The best road cycling routes around Tunstall

Lovely spot to pause and take a breather, with the Bredgar Farmshop and Tearooms just opposite for refreshments.

Beer and pizza at the weekend or long summer evenings at papa bianco

It has stood here for 1,000 years and has a varied history. Kings and queens have lived here, and the castle has survived many battles. Henry VIII had the castle converted into a palace in the 16th century. From the 17th century onwards, it passed through various private owners. Parts of it were demolished and rebuilt, changing its exterior several times. Eventually, it fell into disrepair until Lady Baillie, a wealthy Anglo-American heiress, breathed new life into the castle. In the 1930s, Leeds Castle developed into one of England's largest country estates and a center of lavish hospitality for leading statesmen, European royalty, and film stars. It hosted numerous lavish parties until the outbreak of World War II. The castle survived the war unscathed, after which the Lady continued to rebuild and alter it. When she died, the castle passed into the hands of the Leeds Castle Foundation, a charitable foundation she had founded to preserve it from then on. Although well-funded, it wasn't enough to maintain the castle. It had to be opened to the public. Today, the castle hosts a variety of tourist activities. You can visit it for £40, and approximately 500,000 people visit each year.

Sheppy Way Cycle Route Sheppy Way Cycle Route

Easy trail without wind

experience the island of Harty!

In the 12th century a highway was laid out as a grand approach to the Abbey which had survived Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries to become a residential area popular with anyone who owed their livelihood to the Creek, whether as merchant, craftsman or seaman. Toward the end of the 19th century its middle-class residents started moving to new houses elsewhere in the town, and many of its properties became tenanted. The new occupiers were often much poorer than their predecessors. Landlords neglected the properties and so the street came to look 'down-at-heel'. Determination to build a 'brave new world' after the end of the Second World War encouraged local councils to sweep away houses that lacked modern amenities. Most of those in Abbey Street qualified, but they were also historic buildings of importance. After intervention by the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, an ingenious pioneering scheme launched by Faversham Borough Council in the late 1950s saved them from the fate that overtook many of their counterparts elsewhere. Apart from Arden's House (No 80), none of the properties is of outstanding national importance, and so they were not eligible for historic building repair grants. However, collectively they are of national importance, and so the first 'town scheme' was introduced to make them eligible. Most of them were bought by the council under slum-clearance powers, and their occupants re-housed elsewhere. However, instead of being demolished the properties in Abbey Street were sold to sympathetic owners who covenanted with the council to restore them under the supervision of an architect with experience of historic building care. To cover its costs, the council made a slight profit on each - buying the smaller houses for about £250 each and then selling them for about £300. In other historic towns, streets were being brutally widened, but in Abbey Street the carriageway was actually narrowed - the first in the UK - to reduce traffic nuisance. At the same time, the street was planted with trees. Abbey Street is sometimes said to be the finest medieval street in southeast England. It is certainly a wonderful "gallery" of old buildings, mainly timber-framed. As already noted, the ace in the pack is Arden's House, one of the few surviving buildings of Faversham Abbey, and possibly its guesthouse. With 81 (Arden's Cottage), it originally formed a big "open courtyard" house. It dates from around 1450-1500, with remains of the Abbey outer gatehouse of c 1200, which spanned the street here.

There is a lovely little market at Whitstable Harbour. It has expanded enormously over the years and now has some really excellent, trendy restaurants as well as arts and crafts stalls where you can find some gems. There are also a number of very cheap stalls selling fresh fish and takeaway food just outside the market itself.