The Rough Guide to Kent, Sussex & Surrey [antikvár]

Introduction to Kent, Sussex Surrey Traditionally, the southeast corner of England was where London went on holiday. Throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, everyone from royalty to illicit couples enjoyed seaside fun at Brighton - a splash of saucy decadence in the bucolic county of Sussex - while trainloads of Eastenders were shuttled to the hop fields of Kent for a working break from the city and boats ferried people down the Thames to the sands at Margate. Surrey has historically had a lower tourist profile, though its woodlands and hills have long attracted outdoors-lovers. While many of its old seaside towns floundered in the late twentieth century - barring Brighton, which has always been in vogue — this stretch of England's coast is in the throes of an exciting renaissance. It's fashionable once more to enjoy the cheeky charms of the traditional resorts, while quieter seaside towns that have historically depended on fishing or shipbuilding offer a more laidback appeal. The cliff-fringed coastline itself provides excellent walking, swimming and watersports, along with heaps of bucket-and-spade fiin. Inland, ancient woodlands and sleepy villages preserve their picturesque charm - there are even pockets of comparative wilderness, perhaps surprising in a relatively populous area so close to London. Sandwiched between the lofty chalk escarpments of the North and South Downs, a vast sweep is taken up by the largely rural Weald - the name comes from the Saxon "wald", or forest, dating to the days when it was almost entirely covered by woodland. This is also a region of huge historical significance, with the coast, just a hop away from the Continent, having served as a gateway for an array of invaders. Roman remains pepper the region - most spectacularly at Bignor and Fishbourne in Sussex and Lullingstone in Kent - and many roads, including the main A2 London-Dover, follow the arrow-straight tracks laid by the legionaries. Christianity arrived in Britain on the Isle ofThanet - the northeast tip of Kent, long since rejoined to the mainland by silting and subsiding sea levels - and in 597 AD, Augustine established a monastery at Canterbury,