Tunbridge Wells

In the Heart of Kent, Royal Tunbridge Wells has been a fashionable Spa town since the 17th century when it became popular among royalty and the aristocracy.

From its humble beginnings with the discovery of a mineral spring around 1606, Royal Tunbridge Wells developed into a fashionable Spa resort, famous for its charming colonnaded walks known as the Pantiles.

The town has welcomed a long line of Royal visitors from Queen Henrietta Maria in 1630 and Princess Victoria in the 1820s to Edward VII, who in 1909 bestowed upon the town its Royal prefix.

Today the Pantiles are still very much alive with shops, restaurants and outdoor entertainment in the summer. At the Chalybeate Spring costumed dippers will serve you a glass of iron-rich mineral water - said to cure all ills!

Visit "A Day at the Wells" which traces the towns heritage in a lively re-creation of the Spa's Georgian heyday with the sights, sounds and even smells of life in the 1740s. Tunbridge Wells Museum and Art Gallery also provides a fascinating insight into the town's history.

The town offers an unrivalled combination of specialist shops and big high street names, together with a wide variety of entertainment with its theatres, cinema, arts centre and lively pubs and restaurants to suit every taste.

Set within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Royal Tunbridge Wells makes an excellent base for touring many impressive castles, fine stately homes, magnificent gardens, Kentish orchards, vineyards and hop farms