Hotels, B&Bs, country houses, inns, restaurants with rooms

Kent has some beautiful countryside, notably in the Weald of Kent, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

It is rich in history and architecture, too. Thomas à Becket was murdered in Canterbury’s marvellous cathedral (its building was started by St Augustine in 597), and Canterbury has a fine new theatre, The Marlow. The Good Hotel Guide has reviews of some interesting hotel accommodation in Kent. Edwardian, Georgian, Jacobean - hotels from every era and set beside the sea, in stunning urban settings or deep in lush greenery, making a hotel stay as varied as you wish! Outstanding places to visit include Sissinghurst with Vita Sackville-West’s famous garden; the moated Hever Castle where Anne Boleyn grew up and where Anne of Cleves lived after her divorce from Henry VIII; Knole House, a beautiful Elizabethan/Jacobean mansion once owned by Henry VIII; Leeds Castle, stunningly set on a lake near Maidstone; medieval Penshurst Place, birthplace of Sir Philip Sydney; Ightham Mote, a picturesque house with 14th-century origins. Churchill’s final home, Chartwell, contains much wartime memorabilia, and you can visit the studio where he painted.