Kent

Kent is a county in England. It is just to the south-east of London and is on the coast. The sea to the East of Kent is the North Sea. The sea south of Kent is called the English Channel by the British. France is opposite Kent on the other side of The Channel. At the most narrow point, between Dover, Calais and Cape Gris-Nez, The Channel is only 21 miles (34 km) wide. Dover is one of the main ports in Kent. From here many ferries sail to and from France.

Kent
Motto of County Council: ''Invicta''
Geography
Status	Ceremonial and (smaller) Non-metropolitan county
Region	South East England
Area - Total - Admin. council - Admin. area	Ranked 10th 3,736 km2 (1,442 sq mi) Ranked 10th 3,544 km2 (1,368 sq mi)
Admin HQ	Maidstone
ISO 3166-2	GB-KEN
ONS code	29
NUTS 3	UKJ42
Demography
Population - Total (2005 est.) - Density - Admin. council - Admin. pop.	Ranked 7th 1,621,000 434/km2 (1,120/sq mi) Ranked 1st 1,369,900
Ethnicity	96.9% White 1.9% Asian
Politics
"CANTIA" Kent County Council http://www.kent.gov.uk/ Medway Council http://www.medway.gov.uk/
Executive	Conservative
Members of Parliament	Julian Brazier (C) Greg Clark (C) Paul Clark (L) Michael Fallon (C) Roger Gale (C) Damian Green (C) Adam Holloway (C) Michael Howard (C) Stephen Ladyman (L) Bob Marshall-Andrews (L) Gwyn Prosser (L) Hugh Robertson (C) Jonathan Shaw (L) John Stanley (C) Howard Stoate (L) Ann Widdecombe (C) Derek Wyatt (L)
Districts
Sevenoaks Dartford Gravesham Tonbridge and Malling Medway (Unitary) Maidstone Tunbridge Wells Swale Ashford Canterbury Shepway Thanet Dover

Ports

Other main ports in Kent include Sheerness and Ramsgate. The Channel Tunnel goes from Folkestone in Kent to France. It was built in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

History

Kent is a very ancient county. In the 6th and 7th centuries it was ruled by its own kings, It is often called 'the garden of England' because its countryside is very green and because it produces much fruit. A lot of fruit such as strawberries are grown in Kent, and the county is famous for growing hops which are used to make beer. Maidstone is called the county town because the local government for Kent is based there.

Places

Another important town is the city of Canterbury. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the head of the Church of England. Hundreds of years ago many Christian people would travel to the Cathedral at Canterbury from their homes in other parts of Britain. This was called making a pilgrimage.