Sittingbourne

A Kent town on the Swale — the strip of sea separating mainland Kent from the Isle of Sheppey — Sittingbourne sits beside the ancient Roman Watling Street and gained prominence after 1170 as a resting point for pilgrims travelling from London to Canterbury, a role Geoffrey Chaucer noted in The Canterbury Tales. The walkable centre has a heritage-dense streetscape and a good spread of cafés and restaurants, with rail links to London taking around an hour.

• Population54,392
• Nearest water0.1 km
• Nearest mountain11.3 km
• UNESCO within 50 km3