Smart Lease - Over 20 Years of car leasing in Kent

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Kent

Did You Know?

Kent is best known as the 'Garden of England', a phrase first coined by Henry VIII. Kent is most famous for its oast-houses, having tall conical or pyramidal roofs. These are the old kilns used for drying hops, once grown throughout Kent.

Leeds Castle in Kent is affectionately known as the 'Ladies' Castle' because so many Queens of England have resided within its walls.

Kent is a county in south-east. In the city of Canterbury, Canterbury Cathedral has a 1,400-year history, and features a Romanesque crypt and medieval stained glass. The underground Canterbury Roman Museum has excavated mosaics. Whitstable, to the north, is a coastal town with colourful cottages and a harbour side fish market. East, along the coast, Margate is home to the Turner art gallery.

The world’s oldest horse fossil was found in Kent, Herne Bay in 1838 and has recently been dated as 54 million years old.

Comedy double act, Laurel and Hardy, opened the famous Kent tourist attraction: The Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway, back in 1947. Despite the heavy rain, the stars were welcomed by large crowds who were charmed by their slapstick-style comedy.

Kent is truly the Garden of England, with stunning countryside, beautiful beaches and attractions such as Canterbury Cathedral, Leeds Castle, Dream Land Kent and Port Lypne Animal Reserve.

Of all the celebrities and historical figures to have lived in and visited the county, the biggest fan has to be Julius Caesar, who declared that ‘of all the British tribes, by far the most civilised are they who dwell in Kent’.

John Buchan wrote the book "The 39 Steps" while bedridden in Kent. Suffering from stomach ulcers, he wrote his famed novel to distract himself from the excruciating pain he was suffering.

The Isle of Sheppey has more than 100 years of aviation history and is responsible for many of the earliest flying inventions. Both the Short Brothers and the Wright Brothers used the island to test and create new inventions.

Kent is the proud supplier of Wimbledon’s famed strawberries. Each juicy red berry must be between 25mm-45mm in diameter, be fully red all over and without the slightest hint of a defect.

There are few places of interest in Kent as famous as Sevenoaks. As many people know, the town was named after seven oak trees which were on the Vine around AD 800. Since then, the trees have been replaced several times, and during the Great Storm of 1987 six of those trees were blown down completely.

On 25 August 1875 Captain Matthew Webb became the first person to swim the Channel without artificial aid. Starting from Dover, he accomplished his swim in 21 hours and 45 minutes. Unfortunately, Webb then attempted to swim through the treacherous Whirlpool Rapids on the Niagara River below Niagara Falls and sadly met his end there.

Herbert Baker, the dominant force behind South African architecture, was born in Owletts, Cobham. From an early age, he loved to discover the historic ruins of some of Kent’s most impressive structures. Among his most notable works are some of New Delhi’s most significant government buildings, including Rashtrapati Bhavan, the President’s official home.