This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
Town Profile


24hrs in.... SITTINGBOURNE


IT was once world famous for brick and paper making and welcoming royalty and pilgrims on the road to Canterbury. Now the town is at the beginning of a multi-million pound regeneration project and has more arts, cultural and leisure opportunities than ever before, making it the perfect place to spend 24 hours or more.


A visit to Sittingbourne Heritage Museum


in East Street provides an insight into how the town has changed over hundreds of years. Photographs and documents tell of the town’s booming brick making industry during the 1800s, which provided bricks for Tower Bridge and Buckingham Palace, and of Sittingbourne Paper Mill, once the largest producer of newsprint in the world. Evidence has been found of Iron Age settlements in the area and history and archaeology fans can watch volunteers investigate


Volunteers at CSI: Sittingbourne


finds from a local Anglo-Saxon cemetery site at (Conservation Science Investigation) CSI: Sittingbourne in The Forum shopping centre off the High Street. In December the International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works gave its Keck Award, which recognises the promotion of public understanding and appreciation of the accomplishments of the conservation profession, jointly to CSI: Sittingbourne and the Acropolis Museum in Athens. A shop opposite CSI tells the story of the excavation and exhibits some of the finds.


Sittingbourne is looking to the future as well as


celebrating the past and in 2011 Swale Borough Council boasted that up to £300 million would be invested in the town over the following three years. Plans included new supermarkets, a multi-screen cinema and a cultural square flanked by cafes and a performance venue. The first step towards the ambitious regeneration goal came last month when a brand new Morrisons opened in Mill Way. Independent shops still survive in the High Street including Nickel Books, which sells children’s books and those with a local interest; baker AE Barrow and Sons; and electrical specialist Blackbourn TV.


Main image: Bredgar and Wormshill Light Railway, courtesy of Alan Crotty)


The Red Lion in the High Street, a traditional pilgrims’


resting place where Kings Henry V, VII and VIII have all stayed, serves lunches and evening meals and puts on regular gigs and charity nights. For coffee, cake and lunch with a difference, pop into Pulse Café in Park Road run by Skillnet Group, a community interest company that helps adults with learning difficulties play an active part in society. Within the café building visitors will find Eco-Shed, where they can purchase environmentally friendly products such as bird feeders and ladybird houses made by Skillnet members.


Enjoy tea, coffee and cakes in quintessentially English surroundings.


Doddington Place Gardens


Café Vintage also offers beautiful giftware as well as an interior design service.


58 HIGH STREET, NEWINGTON, KENT ME9 7JL 01795 844 416


Mid Kent Living 13


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48