Return To View All Towns In Kent

Bed And Breakfast In Ashford

Email • Website • Map Vicky's Guest House

Telephone: 01233 631061

Friendly and informal bed and breakfast accommodation in Friendly family run bed & breakfast.

Double, twin & triples rooms available, Guest parking available, Ensuite rooms are available, Contractors welcome, Long term discounts available, Location 2 minutes walk from Ashford town centre.

Minutes walk from the following: Ashford International & Domestic station, McArthurGlen Designer Village, 15 minutes drive to EuroTunnel. Easy access from either Jct 9 or 10 of the M20 Motorway

Ashford Bed and Breakfast is convenient for Eurotunnel, the port of Dover and ferries to Europe. The M20 motorway and Ashford International Station with Eurostar to Europe and trains to London in 1 hour are just 5 minutes away.

More Information About Ashford

Ashford is a town in the borough of Ashford in Kent, England. In 2005 it was voted the fourth best place to live in the United Kingdom^[2]. It lies on the River Great Stour, M20 motorway, South Eastern Main Line and High Speed 1 railways. Its agricultural market is one of the most important in the county. Ashford is a relatively common English placename: it goes back to Old English æscet, indicating a ford near a clump of ash-trees.

The motto for Ashford is "With stronger faith", taken from, To Lucasta, Going to the Wars, a poem by the 17th century poet Richard Lovelace from the borough,^[3] the relevant verse being^[4]

History

As a market town, Ashford has for centuries been a local communications hub for surrounding villages and has stood at the centre of five railway lines, (Ashford to Ramsgate (via Canterbury West) line, Swanley to Ashford (via Maidstone East) Line, South Eastern Main Line, Kent Coast Line and the Marshlink Line) since the 19th century and with the opening of the International Passenger Station is now an important European communications centre, with new lines running between London and the Channel Tunnel (via High Speed 1).

The Borough of Ashford lies on the eastern edge of the ancient forest of "Andredsweald" or "Anderida". This originally stretched as far west as Hampshire and formed the basis from which the Weald is formed.

It is likely that the town originates from an original settlement established in 893AD by inhabitants escaping a Danish Viking raid on the nearby ancient village of Great Chart (Seleberhtes Cert in 762AD), although a Roman road passed through here from the iron making area to Canterbury. It is listed in the Domesday Book, compiled in 1086, as having a church, two mills and a value of 150 shillings, under its original Saxon name of "Essetesford" (or "Eshetisford," "Esselesford", "Asshatisforde", "Essheford").^[5] The manor was owned by Hugh de Montford, Constable of England at the time. Writer Philpot believed Essetesford stood for "ash trees growing near a ford", while Lampard, a 16th century local historian, suggested that it meant "a ford over the river Eshe or Eshet", which was the old name for the tributary of the River Stour between Lenham and Ashford.

Its closeness to London has always made Kent a strong influence on the capital, and vice versa. Thus by the end of the 16th century Cade (of Cade’s Rebellion) was credited by William Shakespeare in Henry VI, part 2 as being from Ashford. The play includes an Ashford butcher called "Dick" who looks forward to removing officialdom after the rebellion and says: first thing, let’s kill all the lawyers.

Ashford’s importance as a growing agricultural and market town was confirmed in 1243 when it was incorporated, and by the end of the 16th century it had risen to become an important market town, primarily for livestock. The market was held in the High Street until 1856 when local farmers and businessmen relocated to Elwick Road and formed a market company that claims to be the oldest surviving registered company in England and Wales. There is still a regular street market in the town, although the market company has relocated outside the town and is used by some 5,000 farmers.^[6]

Parts of the parish church date from the 13th century but was substantially restored in the 15th century with many alterations since. In 1638 a free grammar school was founded here, it was built on the churchyard’s west side, and remained there until 1846, now used as a museum.

The Joint Services School of Intelligence was based at Templar Barracks in Ashford, until the barracks were decommissioned in 1997 and then demolished to make way for High Speed 1.^[7] In 1982, Prince Andrew, Duke of York was involved with the "School".

Geography

Ashford lies in a valley at the confluence of the Rivers Upper Great Stour and East Stour where it forms the River Great Stour, and where turns northwards to go through the Stour Gap in the North Downs towardsCanterbury, Sandwich and the English Channel. To the south lies the Weald.

