Maidstone

Maidstone, Kent’s county town is set on the River Medway among some of the loveliest countryside, rich with orchards and hop-gardens. For many centuries town life centred on the Archbishops of Canterbury, who had a riverside palace in the town.

In 1207 the Manor of Maidstone, as it was known, was given to the Archbishops to use as a resting place to break journeys between Canterbury and London. Surrounded by a herb garden and an apothecary’s garden, visitors are welcome to tour the Palace when it is not in use. The Archbishop’s stables house a collection of horse drawn carriages at the Tyrwhitt-Drake Museum.

A few minutes out of the town centre is Cobtree, where you will find the Museum of Kent Life. The museum details rural Kent life in days gone by and is one of the few surviving places where hops are grown, picked and dried in the traditional manner.