Famous Faces

The famous and the infamous have all left their impression on this fascinating area.

"Kent, sir - everybody knows Kent - apples, cherries, hops and women." Thus Charles Dickens described the Garden of England in The Pickwick Papers. It was also in Kent that Julius Caesar landed in 55 BC and uttered the immortal line: "I came, I saw, I conquered".

Dickens' Kent

Medway and Gravesham are Charles Dickens territory. Travel through the village of Chalk and find the Old Forge depicted in Great Expectations or stop for a drink at The Leather Bottle in Cobham - a place Dickens frequented.
 
Dickens featured Rochester in his writings more than any other town apart from London - variously disguised as Pip's home town in Great Expectations and Cloisterham in the Mystery of Edwin Drood. You can still recognise the old-world Rochester the author knew so well.

At Higham on certain days you can tour Gad's Hill Place, Dickens' home in later life. And share his love for Broadstairs, his favourite holiday retreat, where he completed many of his books.
 

Royal connections

Many royal visitors have made their mark in the area, including King Henry VIII who met Anne of Cleves here for the first time. The king's fruiterer planted the first apple and cherry trees in Teynham, establishing Kent's reputation as the 'Garden of England'.


 

Your licence to thrill

Zip down the coast in the company of James Bond and Ian Fleming. The route from Margate to Dover is Moonraker and Goldfinger country. Stop off in Sandwich and relive the classic match between Bond and Auric Goldfinger: Fleming's club Royal St George's became Royal St Mark's in the spy novel. Fleming had is weekend home at St Margaret's Bay. Find out more about James Bond's Kent here.

The home of genius and heroes

In 2009 the world celebrates the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin. Although Darwin sailed the globe aboard the Beagle, he gathered the majority of the evidence for his ideas around his home, Down House.

Chartwell's glorious views over the Weald countryside captivated Sir Winston Churchill and were the reason he made this his family home.

Visit the poignant St George's Church, Gravesend, the burial place of Pocahontas. Click here to view a film clip about Pocahontas and Kent.
 

Canterbury connections

No visit to Kent is complete without stepping foot in the historic city of Canterbury. Imagine Geoffrey Chaucer's band of medieval characters on their way to the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral and drop into The Canterbury Tales reconstruction of their adventure.

 

Leave no stone unturned as there's a story and a famous name around every corner. Use our search facility to discover more about Kent's famous characters or download one of our self-drive itinerary suggestions.