This neighbourhood sits nestled in the Dartford area of Kent - just a short ride east of London. While the neighbourhood largely caters to the large businesses and office parks in the area, there are still some desirable residential pockets. These areas are lined with modest but many affordable new-build houses, and boast tree lined streets. For families that have been drawn to the area, it’s luckily not a complete ghost town on the weekend. Residents love going for walks at the nearby lake, stopping at the popular Lakeside Café for a tea, and later exploring the diverse apple orchards of the beloved Darenth Country Park. For a night out, locals often turn to the Dartford Bridge Harvester restaurant and The Wharf pub. For a suburban village, this Darenth neighbourhood has plenty to offer families looking to settle away from London.

Darenth Country Park is a favourite amongst locals in the neighbourhood. The park has an interesting history though. Dating back to AD450, the park was initially used as an ancient Saxon burial ground. Those who have worked on the park have even discovered 12 Saxon graves, as well as many other artefacts from that period. Later on, the park served as a cemetery for those who had passed in one of the many hospitals nearby. Today, the park has a gorgeous apple orchard, picnic areas, and even a cycling route.

Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which runs alongside this neighbourhood, is the only Thames bridge east of Tower Bridge. This is mainly because it’s necessary that large ships be able to reach London with imports.

This part of Dartford is not a very residential area. Mostly, filled with businesses, there is not much going on in the area throughout the weekend. Still, residents enjoy the serenity that this offers.

The borough of Dartford has developed a £12 million investment programme for the town centre area, with funding being provided by the Homes and Community Agency and Local Growth Fund. Divided into several phases, each development stage will focus on a specific area in the town centre, with a range of works including urban beautification, accessibility improvements and high street frontage enhancements. The coming phase will cover Instone Road and Highfield Road and include work on junctions to maintain accessible gateways to the town centre. In 2020, Dartford Council also approved a £75 million regeneration scheme, the Westgate cultural quarter project, but the scheme was later scrapped due to the Covid-19 pandemic and post-pandemic economic complications and uncertainties. The scheme would have provided 120 new homes, a multi-screen cinema, a health and wellbeing centre and a string of restaurants and bars.