Hotels in Harvel

Harvel has no hotels of its own - it is a small hamlet of farmhouses and cottages around a green and pond, with no visitor accommodation in the village. Anyone wanting a hotel base for exploring this stretch of the Kent Downs is better looking to the surrounding towns, particularly Gravesend, Meopham and Rochester, all within a short drive and well placed for the North Downs Way, Cobham's National Trust properties, and the vineyards and orchards of west Kent.

Gravesend, the nearest larger town, has a range of chain and independent hotels along with fast rail links to London St Pancras, making it a practical base for both sightseeing and commuting. Rochester, a little further west, adds its historic cathedral and castle to the mix along with a good choice of hotels and guesthouses in a genuinely characterful setting. Maidstone, to the south, is another option with a wider spread of accommodation and easy access onward into the rest of the Kent Downs and the Weald.

Wherever you stay, the appeal of a trip to this part of Kent is the same: quiet lanes, chalk downland, ancient woods and orchards, with Harvel itself standing as a peaceful, largely untouched example of the small Kentish villages that dot the North Downs above the Thames estuary towns.