ME1 3FE

NEIGHBOURHOOD REPORT

ME1 3FE - Blue Bell Hill

Blue Bell Hill is a chalk hill between Maidstone and Rochester in the English county of Kent. It overlooks the River Medway and is part of the North Downs. Settlements on the hill include the Walderslade suburb of Chatham and the villages of Blue Bell Hill and Kit's Coty. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries much of the hill was quarried for chalk.

The hill is a 5-hectare (12-acre) nature reserve which is managed by Kent Wildlife Trust. It is also part of the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Wouldham to Detling Escarpment Sites of Special Scientific Interest and is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I.

A picnic area serves as a rest point for walkers on the North Downs Way which runs along the top of the hill, whilst the prehistoric trackway of the Pilgrims' Way skirts its foot. A modern crematorium also surmounts the hill.

The A229 dual carriageway follows the route of a former Roman road and climbs the hill, today linking the M2 and M20 motorways. High Speed 1 runs beneath the hill, via the North Downs Tunnel, and archaeological work in advance of it uncovered a Neolithic long house on its slopes. The Bluebell Hill transmitting station is on the hill, as is the Lower Bell pub. The Upper Bell pub was closed around March 2005 due to the reduced demand caused by the closure of a slip-lane onto the southbound A229, and then demolished in 2013." [1]

Situated in local authority Burham, Eccles and Wouldham, Blue Bell Hill is classed as urban with significant rural (rural including hub towns 26-49%). Nearest towns are Snodland (2 miles away), Aylesford (2 miles away), Rochester (3 miles away), with the capital city, London being 26 miles away.

Kent

Rightly known as 'the garden of England', Kent often seems like London's back garden, a green and fertile landscape of farmland, orchards, country estates and world-famous public gardens. It also produces the renowned Kentish Ales from the Kentish hop farms and attracts beer and ale lovers from all over the world.

With a variety of beach resorts and cities packed with sites of crucial importance in British history, this is truly a county that has it all.

People have been coming to Kent in droves for hundreds of years, and of all the counties it is perhaps the one with the most history, Kent is the oldest place name in Britain and in Sevenoaks at Knole it has the oldest house. There are castles in almost every town, from the motte and bailey castle in Tonbridge to the fantastic Leeds Castle and Hever Castle.

There are the old well-preserved streets of Rochester, home to Charles Dickens and the stately home of Winston Churchill at Chartwell. There is the world-famous castle and gardens at Sissinghurst and thousands upon thousands of old oast houses line the country lanes.

Most famous of all is the UNESCO World Heritage city of Canterbury, one of England's finest cities and one of the best historic sites in the world. Stand where Thomas Beckett was murdered and spend hours walking around the incredible home of the Anglican Church, Canterbury Cathedral.

From the Cathedral's gothic architecture to the ruins of St Augustine's Abbey, destroyed in the Dissolution, to St Martin's Church, to the impressive Roman Museum, Canterbury has enough to keep you busy for days.

For something a bit more relaxing there is cheeky Margate or the famous pier at Herne Bay, the gorgeous fishing town of Whitstable or the RSPB National Nature Reserve at Romney Marsh. Lastly, of course, there are the iconic white cliffs of Dover. From seaside strolls to hikes in the North and South Downs and the forests of the Kentish Weald, this truly is England's garden.

Where is it?

Location
Blue Bell Hill

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Ward
Burham, Eccles and Wouldham

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Local Authority
Tonbridge and Malling

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Council

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Constituency

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County
Kent

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Region
South East

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Country
England

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Classification
Urban with Significant Rural (rural including hub towns 26-49%)

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Area Type
Non-metropolitan District

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ONS GSS ID
E00125519

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LSOADZ_NAME
Tonbridge and Malling 001F

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Government ID
Tonbridge and Malling 001

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Coordinates
51.329, 0.483

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Phone Code
(01622) xxxxxx

Nearby Towns

Snodland	2 mi
Aylesford	2.2 mi
Rochester	2.9 mi
Gillingham	4 mi
Brighton	43.7 mi
Reading	62.7 mi
London	26.1 mi
Cardiff	157.5 mi
Edinburgh	349.3 mi