We have collated the results of several surveys to highlight the best towns and villages to live in Kent. We know that choosing the best place to live in Kent is very subjective, everyone has their own personal favourite town or village. Selecting the right place for you will depend on your personal circumstances, are you commuting, do you need access to good schools, are you a shopaholic etc? However, research and league tables do help define what each town can offer and provide a different perspective on life in various Kentish Towns. We have been looking online and have pulled together the top lists from a number of areas.
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One Dome – Best towns and villages in Kent
One Dome, a property technology company, recently conducted some research into the best towns to live in Kent. Each town was measured using data from 70 sources and scored according to their own algorithm. The ranking was based upon education, transport links, lifestyle and nightlife, noise, crime, green spaces, public safety and access to groceries.
In One Dome’s view, Canterbury topped the charts by combining its cultural and historical heritage with some great education establishments and local nature areas. This makes it a hit with families and students alike. The full top five looks like this:
- Canterbury – Scored well for education, green spaces and historic landmarks. Not a great place for noise but good commuter links.
- Royal Tunbridge Wells – unsurprisingly this historic spa town scored well culturally, with plenty of green space, shops, restaurants and bars. Moving here does come with a price tag though!
- Belvedere – Easily commutable to London, being in zone 5, with lots of ‘Good’ schools as rated by OFSTED.
- Ashford – Scored well due to the high speed link to London along with plenty of shops and restaurants.
- Sandwich – small but attractive town, quiet place to live and only minutes from the coast. Not great if you’re looking to get to London in a hurry.
Dartford, Maidstone, Gillingham, Dover and Folkestone finished off the top ten, Sevenoaks just missed out in 11th spot.
One Dome also looked at Kent’s villages. They ranked our quaint settlements on Local Reality data and the top rated were:
- Eynsford
- St Mary’s Platt
- Ightham
- Staplehurst
- Brenchley
- Marden
- Langton Green
- Hawkhurst
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Halifax Quality of Life Survey 2017
Interestingly, Kent has not done so well in the Halifax Quality of Life Survey 2017. We only managed to get one of our great towns into the top 50 this year, in 2014 we managed 5 (see our blog). Well done to Tonbridge and Malling who secured 16th in the Halifax rankings.
Overall 17 of the top 50 were located in the South East and 4 in London. The South scored well in Halifax’s assessment due to high employment, and earnings as well as long life expectancy. The full top 20 ranking is here:
| Local Authority | Region | 2017 Rankings | 2016 Rankings |
| Hart | South East | 1 | 26 |
| Orkney Islands | Scotland | 2 | 2 |
| Rutland | East Midlands | 3 | 28 |
| Wychavon | West Midlands | 4 | 3 |
| Winchester | South East | 5 | 1 |
| Wokingham | South East | 6 | 9 |
| Waverley | South East | 7 | 17 |
| Craven | Yorkshire and The Humber | 8 | 64 |
| Richmondshire | Yorkshire and The Humber | 9 | 33 |
| Stratford-on-Avon | West Midlands | 10 | 21 |
| Uttlesford | East of England | 11 | 35 |
| Ryedale | Yorkshire and The Humber | 12 | 29 |
| Westminster | London | 13 | 44 |
| South Oxfordshire | South East | 14 | 13 |
| St Albans | East of England | 15 | 8 |
| Tonbridge and Malling | South East | 16 | 14 |
| East Herefordshire | East of England | 17 | 47 |
| City of London | London | 18 | 20 |
| Chiltern | South East | 19 | 10 |
| Rugby | West Midlands | 20 | 32 |
The Newspapers
The Telegraph chose West Malling, specifically Kings Hill, as the best place to raise a family in the UK. The Times rates Margate as one of the bets places to live in the UK in 2017.
Summary
There is a variety of choice out there and Kent has something to offer everyone. We have great commuter towns, seaside getaways, up and coming gems and picture postcard villages. Whatever you need for your own piece of perfect, Kent has an option for you. The league tables above offer some insight but are very dependent on the data and algorithms used, take them with a pinch of salt. As they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder so don’t take these scores as fact, do your own research and find what is right for you.
Read more about the research and reports here:
https://www.onedome.com/blog/lifestyle/the-best-places-to-live-in-kent/ – besttowns
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sunday-times-best-places-to-live-2017-3qkwjnvrm#/