Property News · August 18, 2017

Let’s move to Rochester, Kent: ‘It’s ravishingly beautiful’


It’s got a Norman castle, an ancient cathedral, fantastic views over the Medway – and DickensWhat’s going for it? Every time I go to Rochester it surprises me. I forget how ravishingly beautiful it is, the Norman castle and ancient cathedral high on a bluff above the Medway, curling lanes of old houses, bookshops and flint walls tumbling down the hill. The views! The long Medway valley, lined with the foothills of the North Kent Downs, is dreamy. The history! Pilgrims and scholars, naval bases and Dickens. There’s no escaping him here. Dickens spent much of his childhood in Chatham, next door, and his latter years at Gad’s Hill Place, just outside. The Swiss chalet in the garden where he wrote his novels now sits, surreally, on the High Street. Nearby, you’ll find the Satis House, of Miss Havisham fame, the Pumblechook’s chambers, and crystals and karma at the Little Dorrit new age shop.The case against Rochester’s economy, and that of Chatham and Gillingham, has for centuries been tethered to the navy. A substitute has yet to be found since the dockyard’s decline. Continue reading…

Source : theguardian.com
Read more…Let’s move to Rochester, Kent: ‘It’s ravishingly beautiful’

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