The breathtaking riverside Kent village where the average home costs £430,000

This riverside scene in Kent is so breathtaking it’s almost hard to believe it’s even real. It looks like it could be an Italian village, with its dreamy water reflections and the church illuminated in a golden light.

It’s no wonder so many stunning photos like these have been captured, as Aylesford is a photographer’s and artist’s dream. Its Medieval bridge arches over the River Medway, a 70 miles river which flows to the Thames Estuary near Sheerness.

There are many paths along the river and through neighbouring countryside. There is a small primary school in the centre of the village and a further primary school just outside the village, both of which were rated as good in their latest Ofsted reports.

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There is also a secondary school academy under a mile from the centre of the village. The church, captured in so many photographs, is St Peter and St Paul’s Church, where a Sunday service is held at 10am, or via zoom. For early bird worshippers, there is sometimes an 8am service.

In the historic village is the restaurant and bar The Hengist, a short walk from the river’s edge. Set in a 16th Century building, it serves as a village bar with casual dining on the ground floor, with two more formal dining rooms upstairs.

Every Thursday it features Chateaubriand to share with triple cooked chips and more, and each Wednesday it is steak night. There is also The Chequers Inn in the High Street, a “family friendly bar” and restaurant in a Grade II listed timber-framed former wool merchant’s house, serving premium steaks, classic burgers and wood-fire pizzas and more.