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to add an item to your Itinerary basket.
With Maidstone's first literary festival coming to town 2- 8 October 2023, Maidstone based children's author, Gianna Pollero, has shared her inspirational locations in town, as well as her favourite coffee spots!
1. Let’s start with the Archbishops' Palace, a beautiful medieval building originally used by archbishop's travelling between Canterbury and London. The palace is a central part of the town’s roots, more recently used as a popular wedding venue. Visit the gardens by the river, sit in tranquil quiet and soak up hundreds of years of history. Imagine the stories weaved throughout the lives of everyone who has passed through the palace – there’s a tale in every one of them
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2. A stone’s throw away is All Saints Church, standing proud on the banks of the river and dating back to the late 1300s. You only have to run your hand over the Kentish ragstone to feel the history, and a wander through the churchyard will whisper countless stories from lives long past.
3. Just the other side of the river, every Thursday, there’s an auction at the Maidstone Market Hall at Lockmeadow. Within those auction lots lie layers of the lives of others that will ignite your imagination. A recent special find was unearthed in the form of a box full of beautifully preserved photo albums from the 1950s, marking holidays, weddings, pets and day trips – a visual collection of an entire life, hiding in a corner of our town!
4. And then there’s the River Medway itself, flowing for seventy miles through West Sussex and Kent. Walk the river path or join a boat trip and follow the historic trail of commerce and trade which served the county town for hundreds of years. Today, the river is still a central part of local life, busy with boats, water sports, and visitors coming to a favoured thinking spot.
5. We are also a town lucky enough to have not one, but three museums. Maidstone Museum, with nearly 600,000 artefacts can be found in the former Chillington Manor on St Faith’s Street, where you can wander through stunning exhibitions and fascinating artefacts in a building oozing with history and stories. Take a stroll to the Carriage Museum which houses one of the best collections of carriages in Europe, or the Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Museum which provides a truly fascinating exploration of the lives of the men who fought in so many of Britain’s historic battles. With events, artefacts and lives so carefully curated, the writer in you will find inspiration at every turn.
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6. After exploring the many inspirational locations in Maidstone, why not take a walk down Gabriel’s Hill – one of the sites of the 1648 Battle of Maidstone – to enjoy a coffee in Esquires, or a break at Boho Tea House with your note pad and pen. Visit The Golden Boot, the oldest independent shoe shop in the country, and the international and ethnic grocery stores at the bottom of the hill, which offer just a flavour of the rich tapestry of Maidstone’s diversity.
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There’s really no need to look any further than our home town for your next brilliant story idea – you might even spot me holed up in my favourite coffee shops, toying with monsters, doughnuts and more! You never quite know what stories are happening right under your nose every day in Maidstone.
Gianna Pollero is the author of the hilariously funny, adventure-filled Monster Doughnuts series for children aged 6+ and is working on a number of exciting new projects.
Meet Gianna at Maidstone LitFest on Saturday 7th October at Waterstones, Fremlin Walk, where she will be creating beastly monsters and signing copies of her books. 12–1pm. Ages 6+.
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