elizabethG

I am considering going to Kent England for 4 days as part of a larger trip.
Has anyone been to this area of England and can make any reccomendations
On things to see for 4 days?? And what would be a good base area?

janisj

>>Has anyone been to this area of England<<

Yep -- lots of people

There is soooooo much to see and do in Kent/East Sussex you could fill 4 weeks let alone 4 days. A short list might include:

Dover Castle
Canterbury
Sissinghurst
Hever
Chartwell
Penshurst Place
Rye
Knole
Igtham Mote
Scotney Castle
Bayham Abbey

and tons more . . .

northie

As janisj says lots to see - lovely area . Hever for one has b n b accommodation .

PatrickLondon

All sorts of options:
http://www.visitkent.co.uk/

annhig

<<Has anyone been to this area of England>>

yes, I used to live there. [not everyone here is american]

<<can make any recommendations on things to see for 4 days??>>

see the above.

<<And what would be a good base area?>>

This depends of course on what you decide you want to see but you have a lot of choice - rural hotels/BnBs, small towns like Westerham, Tenterden,& Rye, or bigger centres such as Tunbridge Wells, Sevenoaks & Maidstone [convenient but not as picturesque as some other choices], and Canterbury itself of course.

and what do you like to do in the evenings? if you are happy to be in a hotel offering dinner you could look to stay in the countryside, or a small village which might have a couple of dinner choices; if you like a lot of choice of restaurants & bars, but [like us] like to have a glass of wine or two with our dinner, you'll need to pick somewhere larger.

perhaps when you've got a better idea of what you think you want to see, you can come back and we can try to help you pick a suitable base.

elizabethG

Thank you for all the help .
I will be traveling with my two boys ages 12 and 9. We like
History, gardens, and more quaint picturesque villages, we have travelled
To many other areas in the UK and just love it so much we wished
We could live there. Since we only have a few day on this portion of our trip I wanted to maximize the time and what we see. I wasn't sure what the top
Picturesque Towns to visit and the top sites and a base. We are low key and I
Love B&B's and historical Inns.. Many thanks

annhig

well Kent has quaint picturesque villages in spades and with your interests I wonder if you would like Rye as a base? it's an ancient port near but not on the coast, and there are lots of lovely villages nearby - Sissinghurst, Cranbrook, Benenden, Tenterden, Goudhurst, plus Hastings to the west if you like watching Foyle's War or want to visit a proper seaside town, and in the other direction the Romney and Dymchurch railway. There are also plenty of gardens - Sissinghurst, Scotney [which has a castle], Great Dixter, the Royal Botanic Gardens at Wakehurst,

you could also go to the Observatory at Herstmonceux,

http://www.the-observatory.org

there is also Bodiam Castle, and even Hever is only just over an hour away.

Dee_Dee

I will be anxiously reading all the replies as I am planning a week in Kent next summer and am in the planning stage myself.

janisj

Staying anywhere in the triangle of Rye/Tenterden/Wadhurst would make a giid base being pretty centrally located for everything from Hever/Chartwell to Dover, and there would be a lot to see in the immediate area.

europeannovice

We did a trip to Southeast England two years ago and loved it. We stayed in Royal Tunbridge Wells and found it to be a very good base as it was central to where we wanted to go plus they had plenty of restaurants walking distance from our B&B.

Our favorites in the area were Chartwell (Winston Churchill's home); Hever Castle, Bodiam Castle (great ruins your boys will love to climb), Ightham Mote, the town of Rye and the Battle tour at Battle, Dover Castle and Canterbury. If you go in the spring I would imagine Sissinghurst should be beautiful. It just wasn't in the best condition the summer we had visited.

Dover Castle should not be missed especially the war time tunnels and the hospital tour. You can spend most of a day at Dover Castle.

On the way up to London we stopped at the Chatham Dockyards and had a great time seeing the ships and the ropery tour.

europeannovice

Forgot to mention nearer to the airport is Wisley Gardens. The day we visited they had a falconry exhibit and it was lovely watching the birds of prey fly about. The garden is huge and it is really wonderful.

annhig

Yes, Wisley - as a RHS member I should have thought of that!