CANTERBURY

For a city so weighty with history, Canterbury is surprisingly compact, with a web of cobbled side-streets encircling its fabled cathedral. Founded in 597 and now the headquarters of the Church of England, immense Canterbury Cathedral runs the gamut from Norman to Romanesque and Gothic architecture and is the obvious starting point for a visit. But it’s just one of a trio of important religious buildings that make up the city’s UNESCO World Heritage Site – St Martin’s Church, originally the private chapel of the 6th-century Queen Bertha of Kent, is the oldest church in the English-speaking world, while St Augustine’s Abbey, now in ruins, dates back to when the eponymous saint arrived from Rome to re-establish Christianity in southern England. Balance your visit with some shopping among the timber-framed Tudor houses sprinkled throughout the medieval old town and a stroll along the languid Great Stour river that runs through its centre.