Larkfield is well connected to anywhere you can drive, and by fibre to everywhere else. More than half of workers drive. Nearly a third do not commute at all. Four stations are within reach, and almost nobody catches a train from any of them. Treat the car and the broadband as the transport network, and the trains as an option you keep for special occasions.
The stations are close enough to count. New Hythe, East Malling, West Malling and Aylesford stations all serve the area, yet only about 2% of workers commute by train. The area has 130 bus stops, and about 1% of workers use a bus to get to work. Public transport here is something people know exists rather than something they use.
The 2021 Census shows how Larkfield really gets to work: about 55% drive and about 31% work from home. Walking accounts for about 5% and cycling about 1%. About 13% of households have no car, while about 50% run two or more. The driveway is doing more for Larkfield's commute than the rail network, and it asks for no timetable.
The Department for Transport's journey-time statistics, modelled for the area rather than timed from any particular door, put the nearest town centre about 12 minutes away by car. It is about 18 minutes by bike, 23 by public transport and about 42 on foot. Nobody walks to town from here twice.
Everyday destinations follow the same pattern. A GP is about 9 minutes by car, 14 by public transport and 16 on foot. A food store is about 7 minutes by car and roughly 9 on foot, which is close enough to forget the milk and go back. The nearest hospital is about 18 minutes by car against 35 by public transport. Employment centres are about 8 minutes by car and 12 by public transport. Those public transport times date from 2019, and bus services have been cut in plenty of places since, so trust the car and walking figures more.
Current bus timetables are thinner than the stop count suggests. Across the 103 stops with service data, the average is about 21 scheduled departures each weekday and a little over one bus an hour at peak. Only about 57% of stops see any weekend service at all. A stop is a pole with a timetable on it. Whether a bus turns up on a Sunday is a different matter.
Broadband is the part of Larkfield's connectivity that works for everyone. Gigabit-capable connections reach about 85% of premises, ultrafast about 86% and superfast about 95%. No premises fall below the universal service minimum. Mobile coverage matches it: 4G or 5G reaches every postcode from at least one operator and about 99% from all of them, so switching networks will not rescue you from anything here.
Being this close to fast roads has a cost. More than 99% of postcodes sit near road noise at or above 65 decibels, the level at which official noise mapping treats road traffic as significant, and the loudest band recorded reaches 75 decibels. How that sounds inside a given house depends on distance, glazing and which way the bedrooms face, so stand in the garden before you make an offer.
Electric car owners get 8 public charge points in the area with 16 connectors, 2 of them rapid. Two rapid chargers make charging something you plan around rather than something you do while buying bread.
Larkfield is well connected for a driver with a decent router and poorly connected for anyone who wants a bus on a Sunday. The roads and the broadband carry the place. The rail network is in the brochure.