» » Reasons to be Cheerful: Part 2

Reasons to be Cheerful: Part 2

Your London Tours wants to encourage you to spend your vacation in the UK. But what can the UK offer that other countries can’t? In the latest instament of a blog series, we continue to list our all-time favourite places that can be visited in a day-trip from London.

Welcome Back to Britain

This month, the area south and south-east of London that includes the counties of Kent and Surrey.

5 reasons to visit North Kent:

  • Chartwell: home of Winston Churchill, who saw the world through dark hours.
  • Penshurst Place: magnificent medieval hall that Henry VIII used as a base to visit Anne Boleyn at Hever.
  • Hever Castle: family home of the Boleyn girl, apple of Henry VIII’s roving eye.
  • Ightham Mote: medieval manor described as ‘England at peace with nature.’
  • Knole House: England’s largest private house, with original Tudor remains.

5 reasons to visit the Kent Coast:

  • Broadstairs: quaint and popular seaside town. Inspired Dickens’ Bleak House.
  • Richborough: superb ruins of Roman fort dating back to 43AD.
  • Sandwich: more historic buildings than any other similar-sized UK town.
  • Deal: popular seaside town. Wellington and Nelson stayed at the Royal Hotel.
  • Whitstable: famed since Roman times for shellfish. Annual oyster festival.

5 reasons to visit Mid-Kent:

  • Canterbury: pilgrim centre and spiritual home of the Church of England.
  • Leeds Castle: idyllic Arthurian Camelot dating back to the 11th century.
  • Sissinghurst: described as the epitome of the English country garden.
  • Rochester Cathedral: one of the finest Norman cathedrals in the world.
  • Tenterden, Chapel Down Vineyard: largest producer of wines in the country.

5 reasons to visit North Kent on a village drive (A225)

  • Otford: remains of Archbishop’s palace on Pilgrims’ Way.
  • Shoreham: location for Agatha Christie movie The Mirror Crack’d.
  • Eynsford: picture postcard village with church and ford.
  • Lullingstone: Roman villa with early Christian symbols in mosaic floor.
  • Farningham: where A225 meets the A20 – recorded in the Domesday Book.

5 reasons to visit the Surrey & Kent stretch of the M25 Corridor.

  • Wisley: one of the world’s greatest gardens and Britain’s best loved.
  • Polesden Lacey: political salon of the famous social monster Mrs Greville.
  • Eltham Palace: Medieval ruins, Tudor hall, and Art Deco residence.
  • Down House: family home of Charles Darwin where he wrote Origin of Species.
  • Emmetts Garden: laid out in 19th century. Exotic, rare but informal plantings.
Enticing

Your London Tours chief administrator Jo Bull said: “We cannot force anyone to spend their vacation in the UK, but we can entice them with these recommendations. We hope they will take them into account when making Your London Tours their first port of call for a trip to remember.”