A variety of popular eateries can be found in Maidstone town centre, including family favourites and restaurants offering dishes from around the world. Independent cafés sit alongside coffee shop chains, and there’s a good selection of wine bars and traditional pubs.
Out of town in Bearsted, Fish on the Green is one of the most popular seafood restaurants in Kent and has appeared many times in the Michelin Guide. Its sister restaurant – The Oak on the Green – is located next door and enjoys a similar reputation.
Theatre fans will find much to entertain them at the Hazlitt Theatre in central Maidstone. It hosts a comprehensive programme of drama, comedy, music and family shows, as well as workshops, dance classes and a youth drama group. The latest blockbuster movies can be viewed at the multiplex on Lockmeadow, three miles from the development, and there’s a bowling alley and trampoline park on the same site.
Open space includes South Park, which has tennis courts, a skate park, hockey and football pitches, and is 10 minutes’ drive from Rosewood, and Mote Park, five minutes’ drive away. There Mote Park Watersports Centre offers a range of activities, such as kayaking, paddle boarding and sailing. The park also has play areas, cycling and walking trails, a BMX track and a miniature railway, which is open to the public during the summer. Bearsted Woodland Trust – 10 minutes’ drive away – includes a meadow, fitness trail, wooden sculptures carved into the remains of trees, picturesque walkways, a children’s play area and a maze.
Maidstone Leisure Centre sits at the eastern edge of Mote Park and provides a range of facilities, including five swimming pools, a soft play zone, a gym, a sports hall and fitness studios. The town also has cricket, tennis, hockey, rugby, squash and football clubs, as well as four golf clubs, which are around 10 minutes by car from the development – Bearsted, The Ridge, Tudor Park, and Leeds Castle golf clubs. The latter is built within the 500-acre grounds of Leeds Castle, which is itself a celebrated destination, with visitors eager to experience its medieval history and royal connections, its gardens and parkland, the maze made up of 2,400 yew trees, and the dazzling open-air concerts hosted in summer.
