Where to stay in Kent?
 

If we were to base ourselves in Kent for a few days next spring, what are/town would be recommended? Is Maidstone "nice"? Nice for us would be scenic, historic (not hard to find in England). Thanks!

Hi Ani,

I won't pretend to know Kent very well, but I have visited Canterbury & think it fits your requirements as it is both scenic & historic.

Jim

Thanks, Jim, I was kind of hoping to be a little more centrally located for day trips, though...

The Rose and Crown in Tonbridge would do very nicely--it's quite near Hever Castle, Knole, Pensworth Place, et al.

I stayed in Canterbury a couple of years ago. It was within easy day driving distance of Dover, Hever, Chartwell, and Leeds. Plus, I loved the old part of the city.

Tammy

Yes, I agree. Canterbury is PERFECT! What a charming beautiful place! (and I HIGHLY recommend the Canterbury Tales exhibit while there- I am obsessed with the Canterbury Tales. I guess I am a bit of a nerd. :) )

When we stay outside of London, we like to find a cottage or B&B in the smaller towns and villages - mainly so we don't'have to deal with the hectic driving (and parking) in the larger cities (like Maidstone.) We try to find small towns with decent access to an A-road. On our last trip to Kent, we stayed in Pembury, 3 miles east of Royal Tunbridsge Wells. It was a quiet little village but was conveniently located close to the A-21.

You might have a look at this website

http://www.picturesofengland.com/Kent/

Thanks for the replies so far...McLaurie I will check that site out.
Kayb-good to know that Maidstone is pretty large, and I guess I should clarify that although we don't want to be in too large of a town, we do want a town that has several pubs, etc.

The Tonbridge has its own pub, and there are others in the village.

Sorry--meant to say "The Rose and Crown."

Sevenoaks isn't is large as Maidstone and is located in a good area for sightseeing. Or we always like Rye, good location for the south Kent/Sussex goodies. We've also rented cottages in Cranbrook and the Burwash area (where Rudyard Kipling's home is located) - both are easily reached and handy. Didn't stay in Goudhurst but thought it was quite lovely. Will stay in a cottage there next time we go to England.

You are going to love Kent. Particularly in spring. Besides Canterbury some other places to consider for sightseeing: Knole, Chartwell, Hever, Batemans, Sissinghurst, Dover Castle, Walmer Castle, visit some of the vineyards, Darling Buds of May territory and the coast. Have fun.

Always stay here

www.lamberdenhouse.co.uk/

Its near the major gardens, Rye and the lovely wead countryside

The following URL leads to a thread with some tourist information in Kent : http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34426619

I also have this site http://www.kenttourism.co.uk/en/where_to_stay/index.asp saved in my " favorites" folder. It allows you to search for accommodations by type ( B&B, farm based, hotel, and so forth.)

Maidstone is big enough for a choice of pubs. But it's also big enough for a choice of home improvement superstores, carpet warehouses and all the other essentials of everyday living that don't quite make for an idyllic holiday. You really have to look hard to find Quainte Olde Englishe stuff here.

Sevenoaks really is nice, and is well located on the road system to make up for its being on the edge of the county.

Tunbridge Wells will do, and shouldn't be confused with Tonbridge, which is just a suburb (as indeed are most of the towns in Kent, since it has a very dense and fast railway system into London, though it's considered unpatriotic to say anything other than bad things about it).

Rochester? You might think it's on the edge, but it's good.

To be honest, your criteria might need adjusting. There are lots of pretty places in Kent, and some towns on the periphery are nice. But if you want a choice of places to eat and drink, and want to be central, you're going to have to be in a "town" that's really a dormitory suburb, with, if you're lucky, a hotel that's reasonably elderly.

