GARDEN OF ENGLAND
EXPLORE
KENT
This southeast English county is rightly proud of its status as ‘The Garden of England’, thanks in no small part to Henry VIII who helped change the perception of vegetables as ‘poor man’s food’ and ordered his royal fruiterer, Richard Harris, to plant orchards at Teynham. Hop farms, oast houses and more orchards soon sprang up, leading a character in Charles Dickens’ The Pickwick Papers to famously remark: “Kent, sir – everybody knows Kent – apples, cherries, hops, and women.”
Kent’s proximity to France, just 21 miles at the English Channel’s narrowest point, means that it is also considered Britain’s frontline county. When Julius Caesar first invaded Britain in 55BC, his Roman fleet landed on the coast near Dover and marked the start of 2,000 years of encroachments that culminated in the Battle of Britain, fought in the skies over Kent during the Second World War.
As a result of its strategic location, Kent boasts more castles than any other British – or ‘unconquered’. The five coastal forts known as the Cinque Ports were formalised under a charter from Henry III in 1260 and included four in Kent – New Romney, Hythe, Dover and Sandwich – along with Hastings in neighbouring Sussex.
