Rough Guide to Kent, Sussex & Surrey (Travel Guide eBook)

Rough Guides

Description

The Rough Guide to Kent, Sussex and Surrey

Make the most of your time on Earth with the ultimate travel guides.
World-renowned 'tell it like it is' travel guide.

Discover Kent, Sussex and Surrey with this comprehensive and entertaining travel guide, packed with practical information and honest recommendations by our independent experts. Whether you plan to shop in medieval Rye, laze on the dune-backed beach of West Wittering or marvel at the soaring interior of Canterbury Cathedral, The Rough Guide to Kent, Sussex and Surrey will help you discover the best places to explore, eat, drink, shop and sleep along the way.

Features of this travel guide to Kent, Sussex and Surrey:
- Detailed regional coverage: provides practical information for every kind of trip, from off-the-beaten-track adventures to chilled-out breaks in popular tourist areas
- Honest and independent reviews: written with Rough Guides' trademark blend of humour, honesty and expertise, our writers will help you make the most from your trip to Kent, Sussex and Surrey
- Meticulous mapping: practical full-colour maps, with clearly numbered, colour-coded keys. Find your way around Hastings, Brighton and many more locations without needing to get online
- Fabulous full-colour photography: features inspirational colour photography, including the sweeping green hills and country lanes of the South Downs Way and the distinctive, unmissable conical 'hats' of typical Kent oast houses of Sissinghurst.
- Time-saving itineraries: carefully planned routes will help inspire and inform your on-the-road experiences
- Things not to miss: Rough Guides' rundown of Canterbury, Chichester, Broadstairs, and Alfriston's best sights and top experiences
- Travel tips and info: packed with essential pre-departure information including getting around, accommodation, food and drink, health, the media, festivals, sports and outdoor activities, culture and etiquette, shopping and more
- Background information: comprehensive 'Contexts' chapter provides fascinating insights Kent, Sussex and Surrey, with coverage of history, religion, ethnic groups, environment, wildlife and books, plus a handy language section and glossary
- Covers: Canterbury and around; North Kent; East Kent; The Kent Weald; The Sussex High Weald; East Sussex Downs; Brighton; West Sussex; Surrey

You may also be interested in: The Rough Guide to Norfolk and Suffolk, The Rough Guide to The Cotswolds, The Rough Guide to Bath, Bristol and Somerset

About Rough Guides: Rough Guides have been inspiring travellers for over 35 years, with over 30 million copies sold globally. Synonymous with practical travel tips, quality writing and a trustworthy 'tell it like it is' ethos, the Rough Guides list includes more than 260 travel guides to 120+ destinations, gift-books and phrasebooks.

Sujets

• Inglaterra
• Travel
• Great Britain
• England
• Europe

Informations

• Publié par: Apa Publications
• Date de parution: 01 juillet 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781839052576
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 17 Mo

Extrait

Contents
Introduction to Kent, Sussex & Surrey
W here to go
W hen to go
A uthor picks
t hings not to miss
I tineraries
Basics
G etting there
G etting around
A ccommodation
F ood and drink
S ports and outdoor activities
F estivals and events
T ravel essentials
Canterbury and around
C anterbury
N orth of Canterbury
S outh of Canterbury
North Kent
T he Medway towns
F aversham and around
W hitstable and around
H erne Bay and around
I sle of Thanet
East Kent
S andwich and around
D eal
D over and around
F olkestone
H ythe and around
R omney Marsh
The Kent Weald
R oyal Tunbridge Wells
A round Royal Tunbridge Wells
K ent’s eastern High Weald
S evenoaks and around
M aidstone and around
A shford and around
The Sussex High Weald
R ye and around
H astings and around
B attle
T he eastern High Weald
A shdown Forest
T he western High Weald
East Sussex Downs
E astbourne
S ussex Heritage Coast
A lfriston
F rom Alfriston to Lewes
L ewes and around
D itchling and around
Brighton
R oyal Pavilion and around
T he seafront
K emp Town
H ove
O ut of the centre
West Sussex
C hichester and around
T he Manhood Peninsula
M idhurst and around
P etworth
A rundel and around
S teyning and around
T he coast: Bognor Regis to Shoreham-by-Sea
Surrey
F arnham and around
G uildford and around
D orking and around
N orth Surrey
Contexts
H istory
B ooks
Small print
M ap Symbols
P ublishing information


