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 known for its orchards and for the distinctive shape of its oast houses, used for drying hops. 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.