West Malling

The bishop who built the Tower of London also put a keep here, and West Malling has been acting like it outranks the neighbours ever since. The Georgian High Street is the town's whole case, a coaching inn and a run of good brick fronts that estate agents photograph from the one angle without a parked car in it. Next door, Kings Hill went up on an old wartime airfield for people who wanted a driveway and a business park, which is an honest trade, and West Malling spends a lot of effort making sure nobody mixes the two up. Benedictine nuns have lived at the abbey for over a century, and they are the only residents who never bring up house prices.