Hidden Gems Near Canterbury
Written by UK Hidden Gems Editorial
Updated 5 August 2026
The hidden gems near Canterbury are Kings Wood Sculpture Trail, Reculver Towers and Roman Fort, Folkestone White Horse, Abbot’s Cliff Sound Mirror, Fort Burgoyne, Knights Templar, The Underground Hospital and Ramsgate Tunnels.
Canterbury draws its crowds for the cathedral and the cobbled streets, but the surrounding corner of Kent hides a wealth of quieter finds. Southwest lies King's Wood near Challock, where the ghosts of a sculpture trail linger among the trees.
North, on the coast near Herne Bay, the twin towers of Reculver rise from a Roman fort. Head southeast toward Folkestone and Dover and there is plenty to seek out: the modern Folkestone White Horse on Cheriton Hill, the weathered Abbot's Cliff Sound Mirror, the Victorian earthworks of Fort Burgoyne, the round ruin of the Knights Templar church and the wartime Underground Hospital beneath Dover Castle.
Further east, the Ramsgate Tunnels burrow beneath the town as old air-raid shelters. A few are a short hop from the city, most a longer run to the coast, but each rewards the journey.
Here are eight hidden gems to seek out near Canterbury.
Kings Wood Sculpture Trail
Photo: Danny P Robinson via Geograph.org.uk
Kings Wood Sculpture Trail On the North Downs near Challock in Kent, King's Wood is a large forest that once held a trail of outdoor sculptures set among the trees. The art project that made and cared for them closed in 2015, and because many were built of natural materials meant to decay, some have crumbled back into the wood while others still stand.
Waymarked paths lead through the forest, past the survivors and the ghosts of others, and fallow deer live among the trees, which are open to walk and cycle. It lies about 13km southwest of Canterbury.
Reculver Towers and Roman Fort
Photo: Chris Whippet via Geograph.org.uk
Reculver Towers and Roman Fort On the low cliffs near Herne Bay in Kent, Reculver is a pair of tall medieval church towers set within the walls of a Roman fort. The Romans built the fort in the third century to guard a channel that then ran behind the Isle of Thanet, and later a Saxon monastery and then a church rose inside its walls.
The church was abandoned as the sea ate away the land and mostly pulled down in the early nineteenth century, but its twin towers were kept as a landmark for ships. This free English Heritage site, with its flint fort walls and earthworks, sits about 14km north of Canterbury.
Folkestone White Horse
Photo: Helmut Zozmann via Geograph.org.uk
Folkestone White Horse On the chalk slope of Cheriton Hill above Folkestone in Kent, this large figure of a standing horse is a modern creation, made in 2003 to a local artist's design. Unlike the ancient hill figures, it is formed of pale blocks set into the hillside rather than cut into bare chalk, and it stands about ninety metres long on the open down.
It looks down over the Channel Tunnel terminal and greets travellers arriving in Britain. Around 20km southeast of Canterbury, it is a fair run toward the coast.
Abbot’s Cliff Sound Mirror
Photo: Barry Hunter via Geograph.org.uk
Abbot’s Cliff Sound Mirror Before radar, the plan was to hear an enemy coming: to catch the drone of aircraft engines out over the water before they came into view. That is the job this grey concrete slab was built for in 1928, its shallow bowl about six metres across, weathered and streaked and tilted toward the Channel.
Within a decade radar had made it obsolete. It sits on the clifftop between Folkestone and Dover, reached by a short walk along the cliff path from the old coast road, a small concrete cabin beside it that once held the listening gear on a central pillar.
Sea below, the North Downs behind, it stands alone now.
Fort Burgoyne
Photo: Chris via Geograph.org.uk
Fort Burgoyne On high ground north of Dover Castle in Kent, Fort Burgoyne is a Victorian fort built in the 1860s as part of the town's defences and once known as Castle Hill Fort. Its earth ramparts, brick bastions and gun positions survive, wrapped around a deep ditch.
A land trust now cares for it and has begun opening parts up, with a restored battery welcoming visitors and wildlife spreading across the surrounding grassland. Much of the main fort remains closed except for events.
It lies about 23km southeast of Canterbury, so check what is open before you travel.
Knights Templar
Photo: Michael Dibb via Geograph.org.uk
Knights Templar On the Western Heights above Dover in Kent, the Knights Templar Church survives only as a foundation-level ruin of a small medieval chapel. What remains is the outline of a round nave, the circular plan the Templars favoured, echoing their church in London, though some think it may have been a roadside shrine on the old road to Folkestone.
Built in the twelfth century, it is remembered as the likely spot where King John made his submission to the Papal Legate in 1213. This free English Heritage site is open in daylight on the open downland, with uneven ground and wide views over town and harbour, roughly 24km southeast of Canterbury.
The Underground Hospital
Photo: Graham Horn via Geograph.org.uk
The Underground Hospital Deep in the white cliffs beneath Dover Castle in Kent runs a network of wartime tunnels, and this part of them held a command centre and a hospital in the Second World War, from which the evacuation of Dunkirk was directed. The hospital section has been laid out to show its operating theatre, wards and corridors, with recreated sounds and effects.
Visited on a guided walk as part of a day at Dover Castle and cared for by English Heritage, it gives a vivid sense of working underground through the bombing. It sits about 24km southeast of Canterbury.
Ramsgate Tunnels
Photo: John Baker via Geograph.org.uk
Ramsgate Tunnels Beneath the town of Ramsgate in Kent runs a network of wartime air-raid shelters, now open as a visitor attraction. They opened in 1939, on the eve of the Second World War, built to shelter much of the town's population and linking to an older railway tunnel of 1863.
During the war people sheltered and even lived down here through the bombing, and a raid in August 1940 killed dozens. Volunteer-led guided tours take visitors underground past wartime displays, on set days and more limited in winter.
About 25km east of Canterbury, it rounds off a coastal day out.
FAQs
How far is Dover from Canterbury?
The Dover gems, including Fort Burgoyne, the Knights Templar church and the Underground Hospital beneath Dover Castle, lie around 23 to 24km southeast of Canterbury, an easy half-hour run toward the coast.
Which of these gems are free to visit?
Reculver Towers near Herne Bay and the Knights Templar church above Dover are both free English Heritage sites, open on the coast and downland near Canterbury.
Are the wartime tunnels open all year?
The Ramsgate Tunnels open on set days and run a more limited timetable in winter, so check ahead before heading out from Canterbury to the Kent coast.
Conclusion
The land around Canterbury turns out to be thick with history once you leave the cathedral behind. Southwest, King's Wood keeps the fading traces of its sculpture trail, while north the towers of Reculver watch over the coast from their Roman fort.
Toward Folkestone and Dover, a hillside white horse, a concrete sound mirror, a Victorian fort and a round Templar ruin all reward the trip, and beneath Dover Castle the Underground Hospital recalls the drama of Dunkirk. Further east, the Ramsgate Tunnels tell of nights spent sheltering from the bombing.
Some lie close by, others need a run to the coast and a check of opening days, but each adds depth to a Kent weekend. Pick your direction and set off: these are the hidden gems to seek out near Canterbury.
