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played bridge with Lord Lucan two days before he disappeared, and with Omar Shariff. There is the 15th- century church of St Mary’s where Sir Thomas Becket is believed to be buried. The village is also close to the Pilgrims Way, which leads to Canterbury England’s famous cathedral city of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, and now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Archbishop Thomas Becket was killed here on 29 December 1170, on the altar steps inside the Cathedral. Chilham is also famous for the Woolpack Inn – complete

with 16th-century oak beams, a vast inglenook fireplace and 14 bedrooms, one of which is supposedly haunted by the Grey Lady – and its proximity to the stunning Kent Downs, sheltering the villages of Shottenden and Old Wives Lees. Kent is an ancient land full of charm and legend and

Tenterden, which grew from the 14th century around the wool industry, offers the best of all worlds: history, exquisite architecture and excellent shops. All within a typical country town where Georgian buildings share the streets with tall Victorian houses and tiny cottages, brick and stucco sit next to Kent tiles and weatherboard. Nearby, the hamlet of Small Hythe was once a flourishing

shipbuilding port where Henry VIII’s warship The Grand Masters was built. All that has changed and today Small Hythe is more about theatre than shipbuilding, because in 1899, one of England’s finest Shakespearean actors,

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