What’s it like to live in Kent?

[almostautumn]

Sorry, big generalization I know, but…

DH and I are planning to leave London to reduce our large mortgage. We’ve agreed on Kent as a compromise, as he wants to be within 1-1.5 hours of London and I want to live rurally and nearer the coast.

What worries me though is that Kent maybe isn’t rural enough and is overcrowded compared to somewhere like Wales or Yorkshire for example.

I want to live somewhere very peaceful and quiet with beautiful countryside, where I’m not surrounded by hoards of people everywhere I go. A place where I can go for walks and not see another soul (well, maybe a few other people would be okay!) A place where I can drive to places and park and the roads aren’t jam packed.

A small rural town would be fine, as long as it’s quiet and not too busy. DH is on board with all this as long as like I say, he can get to London fairly easily.

Does Kent sound like it would suit us or is it not that rural?

@Helendee

I find it interesting when people talk of areas being demographically composed mainly of indigenous people with lack of diversity as if it’s a negative and wonder if other nations do this as well. Do people in Greece for example eschew areas populated by mainly Greek people of Greek heritage?

I think many people, like myself, find lack of diversity really boring and a bit odd considering the UK is a melting pot of cultures. I don't know about Greece. Not sure both are comparable due to the very nature of England being much more diverse for a long time.

Especially moving from London. Also many of us are from diverse backgrounds and would perhaps not want to move to an area that is mostly indigenous to that area and perhaps be considered even more of an "outsider" as many small towns have the tendency to do.

Having a good mix of cultures in my mind is a plus and makes for a more interesting area.

I moved to Folkestone from London, still cheap property prices for houses, decent schools, gorgeous seaside, small nice friendly(ish) town, the north downs, easy to get to canterbury and london is a 50 min train on the high speed (which is hugely expensive but the property prices should offset that sort of thing). Great food places, and tonnes of art. Lovely old high street with small businesses, thriving music scene and the revived Harbour Arm.
Downside, it is quite small and it takes time to become a "local" and not a DFL (down from london), there are quite a lot of rabid "hate immigrants" and brexit supporters although this is changing as the demographic is now becoming more diverse due to people moving from London. Part of the town is totally shit, full of empty shops although I hear there are plans to transform it. There are plans for lots of development and it is an up and coming area which means prices going up. There is still a lot of poverty due to not much work and the train prices pricing people out of going into London. The summer is really busy and moreso now that people are holidaying in the UK, however, I really love the winters - they are quite mild and lots of the locals enjoy the beaches and sea all year round.

I love the place, but I am lucky that I get to commute a few times into London to have that balance.
I have found Folkestone to be peaceful and there stretches of beach on the way to Hythe were you often can get space to yourself.

Best thing I did really, my quality of life has improved massively, along with breathing in that sea air!

I thought the Greek comment/question was interesting, having just read one of Victoria Hislop's novels set there. As a country that has experienced ethnic cleansing, large scale population exchange, invasion, the Holocaust, dictatorship, a civil war and now a refugee crisis, I imagine they might perhaps be glad to have our rather minor issues....

I can't really put into words the difference between Kent and East Sussex but as a huge generalisation, East Sussex is less modern, with all the pros and cons that implies. In my London-y bit of Kent; it's not always so pretty but services are good and you can be in Central London in half an hour. That's more important to me than views of oast houses. Love an oast house though.

I live in a rural village 10 mins from the coast in east Kent. It's lovely and peaceful, great walks etc - but also I'm probably 10 mins drive from a great selection of local shops, and a station that takes me to london in 1.5 hours. We love it!

My grandparents also discovered East Sussex can be a crap place to be old and frail. They spent their dotages with Tunbridge Wells and Hastings fighting not to take on their care. My poor mum...

We lived near Maidstone some time ago. Positives. Close enough to London for theatre trips, good countryside close by, lots of historic sites to visit, good schools, close to the Channel Ports for day trips to France, plenty of good restaurants and pubs. Negatives. Too many people. Every day out involved sitting in traffic jams, we were not over impressed with the local coast, but ok for days out. Our family live in Lincs and Lancs, so it was a long slog to visit and at Bank Holidays the roads were horrendously busy. We made some good friends, and good profit on the house, so after 3 years we sold up and were able to buy a house and business in the NW with the equity. Been here ever since.

