Marden, Kent

Marden founded the national fruit show, then let it drift off to a showground near Maidstone, which is about as hard as anything here chases the spotlight. The name means a clearing beside a marsh, and the River Beult has never fully accepted the clearing part. The parish pump was padlocked in 1907 for serving up ammonia and still made it onto the village sign. Any village that puts its condemned well on the welcome board has made its peace with its flaws, and keeps a mainline station handy for anyone who hasn't.