconic landscapes in Southern England, including the Weald, the North Downs and the famous white cliffs of Dover. There is an abundance of top class restaurants and traditional country pubs, as well as a selection of excellent hotels that enable you to spend your time in Kent in luxury and style.

There is evidence that the area now known as Kent was at one time connected to mainland Europe by a land link, but after the British Isles were cast adrift Kent was one of the first areas to become inhabited. Sequential occupations during the Bronze Age and Iron Age were followed by Roman settlements. Numerous artefacts have been unearthed, suggesting that the county was a major population centre. The magnificent cathedral at Canterbury was built shortly after the Norman Conquest, although it had been a shrine to pilgrims since the 6th century. Through the centuries, Kent’s fortunes rose as iron making, cloth making and brewing joined agriculture as the county’s staple industries. Towns such as Tunbridge Wells became particularly affluent. Henry VIII established Chatham Dockyard in the 16th century, and it remained the home of the Royal Navy for over 300 years, although today this honour is held by Portsmouth.