Caring, Kent

Stoneacre is a small National Trust property in Otham, near Maidstone, Kent in southern England. The property is a half-timbered yeoman farmer's house dating from the 15th century, together with a small garden, orchard and meadows. The house is a Grade II* listed building.

Otham Manor, previously known as Wardes, is a late 14th-century manor house in Otham, Kent. The house was built in the late 14th century, probably around 1370, and was altered and extended in the 16th century. It is a L-shaped two-storey timber-framed hall house; the north wing being the older part and the south wing being from the 16th century. The north wing has jettied bays at each end; the western bay having been rebuilt. The clay tiled hipped roof is steeply pitched with a gable to the south end of the south wing. Internally the roof structure is exposed with tie beams and king post. The house was restored in 1912 by Sir Louis du Pan Mallet, ambassador to the Sublime Porte. Sir Louis engaged the architect Philip Tilden who extended the house with a wing to the west. The whole house is a Grade I listed building.The Listing described the mansion as a "GV I House, formerly cottages, now house. Late C14 with C16 alterations and additions". The estate was in a state of "semi-dereliction by the early 1990s" according to Country Life (magazine). It was subsequently restored by new owners and listed for sale in 2019.

Otham is a village and civil parish in the Maidstone district of Kent, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 523, with 204 dwellings.

Holy Cross is a parish church of the Church of England in Bearsted, Kent. Its construction begun in the 13th century.

Synyards is a late 15th-century house in Otham, Kent. The house was built in the late 15th century with additions in the 16th century and in 1663. It is a mostly two-storey timber-framed hall house with a steeply-pitched plain tile hipped roof. The house has a jettied bays on each end of the main western elevation with a gabled dormer bay to the right of the midpoint which is dated 1663. A first floor was inserted at each end of the building in the 16th century and the third floor at the south end was added when the dormer was constructed. A variety of window sizes and types from various periods provide illumination to the interior. The walls on the ground floor have 16th century panelling in some parts and wall paintings of a lion and dragon and merman and mermaid cover the walls of the room in the north end of the first floor.Synyards was restored in 1905 by P. M. Johnston. The house is a Grade I listed building.

The Kent International Gateway was a proposed logistics hub and strategic rail-freight interchange (SRFI) next to the M20 motorway east of Maidstone. The project was controversial because it was a major development in a special landscape area close to several historic villages. Following a public inquiry that ended in December 2009, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government rejected the proposal on 5 August 2010.

Bearsted ( BAIR-sted, traditionally BUR-) is a village and civil parish with railway station in mid-Kent, England, two miles (3.2 km) east of Maidstone town centre.

Spot Lane Quarry is a 0.1-hectare (0.25-acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest on the eastern outskirts of Maidstone in Kent. It is a Geological Conservation Review site.This site exposes loess, probably dating to the glacial Wolstonian Stage between 352,000 and 130,000 years ago. It contains the fossils of land snails, and as loess in Britain is usually unfossiliferous, it is one of the few sites where loess fauna can be studied.The site is now a public footpath.

Bearsted Football Club is a football club located in Bearsted, near Maidstone, in Kent, England. The club are currently members of the Southern Counties East League Premier Division and play at Honey Lane in Otham.

Bearsted railway station serves Bearsted in Kent, England. The station and all trains serving it are operated by Southeastern. It is 42 miles 59 chains (68.8 km) down the line from London Victoria via Herne Hill.Inside the station building are staffed and self-service ticket sales and a café. A new footbridge was built on the opposite side of the station from the original in 2011.

Langley is a village and civil parish in the Maidstone District of Kent, England. The parish is located on the A274 road leading south from Maidstone to Headcorn .

Downswood is a civil parish in the Borough of Maidstone in Kent, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 2,291. It is bounded to the north by the River Len and Bearsted, and to the south by Otham, and is 2 miles (3 km) from Maidstone, the county town of Kent. Downswood has been a parish in its own right since 1987. Prior to this it was part of the civil parish of Otham.The village is to the east of the Maidstone urban area, with Mote Park forming the western boundary. A corn mill was recorded in the Domesday Book on the River Len. A fulling mill was also established on the river but this was not until around 1550. To the south of Downswood lies St Nicolas's Church which has its origins in the 12th century and to the east stands The Orchard Spot, a local public house, that was originally established in the 14th century as a farm house for local orchards.Between 1940 and 1970 the area was quarried for ragstone which is still evident from outcrops that appear in Spot Lane Nature Reserve and The Len Valley Walk. The easternmost ragstone quarry exhibits a series of cambered blocks, tilted down slope and intervening loess filled gulls. The site in Downswood provides the best cross section through a series of cambers and gulls that are currently visible in Britain and is a site of special scientific interest.