The village of Longfield is a popular choice amongst families moving away from inner London to its peaceful border with Kent, and it’s no surprise once you see the winding tree lined roads, full of post-war brick houses. Serviced by the convenient Longfield station, residents don’t need to give up their London jobs to make the move out here. That doesn’t mean that they’re eager to escape on the weekends though. Once the local children are out of class from one of the many great schools in the area, like Longfield Academy and Langafel Primary, they often head with their parents for an adventure at Mayhem Southeast Paintball Games. For calmer activities, many families turn to the local St Mary Magdalene’s Church for their wholesome community events like their quiz nights. On a typical Sunday, residents often turn to Dolly’s Diner for a fry up, followed by a pint at the historic Green Man pub. For a quiet suburban village, Longfield has quite a lot going for it!

Longfield’s local church, Saint Mary Magdalene’s, was built by the Normans in the eleventh century. Later on, in the 19th century, the Victorian congregants led a major restoration project to update the church. Around the same time, the Longfield railway station opened in the neighbourhood. Through a strange set of events, at the time that the station opened, it was named Fawkham, though the town of Fawkham is over a mile away from Longfield. It wasn’t until 1961 that British Railways corrected the station, renaming it Longfield.

The beloved Green Man pub is in a farmhouse that dates back to the 17th century. Locals believe that back in the day, the farmhouse owner would prop a green branch out of the window to indicate to the workers that it was time to come in for a drink.

Longfield lacks the large, convenient high street that other villages possess. While there are some of the necessities available - like a Co-Op and Waitrose - many residents find that they need to drive to other parts of Kent to run errands. Still, since the neighbourhood is nestled in an area where most people have cars, this doesn’t cause much of an issue.

New development in the area and its surrounding is rare given Sevenoaks borough’s location in the Green Belt. A number of sites have been proposed in the past for development in nearby Hartley and New Ash Green, but those proposals were scrapped a few years ago.