With such a long and impressive history, it
won’t be a great surprise that Kent is well
served with excellent museums. But it’s
not just the history of the county that
is well covered.

As well as the numerous local and
regional museums that chart the
past centuries of their particular
area, there are all manner of
specialist exhibitions to entice
you.

There’s the impressive Royal Engineers
Museum in Gillingham, full of the enormous
military hardware used by the unit since its inception.
At the other end of the scale are the many childhood
memories that a visit to Penshurst Place’s Toy Museum
will bring back.

For the musically inclined, Finchcocks not only exhibits
some of Europe’s rarest & most important instruments,
but also has regular performances & top quality recitals.

Sometimes you’ll go to a museum that will completely
surprise you with what you find. Quex House is a good
example of that. From the outside it’s an attractive
stately home and impressive gardens, but inside it’s as
though you’ve wandered into another world...  or at
least another continent. It was home to Major Powell-
Cotton, a renowned explorer who spent much of his life
travelling the darkest areas of Africa & Asia, & bringing
back an unbelievable array of animals & artefacts. The
vast dioramas are perfect to the tiniest detail, and the
intricate carved Asian furniture in the house is world
class.

Have a meander through the following pages, and take
a trip through the amazing historical journey that Kent’s
museums can offer.