Canterbury
Canterbury claims to have been permanently inhabited since pre-Roman times. Augustine established his first cathedral and abbey around AD 597, and in medieval times the city became a centre for pilgrimage to the shrine of St Thomas Becket, made famous by Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. The playwright Christopher Marlowe was born here, and a few years ago the Treaty of Canterbury paved the way for the building of the Channel Tunnel.
The city’s medieval history is easy to see in its streets and buildings, and of course the world-famous cathedral. The Cathedral, St Augustine’s Abbey and St Martin’s church make up a World Heritage Site – one of only 15 sites in the British Isles.
Canterbury has a thriving cosmopolitan atmosphere, and the streets are packed with small shops, bookshops, large stores and over 80 restaurants, bars and pubs. The city also includes the Marlowe Theatre, art galleries, a cinema, nightclubs, leisure centres, swimming pools and the St Lawrence County Cricket Ground.
Canterbury is only 56 miles from London, 30 minutes drive from the Channel Tunnel at Folkestone or the Eurostar terminal at Ashford and from 2009 will have high speed trains running to St Pancras in around 60 minutes. It is also only six miles from the beach at Whitstable.
