Rustic Retreats

Feeling cultural? Time to head for Sissinghurst Castle Garden (20 minutes’ drive), where you can wander the formal plantings, explore the estate and put your feet up in the café; you can easily spend a day at Leeds Castle (also 20 minutes), with its tours of opulent interiors and parkland to explore. Also worth visiting is Ightham Mote (35 minutes), a moated medieval manor house with a Tudor facade and gorgeous gardens. Lively towns include Royal Tunbridge Wells (half an hour), where you can take therapeutic waters and browse The Pantiles for open-air cafés and indie shops. Stroll alongside the River Medway in Tonbridge (25 minutes) and discover the 13th-century castle, or head to pretty Tenterden (half an hour) to poke around the bookshops on its tree-lined high street. Bedgebury National Pinetum and Forest (20 minutes) has lots of walking and cycling paths for those who fancy some fresh air, or you can hire boats for a jaunt out onto Bewl Water (25 minutes). For something a little bit different, combine a stroll among the vines with a tasting session at Chapel Down Vineyard (35 minutes), where quality sparkling wines are produced.