Hello again--Can the Master Travelers out there tell me everything they know about Kent? Much Obliged, bmk

More than you probably can use. What sorts of things do you want to know?

From a tourist perspective or are you relocating?

If a tourist, where are you staying? when? for how long?

what sorts of things interest you?

Not lacking hubris Janis?

Oh well Janis can cut and paste with the best of them

Visit Kent | Official Kent Tourism & Travel Website For Kent Tourists
Kent Tourism Website - The garden of England, English countryside at its best. ... England, UK Project part-financed by the European Union ...
www.visitkent.co.uk/

While the other(s) continue to squabble, I could say that Kent has some marvellous places to visit.

My favourites would all be obvious - Dover Castle (I could spend all day there), Rochester and Hever Castles, Canterbury. Kent also has some very pleasant scenery.

The Wikipedia entry is also a useful place to find information (less biased than VisitKent)

bobbymckaye: My point was - I have spent a LOT of time in Kent (as have others) and we can help you. But we can really help you more if we know a bit about what sort of info you are looking for.

PQ - how childish! The OP asked a very broad question and I am trying to help him narrow it down. You contributed exactly what sort of useful info? (huh - where did I cut and paste???)

PalenQ - your weary cynicism is getting a bit old and tired. janisj consistently offers some of the best advice on this website.

bobbymckaye - the more you can tell us about yourself, travel expectations and/or restraints, the more helpful we can be.

Kent and East Sussex are also two of my favourite places. As well as the places willit mentions, you could consider: Rye, Chartwell, Sissinghurst, Knole, Groombridge Gardens, Walmer Castle & Gardens, Ightham Mote, Bateman's, and the 1066 area around Battle. The village of Pluckley is supposed to be one of the most haunted villages in England, and Beachy Head (in Sussex) is spectacular.

Add Penshurst Place, home of Sir Philip Sydney, to the list. It's a nice contrast to the huge Knole House. Ightham Mote is also interesting.

A good place to stay is The Rose & Crown in Tonbridge, a nice little town.

Thanks rickmav, but I think it is hopeless.

Here are a couple of posts from the OP's other thread. While I really like Kent/East Sussex (REALLY like the area) - for what bobbymckaye is looking for, I honestly think somewhere w/ better connections to LHR would work out better . . . . .

<font color="blue">Author: flanneruk
Date: 08/11/2008, 01:50 pm
Well, in your shoes, I wouldn't go to Kent. Getting there from Heathrow involves crossing London: most of it's commuter territory, so by the time you've got to the uncommuter bit, you've been 2-3 hours in some form or other of train or tube. I have to admit to a bit of prejudice: I personally find a lot of Kent, even 60 miles from London, a wee bit suburban. There are interesting - even rather wild - areas (like round Romney Marsh), but they're not quite my idea of the archetype rolling English hills,

I'd get the bus from Heathrow to Reading station, then one of the the direct trains to the Cotswolds or thereabouts. Get off at Moreton in Marsh or Castle Cary.

Or the bus from Heathrow to Woking, then the train to the New Forest. Brockenhurst's the handiest station (specialises in renting bikes out).

All three of these destinations have slick direct trains into London for the second half of your trip.


Author: janisj
Date: 08/11/2008, 04:01 pm
I agree 100%. Kent is lovely but mostly for castles and gardens - for the most part not really pretty walking country. W/ a car and several days you can see a lot though.

I'd pick either the New Forest or the Cotswolds for 1) easier access to LHR, and 2) nicer walks.

I notice now you are the poster w/ the new thread about Kent . . . .

The New Forest would be amazing for what you want. Walks in the New Forest, Bucklers Hard village, Beaulieu, and even a day trip over on the ferry to the Isle of Wight w/ some terrific walks.

Or of course - the Cotswolds based from Moreton-in-Marsh is nothing BUT great walks every which direction.

Either would be preferable to Kent if you are arriving at LHR
</font>

people are telling you loads of good things about Kent, but bits of it are minging - mainly the bits near London and the Isle of Sheppey. These are as grim as it gets.

Isn't this true of all counties?

Even near pefection is spoilt by Aldershot !