The original town of Ashford, in common with most such towns, has outgrown its original size and has combined with smaller villages in a conurbation. These villages include Bockhanger, Kennington, Sevington, Singleton, and Willesborough. In addition, housing estates have been built in the open spaces between: Bybrook, Godinton, Kingsnorth, Park Farm and Stanhope.

Essentially a modern town, little is left of the old Ashford town centre, apart from some medieval half-timbered buildings in Middle Row and around the churchyard in the town centre. A number of old buildings were removed to make way for the controversial ring road around the centre, built in the early 1970s. Three modern shopping centres are located in the town: Park Mall, County Square and the new Designer Outlet. Bank Street and High Street are traffic-free shopping thoroughfares.

The huge build-up of commercial importance of the town, as well as its strategic location, is witnessed by the number of industrial, business and retail parks in the town. These include Waterbrook, a 740,000 m² (183 acres) site for production, storage and distribution with freight clearance facility; Eureka Science and Business Park, including manufacturing sites and prestige office complexes; the 570,000 m² (141 acres) Orbital Park; the design award winning Ashford Designer Outlet shopping centre; and 14 other Business Parks and Industrial Estates. Campbell Soup UK have a factory that produces Batchelor's Soup.

On 28 April 2007, a small earthquake occurred in Folkestone and was felt as far as Ashford and even beyond to some degree. The earthquake was said to be 4.2 on the Richter scale. Eye witnesses of this said they felt their houses shake, or had a feeling of something crashing into their houses. At first, it was thought that it was an explosion.

Transport

Insofar as roads are concerned, Ashford was one of the towns in Kent to become a hub when the roads were turnpiked in the second half of the 18th century.^[9] Those roads later became the A20 road from London to the Channel ports; and the A28 connecting Canterbury with Hastings. Junctions 9 and 10 on the M20 motorway serve the town. Additionally the A251 links the town with Faversham and the A2070 links the town with Romney Marsh and Rye.

Operation Stack on the M20, usually implemented in response to industrial action in Calais, brings Ashford to a halt several times each year^{[citation needed]}.

The A292 Ashford Ring Road was created in the 1970s around the town centre in an attempt to relieve congestion along the previous main thoroughfare in the town centre, the narrow East Hill. The Ring Road has recently been converted to two-way traffic again, to minimise the "race track" feel and help bring the isolated town centre back into the rest of the area.^[10] There are plans for a fast public transport link between the town centre and the suburbs and main amenities, called "SMARTLINK". See also Fastrak)

The railway came to Ashford when the South Eastern Railway's London to Dover main line opened between 1842 and 1844, and the company established its locomotive works here. The railway community had its own shops, schools, pubs and bathhouse, and much of the area retains the look of a "railway town"; the works closed in 1981. Ashford became a junction when the line to Margate was opened in 1846; in 1851 today's Marshlink Line to Hastings was opened, and on 1 July 1884 the final connection, from Maidstone, was made.

The Ashford International station opened with the Channel Tunnel in 1994. It now serves Eurostar trains on High Speed 1, with trains to London, Lille and Paris and connections to the rest of Europe. In November 2007 direct services to Brussels were withdrawn and the frequency of trains to Paris was reduced to three per day when Ebbsfleet International railway station opened. Local firms, residents and politicians were amongst those seeking a less drastic change in the Eurostar timetable. With the introduction of domestic train services in 2009 along the new line to St Pancras and Stratford in East London, it is expected that travel time from Ashford to London will be reduced from 83 to about 37 minutes (Currently there are off peak services to London that take 63 minutes and 60 minutes from London to Ashford.) [2].

Ashford was formerly served by Lympne Airport, commercial services ceased in 1974. The airport at Lydd, designated London Ashford Airport and approximately 17 miles (27 km) from Ashford, has regular flights to Le Touquet, France by Lydd Air. London Gatwick Airport, the nearest fully international airport is 58 miles (94 km) from Ashford.

• The National Cycle Network, a network of cycle routes in the United Kingdom, includes two routes through Ashford: NCR 17 - Rochester - Maidstone - Ashford - Hythe; and NCR 18 - Canterbury - Ashford - Tenterden - Tunbridge Wells.

The Stour Valley Walk also follows the main river, connecting with other such long distance footpaths in this part of Kent, including the North Downs Way.

This Article was sourced using Wikipedia