[quote thecatsabsentcojones]@Icequeen01 I come from the town with the big steam trains! Probably like you (and if that’s the case we probably know eachother at least by sight!), such is this place.

Really lucky to live here, love it.[/quote]
Yes me too 🤣 I wonder if we do know each other by sight or may be we are even neighbour's!

I don’t enjoy living in Kent that much but am forced to due to my DH’s job as he works in London. We live in a smallish town in East Kent after moving ‘down from London’ - well Bromley, 7 years ago. It’s home to a very grumpy and famous 80’s icon!

A massive house building ‘ ticky tacky’ boxy estates programme is now happening all over the county which is ruining what’s left of the pretty countryside. I mean really ruining it and there is no infrastructure for it. Boris has decided Kent is to expand and that’s that . It’s very upsetting and people are trying to resist but without much success.

Kent is literally packed; far too busy, no peace and so hard to find anywhere quiet. Completely congested roads, a billion motorways with a billion lorries and concreted over ugly towns.

Nice areas; Tonbridge Wells and surrounding villages, The Weald, south and north downs, coastal towns of Whitstable, Broadstairs, Sandwich and Deal. Thanet and Sheppey are nicer than portrayed.

I too find people unfriendly and Kent lacks any real sense of identity compared to say Essex or Yorkshire. Strange, considering the high population. It’s still not multicultural at all and insular in so many places.

Medway has an interesting history but is urban sprawl, it’s a huge city really and has an ever growing crime rate. Rochester is the nicest area in Medway. It has some good grammar schools.

I live and work fairly near Canterbury which is a lovely city but very student orientated. Not much family housing. But again, surrounding villages and countryside are lovely.

I find the public services such as the NHS simply shambolic in East Kent, it really is appalling ( see the news). Public transport very expensive and highly variable, with the HS1 being by far the best train service to London. Don’t bother to go to London any weekend though by train as you’ll be on a 3 hr bus replacement service due to endless engineering works!

No real good nightlife for those who want it. Many areas of Kent close at 4pm - the war is definitely still on where I live! Great local organically produced foods though with fabulous pubs and trendy farmer’s markets. The fruit and veg are superb, although pricey.

If you have the money, aim for the villages. Avoid Sittingbourne, Ashford, Dover. History of Kent is fab though; the Romans and Tudors abound, with castles and cathedrals everywhere. It is good for kids and quite family friendly with wildlife parks, go ape, biking and the beaches.

Be extremely careful with the education grammar system. Many comps are dreadful, some not too bad. Grammar is highly competitive and even if you pass the Kent Test, if the bar is high that year in terms of the pass rate, you’ll be stuck with a comp.

There are a lot of good things about Kent and a lot of bad; it’s such a mixed bag. Just make sure you’ve done your research on all areas. We will leave once the kids have finished their education, it’s simply too crowded and expensive- it’s only going to get worse unfortunately. Kent is great if you have the money!

Lots of social divisions in Kent too due to disparity of wealth. Some places are so snobby and full of rich retirees, while others are poor, drug filled with crumbling estates and crime. Various areas in East Kent especially have a high traveller population. Sadly, they are often discriminated against I feel overall. A bit like the casual racism which is still prevalent in this county. It’s not at all pleasant to see and I hope things improve over time.

Best of luck!

I live in a beautiful Kent village, 35 minutes by train to London, I can walk to the station and I can walk around the countryside and not see anyone. Few village pubs, good schools and bluewater not too far if you need something

@Standrewsschool

I live in a Kent village, and love it. We have the countryside on our doorstep, plus it’s 45 minutes to the coast. There’s larger shopping centres nearby plus Lakeside and Bluewater. London is easy to get to, plus the continent in normal times. Over lockdown, we’ve been to a different part of the Kent coast every few weeks to go for a walk.