Another vote for the New Forest area....love it.....but in a few weeks' time I'll be in Kent anyway....family research around Mersham &amp; Elham....and I'll take in Hevers, Scotney or Bodiam Castles, maybe a garden or two.....basing ourselves at Rye....Rupert Bear Museum at Canterbury!!?? (Last time we did Winnie the Pooh at Ashdown Forest....or is that Surrey? Never mind, it's all good).

Kent does have some fine walks, especially along Pilgrim's Way from the outskirts of London all the way to Canterbury, over a course medieval pilgrim's took going to Canterbury Cathedral, then one of Christiandom's holy shrines.

I've done most parts of this walk and it's as nice as any walk i've taken - follows a ridge much of the way - parts are on very narrow minor roads such as the part just before Canterbury via Painter's Forestall.

I'd say this area of Kent is as bucolic as any in southern England - rolling hills, conical oast houses, hop fields, old houses, etc. I rode my bike over this region for ten years and it's as scenic as about any part of lower England.

Chilham Castle is just off the route and it is a neat castle and castle town that is often overlooked.

I've been racking my brains over this because in an earlier thread the OP specifically said they wanted an area close to London with nice walks. Trouble is, most of the home counties areas immediately adjacent to the capital are either very suburban, or if rural, only in a very agricultural boring flat-fields-of-rapeseed kind of way.

There are some nice coastal walks all around North Norfolk, but I'm guessing that's too far away based on the original criteria. The nicer parts of Kent are also a fair old trek from central London. Plus the OP has said (I think) that the visit is scheduled for Oct, when the weather, though unlikely to be very cold, might not be that dry and bright.

I quite like the East Sussex suggestion, with some nice forested areas, a few decent castles, and the seaside not too far away.

The original question was about Essex and there is the Colne Valley area with the railway and a couple of castles (Framlingham just over the border in Suffolk is one of them). Quite a pretty area...

Kent has the North Downs way, very nice. North Kent is a bit of a grot-bag place to be honest. It starts getting nice halfway down - and then you'll find some really beautiful areas. If you have a car to get off the beaten track then there are some lovely villages.

Sevenoaks is another lovely small town, useful as a base, perhaps? Right near Knole House (fascinating place-referenced above...)

rickmav - i agree that Janis is a font of knowledge about Britain - recently i actually said i thought she must be British because only a Brit could know so much about Britain. That said she started attacking me for no apparent reason some time ago, charging me with 'plagiarizing and always cutting and pasting' - a bogus charge as i told her several times yet she persists in attacking me. Hopefully she will leave me along and i'll let her alone - i am mystified why she continually attacked me and thus .... well you know. But enough i agree - hopefully she will stop.

PQ: &quot;<i> . . . . charging me with 'plagiarizing and always cutting and pasting' . . . . </i>&quot;

Be fair. I apologized for the <u>plagiarizing</u> bit long ago. But you just keep bringing it up. Every time I disagree w/ you about trains, rail passes or anything else, it becomes a personal snub of some sort.

And to be more fair - you do copy/paste lots of things from the media to start your many threads . . . . .

So: plagiarizing - no.
copy/paste- continually

and what is wrong with copying and pasting to start a thread - i always attribute the source - but you know well that you've accused me constantly of copying and pasting everything - things i've wholly written, etc without any proof. I do not mind if you disagree at all. Just the bogus charge of copying and pasting like you claimed i always do - like i never write anything of my own which is very very unfair. Enough said, others are right, time to drop it on my part. I'll drop it - disagree with me all you want, of course and that's as it should be. Peace and cheers. You are a fantastic source of tremendous knowledge on Britain and Fodorites are lucky to have you aboard.

The north downs way from canterbury to dover is very nice. Its either a long (~20miles) day walk or a comfortable 2 day walk with bit of sightseeing thrown in. I overnighted in Oast Cottage near Shepherdswell.

Other nice day/weekend walks within easy reach of London (not in Kent though) include the Clarendon way from Salisbury to Winchester and the Ridgeway between Avebury and Marlborough.

The norfolk coastal path starting near Hunstnton is also great for weekend walking. Not many rolling hills, but fantastic long and wide sandy beaches that are practically deserted 500m away from the parking lots.

Windsor to Richmond is sort of nice, in a 'lets-gawk-at-the-rich-people' kind of way.

I'm sure there are loads of others (books and books of them), but i can personlly vouch for those above.