The County of Kent lies immediately South-East of London and, with the French coast visible from the cliffs at Dover as well as from Deal, it can be regarded as the gateway to the Continent of Europe.

In fact Kent became the gateway to England when Julius Caesar and his Roman Legions landed on the shore at Deal in 55 BC, to be followed in AD 43 by Emperor Claudius just four miles further north. When St. Augustine stepped ashore at the same spot in AD 597 and set up his headquarters in Canterbury, Kent became the focus for the spread of Christianity throughout England.

The great Norman cathedral at Canterbury, begun in 1070 on the burnt-out ruins of Augustine's original Saxon church, was built alongside the original St Augustine's Abbey and St Martin's Church - the oldest parish church still in use in England - and these three places are now recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage site.

King Henry II's throwaway remark: "Who will rid me of this troublesome priest?" led to Archbishop Thomas Beckett being murdered in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170. Beckett's martyrdom resulted in Canterbury becoming one of Europe's great pilgrimage destinations for the sick, infirm and devout. It was also the inspiration of Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, the first book to be published in the English language. Kent's other Cathedral, at Rochester, on the pilgrim's route from London, is only some seven years younger than Canterbury, and the third oldest Cathedral in Britain.