Introduction to Kent, Sussex & Surrey

Traditionally, the southeast corner of England was where London went on holiday. Throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, everyone from royalty to illicit couples enjoyed seaside fun at Brighton – a splash of saucy decadence in the bucolic county of Sussex – while trainloads of Eastenders were shuttled to the hop fields of Kent for a working break from the city, and boats ferried people down the Thames to the sands at Margate. Surrey has historically had a lower tourist profile, though its woodlands and hills have long attracted outdoors-lovers.
While many of its old seaside towns floundered in the late twentieth century – barring Brighton , which has always been in vogue – this stretch of England’s coast is in the throes of an exciting renaissance. It’s fashionable once more to enjoy the traditional resorts’ cheeky charms, and the more laidback appeal of the quieter seaside towns. The cliff-fringed coastline itself provides excellent walking, swimming and watersports, along with heaps of bucket-and-spade fun. Inland, ancient woodlands and sleepy villages preserve their picturesque appeal – there are even pockets of comparative wilderness , perhaps surprising in a relatively populous area so close to London. Sandwiched between the lofty chalk escarpments of the North and South Downs, a vast sweep is taken up by the largely rural Weald – the name comes from the Saxon “wald”, or forest, dating to the days when it was almost entirely covered by woodland.
This corner of the country is of huge historical significance, with the coast, just a hop away from the Continent, having served as a gateway for an array of invaders. Roman remains pepper the region – most spectacularly at Bignor and Fishbourne in Sussex and Lullingstone in Kent – and many roads, including the main A2 between London and Dover, follow the arrow-straight tracks laid by the legionaries. Christianity arrived in Britain on the Isle of Thanet (the northeast tip of Kent, long since rejoined to the mainland by silting and subsiding sea levels) and in 597 AD Augustine established a monastery at Canterbury , still the home of the Church of England. The last successful invasion of England, in 1066, took place in Sussex, when the Normans overran King Harold’s army at Battle near Hastings – and went on to leave their mark all over this corner of the kingdom, not least in a profusion of medieval castles . There are other important historic sights at every turn, from Tudor manor houses and sprawling Elizabethan and Jacobean estates to the old dockyards of Chatham , power base of the once invincible British navy.
You can also tackle some impressive long-distance walks , prime among them the glorious South Downs Way in Sussex and the gentler North Downs Way from Surrey to East Kent. Both Sussex and Kent – a county historically famed for its fruit and veg – are superb foodie destinations, with countless gastropubs, restaurants and farmers’ markets providing delicious local produce, from asparagus and wild cherries to fresh seafood and Romney Marsh lamb, as well as award-winning vineyards and breweries producing excellent wines and ales.




Where to go
On Kent’s north coast, the arty little fishing town of Whitstable , famed for its oysters, is a favourite getaway for weekending Londoners. Margate, gentrifying rapidly, and the charmingly retro Broadstairs make good bases on the Isle of Thanet , with its clean sandy bays, while the east coast has the low-key Georgian seaside town of Deal , the mighty Dover Castle , Folkestone – home to the art Triennial – and the strangely compelling shingle headland of Dungeness . Inland is the university city of Canterbury , where the venerable cathedral dominates a compact old centre crammed with medieval buildings, while Kent’s Weald boasts a wealth of historic houses , among them the mighty Knole estate and Hever Castle , Anne Boleyn’s childhood home, along with the glorious gardens at Sissinghurst , a stunning array planted by Vita Sackville-West. Exploring the many other historical attractions in the Weald – such as Winston Churchill’s estate at Chartwell or Charles Darwin’s family home at Down House – could fill a long and happy weekend; the Georgian town of Royal Tunbridge Wells makes an appealing base, as do countless peaceful villages.
The jewel of Sussex is the South Downs National Park , a glorious sweep of rolling downland that stretches from Hampshire into Sussex, meeting the sea at the iconic chalk cliffs of Beachy Head and Seven Sisters . There’s wonderful walking along the Downs, not least along the South Downs Way, but equally rewarding are the less-tramped pockets of countryside, from the gorse-peppered heathland of Ashdown Forest on the edge of the sleepy High Weald to the sandstone cliffs of the Hastings County Park on the coast.


Art along the coast
One of the defining features of the Kent and Sussex coastline is its crop of exciting art galleries, which with their cutting-edge architecture and top-notch collections have brought fresh energy and glamour to the faded seaside towns of the Southeast. Regenerating ailing coastal communities with high-profile buildings is no new thing, of course – the De La Warr Pavilion (1935), Bexhill’s Modernist icon, was built partly for that very reason, although it was originally an entertainment hall and not a gallery. Within a couple of decades it had fallen into decline, but a gorgeous restoration in 2005 saw it brought back to life. Nearby, in Hastings, the Jerwood (relaunched as the Hastings Contemporary in 2019), whose shimmering black-tiled exterior echoes the look of the local fishing huts, opened in 2012 to display a modern British collection, and has played an important part in the upwards trajectory of that town. Even Eastbourne, more associated with OAPs than YBAs, has the Towner , open since the 1920s but moved in 2009 to a sleek new location. In Kent, the Turner Contemporary was instrumental in returning a smile to the face of once-merry Margate, and Folkestone’s highly rated Triennial – a major public show that has featured artists from Tracey Emin to Cornelia Parker, first staged in 2008 – has become a major event.
In East Sussex, buzzy Brighton , a university town with a blowsy good-time atmosphere, makes an irresistible weekend destination, as does handsome Lewes , in the heart of the South Downs; Hastings , east along the coast, is an up-and-coming seaside town with lots to recommend it, including a pretty Old Town and the scruffy but hip St Leonards neighbourhood to explore. On the edge of lonely Romney Marsh , picturesque Rye , with its cobbled streets and medieval buildings, lies within minutes of the family-friendly beach of Camber Sands . In West Sussex, the attractive hilltop town of Arundel , surrounded by unspoilt countryside, boasts a magnificent castle; Midhurst – headquarters of the South Downs National Park– is surrounded by gorgeous scenery and plenty of foodie pubs; while the lovely old cathedral town of Chichester , set between the sea and the South Downs, makes a perfect base for exploring the creeks and mudflats of Chichester Harbour and dune-backed West Wittering beach. Like Kent, Sussex abounds in great landscaped estates and gardens, among them seventeenth-century Petworth House , with its vast parkland roamed by deer, the Capability Brown-designed Sheffield Park , sprawling Wakehurst Place and the informal, imaginative garden at Great Dixter .
While Surrey boasts some attractive market towns, the chief appeal is in the Surrey Hills , in the North Downs, where ramblers and cyclists enjoy bluebell woods, mellow chalk grasslands and unsp