Rochester, Chatham & Gillingham

For literary fans, this is the area where Dickens' life started and ended; the places that pop up in his books still sit among its characterful streets, shops and ancient buildings today - from the Guildhall Museum to the streets alive with stalls, carol singers and lamp-lit parades don't miss the atmospheric Dickensian Christmas each December. Along a similar theme, the world famous Rochester Sweeps Festival is one of the largest May Day Celebrations in the world bringing together hundreds of Morris dancers and musicians.

Here non-literary history is just as rich. Full to the brim of heritage, the towering keep of Rochester Castle is one of the tallest in the country and has a beautiful wall surrounding it with vantage points across the River and wider town making it a place for a gentle wander. Equally, just over the other side of the way is the graceful Rochester Cathedral which is England's second oldest - built in 604. Home to regular art installations, tours and prayer services, weddings, funerals, it is very much still a working and community cathedral.

Along the River Medway itself are dramatic maritime exhibits housed at The Historic Dockyard Chatham which include a climb-on-board Victorian Sloop in HMS Gannet, a WWII destroyer and a Cold War submarine which shows just how close quarters being aboard is.

In the easterly town of Gillingham the compelling Royal Engineers Museum reveals an absorbing heritage that makes for some eye opening viewing, understanding just how technical and important the behind-the-scenes work of the Engineers is. For a continuation of wartime history, Fort Amherst in Chatham is Britain's largest Napoleonic fortress with the cannons still, on special occasions, being fired.

Find out more at www.visitmedway.org