I always recommend Church Gates in the pretty and historic town of Cranbrook - just a couple of miles from Sissinghurst garden. The guys who run it also do great garden tours - check out
http://geocities.com/churchgates0/

Great responses-thank you...will definately check out the sites. I thought maybe I could list some of the places we are interested in seeing, and that might help determine the best location for a base. We would probably be based there for about 3 days. I'm the history fanatic in the family, so we'd like to see anything Elizabeth I, Henry VIII related (Hatfield, Hever, etc) and Canterbury, Leeds. However, we'd also like to visit Windsor, as we missed that last time. The other places we will be based during our trip are York and probably N. Wales. I suppose we could stop at Windsor on our way down to the Kent area. Does this help? Thanks in advance (again).

ttt

We recently returned from a vacation which included a week in Kent. We stayed at the Langley Oast B&B ( see http://www.theaa.com/hotels/103177.html ) right outside of Maidstone and about 4 pubs away from Leeds Castle. Even as a newbie, I found getting from there to the Sissinghurst area or to Canterbury fairly easy.

Don't forget a visit to Hampton Court Palace if you're Henry VIII fans; they say the ghost of poor Catherine Howard still runs screaming down the corridor where she tried to reach Henry and beg for her life.

Whitstable/Herne Bay - charming, fabulous stretch of beach (for walking along clothed not for sunbathing on), great oysters. The hotels there are far from luxurious, but it is fun to rough it for a night or too. The Continental hotel is "designery" with a good quality restaurant in a more modern style. The Marine (a little further along the coast) is more old fashioned, rather basic, and its restaurant is a relic of the 50s serving old fashioned English style food - I enjoy it for a quiet weekend - winter is even better as the sea is far choppier and more interesting to watch.

Thank you again!
Underhill-we visited Hampton Ct. when we were there in 2002...LOVED it. Didn't see Catherine Howard's ghost :(

Thanks to all for the info.

I'm topping this b/c our trip, that we thought was cancelled is a go for Sept!! We will tentatively be spending 4 nights in Kent and, through much deliberation, will probably be staying in Canterbury. WE will have a 1.5 year old with us and would like to not drive to get into town. Would like a small hotel that is historic and has its own pub ;) -any personal favorites? Thanks in advance and I'm going to view the links provided right now.

We stayed in Tenterden last Spring- an old coaching village with wide main street, lots of old inns some serving excellent food. Great places to visit within easy reach- Canterbury, Whitstable, Rye, Ightham Mote (moated medieveal manor house), Great Dixter (beautiful gardens and ancient house), Bodiam Castle and the steam trains on the Bluebell line.

Ani: Canterbury cathedral/medieval princincts are lovely. But I personally wouldn't stay there for a trip to visit the castles/gardens and other sites in Kent and E. Sussex. It is pretty far east so you'd be driving long distances to many of the places you'll want to see. It is convenient to Dover and the seaside resorts along the NE Kent coast.

But a place like Tenterden would be more convenient. You could still get to canterbury from there but you'd only have to drive that distance once, not every day.

Maybe 1 night in Canterbury and 3 nights someplace like Tenterden would be a good comprimise.

But if you want to spend the whole time in one place - a more centrally located town would work better.

Thanks Bellini and Janis! Here's my concern: We will probably be spending a fair amount of time actually in the town we are staying in. That said, I'd like to be in a fairly large town, with more than one street to explore. Also, it seems per the comments on this post that many of the more central towns that are larger are really commuter towns and not much for historic/ambiance, etc. For comparison, we LOVE York-the size of it, the atmosphere, so much to see.

2 years ago we visited Scotland and due to the central location we were advised to stay in Cupar, about 7 miles from St. Andrews. Cupar was very small and didn't have much to do and we highly regretted not making the extra trek to stay in St. Andrews instead.
Soooo-what now?

I mentioned Tenterden instead of some of the smaller villages in the area for just that reason. I love some of the tiny villages but you say you want to be in a place w/ more options. Tenterden is a busy, small town w/ several places to stay/eat/shop, etc

Here is the town website so you can see what sort of place it is.

A larger town like Royal Tunbridge Wells might meet your needs - but except for the lovely center - I personally don't like it as much (but that is purely subjective - I just find the traffic a bit much)

Another option is Rye.

Oops - left off the url

http://www.tenterdentown.co.uk/