To add to the list , Gouldhurst, Tenterden, , Biddenden, East Farleigh, Bearsted, Loose, kings Hill, Cranbrook, Staplehurst, Horsemondon, ,

Agree with all of those suggestions, except kings hill. It's just an absolutely massive new build housing estate, but West Malling is a lovely village.

@MadameXanadu sums it up well. When I was a girl I think Kent had the highest per capita income in the UK alongside the highest rates of poverty. Rural poverty witnessed in my girlhood was mindblowing - there were even Kent mines at Nonnington and buses there and from, alongside Pony Club, The Hunt and Young Farmers.

Lots of families sent their bright children to the Grammars and dimmer ones to schools like St Lawrence and St Stephens and there were preps stuffed with army children all over the place. So many people hadn't been to Canterbury, let alone London and the local rural accent in the 60s was more Dorset than Lundun.

Sometimes I hanker for it but not often. The old money is nearly all in London now with aging parents in marine residences in what are now trendy areas.

You could look at Romney Marsh parts are very rural, near to the coast and not too far to drive to Ashford which has the fast speed commuter trains just over 35 mins to get to central London.

Tunbridge wells is a good place to live and so are the villages nearby. Good commute, good schools. Great food and drink scene. Always good events, especially in summer. Nice countryside in the door step. Commons, parks etc

You should visit and spend the day looking around

@Icequeen01 haha! We both picked it! I bet I would recognise your face, it’s such a small world round here.

Where in kent is the big steam engines? @thecatsabsentcojones and @Icequeen01
I'm in kent and never heard of them

I was surprised by how close and not especially rural it felt when I visited Kent. Everything felt quite close to everything else- it didn’t really feel rural, like I do at home (Scotland). The traffic was pretty bad (compare to what I’m used to)- though we were only there for a weekend.

I guess it depends what your definition of rural and quiet is- for me, and I suppose I can’t comment on the whole of Kent, it was not very rural.

FannyBrice, Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch steam train maybe?

Some pictures of rural Kent - all different areas of Kent.

I've lived in Kent most of my life. I've been in Tunbridge Wells for a long time, it's about an hour on the train into London, lots of nice cafes/restaurants/parks/good schools. However it is busy and trafficky. Lots of walks very nearby though. We are moving into east Sussex this year into a quiet rural area for a change. If your husband is happy to drive into one of the bigger towns to commute, nice villages are Leigh, penshurst.

Thank you @pinkchampagne1, I've never heard it called that and I've lived here all my life

Am I the only one finding it very hypocritical odd that people who are keen on moving into an area bemoan the building of new houses, which is the natural consequence of people moving into an area

I looked extensively in Kent and decided on the Weald. Its an area of AONB so scenic and green and leafy. I agree with the villages mentioned e.g Tenterden/Cranbrook/Goudhurst, Lamberhurst (taking more ideas from this thread!).

Its commutable, not far from Camber Sands, Tunbridge Wells, Brighton, village fetes...swimming pools. There is also the large Bewl Water which has SUP and other activities. Property cheaper than Surrey like for like.

I also looked at the outskirts of Chichester, which isn't in Kent, and the village of Petersfield just over the Sussex border into Hampshire (Hampshire is a cheaper county), both of which met my criteria.

Ah DH and I initially looked at Kent on our house hunts (recent and around 4 years ago) as family live on Kent London border but concluded both times that kent is over priced, a bit run down in parts and busy for what it is, and unless you live close to big towns which is super busy, getting to a station or anywhere may be an issue.

We moved to Essex as cheaper and still good schools. We are still looking to move to Hampshire in the near future as it fits our lifestyle a bit more (Dh does much fly fishing).

We moved to Essex as cheaper and still good schools. We are still looking to move to Hampshire in the near future as it fits our lifestyle a bit more (Dh does much fly fishing).

Hampshire is an hour train into Waterloo

I used to live in Kent & my EXH got into London on quicker than he commuted from Kent both by train and car. But it depends on which part of London you need to get to.

I'd agree that Essex is more rural as you get past Romford than Kent is, unless you want to pay and arm and a leg to live by Tunbridge wells or fight your way through a busy M2.

Hampshire rocks! Head to Andover or even down near the coast which is where we commented from for years to west, south west and north west London.