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A Snapshot into.. Maidstone

• September 07, 2020

Whilst not technically a City, Maidstone is the County town and situated at the heart of Kent, encompassing town life, charming villages and beautiful countryside, it remains a popular relocation destination for many. Situated around 40 miles outside of London, just under an hours train journey away, the town has an estimated population of 174,000, which continues to grow annually.

The Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust is a large acute hospital Trust in the south east of England. The Trust provides a full range of general hospital services, and some areas of specialist complex care to around 560,000 people living in the south of West Kent and the north of East Sussex. The Trust’s core catchment areas are Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells and their surrounding boroughs, and it operates from two main clinical sites: Maidstone Hospital and Tunbridge Wells Hospital at Pembury. The Trust employs a team of over 5000 full and part-time staff. In addition, the Trust provides specialist cancer services to around 1.8 million people across Kent, Hastings and Rother, via the Kent Oncology Centre, which is sited at Maidstone Hospital, and at Kent and Canterbury Hospital in Canterbury.

Facts About Maidstone

• Maidstone's coat of arms depicts a lion and one of the town's most famous residents, Iggy the Iguanadon. The skeleton of Iggy was discovered in a quarry in the town in 1834 - A cast of the 125-million-year-old herbivore can be seen in Maidstone Museum!
• Years ago, elephants used to roam the grounds of Maidstones Golf Course - then Maidstone Zoo, a popular attraction for 25 years until it closed in 1959. Locals could hear the lions roaring from their homes

Cost of Living in Maidstone

Cost of Renting Accommodation per month

One-Bedroom Apartment in the City Centre	£748.00
One-Bedroom Apartment outside of the City Centre	£675.00
Three-Bedroom Apartment in the City Centre	£1075.00
Three-Bedroom Apartment outside of the City Centre	£925.00

Transportation

1ltr Petrol	£1.29
One-Way Public Transport Ticket	£2.75
Monthly Public Transport Ticket	£75.01
1km Taxi Journey	£1.42

Entertainment

Meal out for two in a local pub	£24.00
Meal out for two in a mid-range restaurant, 3 courses	£48.08
Cinema tickets for two people	£19.60
One-month gym membership	£38.66
Tennis court rental for 1 hour on the weekend	£10.79
Beer 0.5ltr bottle	£3.00
Coke/Pepsi 0.33ltr bottle	£1.05
Cappuccino	£2.75

Time it Takes to Travel by Train from Maidstone to Cities in the UK:

City	Time it Takes to Travel
London	57 Minutes
Bristol	3 Hours 33 Minutes
Cardiff	3 Hours 50 Minutes
Manchester	4 Hours 1 Minutes
Newcastle	4 Hours 32 Minutes
Birmingham	3 Hour 12 Minutes
Liverpool	4 Hours 50 Minutes
Edinburgh	12 Hours 11 Minutes

Education in Maidstone:

According to the information available on the government website, Maidstone and the Weald is home to 38 Primary Schools and a further 17 Secondary Schools – not including the wider schools available within the surrounding areas. To find out more information about term dates, applications, standards, curriculum and general education, visit the Kent County Council website here.

Things to do in Maidstone:

Fremlin Walk Shopping

Fremlin Walk is an open air shopping centre is found in the heart of Maidstone and is considered the shopping and retail centre of the region. The development brings together around 50 of the most popular and stylish shops as well as restaurants and an 800 space car park.

Mote Park

Mote Park is a huge green space in the heart of Maidstone and is extremely popular with both visitors and locals alike. In 2015, it placed third in the People’s Choice for their Favourite Green Flag Park. Covering over 450 acres, it includes natural features such as grassland, woodland, rivers and a 30 acre lake. The park is great for cycling and walking, as well as boasting it’s own BMX Track, children’s play area and Segway hire shop. Mote Park plays host to a variety of events throughout the year. These include large music festivals, ticketed events, outdoor theatre and charity fun runs.

Maidstone Museum & Bentliff Art Gallery

Maidstone Museum is home to a vast collection of fine art and historical artefacts, with over 600,000 items of international importance – including a 700-year-old Egyptian mummy called Ta-Kush, who lies in state within the excellent Ancient Lives exhibition! There are also outstanding oil paintings, fine items from the Japanese Edo period, an inspiring costume gallery, and the story behind the discovery of Maidstone's millennia-old iguanodon; the town's world-famous dinosaur find. Seasonally changing exhibitions ensure that there is always something new to explore.

Cobtree Manor Park Golf Course

There’s so much on offer at this 18-hole golf course, from music events to family fun days and dementia-friendly activities, there’s also a wellbeing room with exercise classes and Mum & Baby Yoga. Enjoy a walk in Cobtree Manor Park or visit the open-air museum. Dog walkers, wildlife watchers, cyclists and bikers are all welcome to enjoy the grounds.
 

Relocation to Maidstone:

If you’re an international doctor looking to relocate to Maidstone, or another location in the UK, please email your CV to [email protected] and we can support you in securing an NHS post and on your journey to relocate to the UK.

Are you a member of our Facebook group? When you join IMG Advisor, you join a community of doctors all looking to relocate to the UK and join the NHS. We post a series of vlogs and blogs to the group every day. We will also be on hand to answer all of your relocation queries.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel! We have over 60 videos on everything you need to know about relocating to the UK and joining the NHS!

Listen to BDI Resourcing on the go to IMG Advisor the Podcast. You can find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher and Buzzsprout. We have a number of episodes with tips and advice on relocating to the UK and the routes you can take to achieve this.

References:

Living, C. and Kingdom, U., 2020. Cost Of Living In Maidstone. [online] Numbeo.com. Available at: [Accessed 1 September 2020].

Visitmaidstone.com. 2020. Mote Park - Parkland / Woodland Garden In Maidstone, Maidstone - Visit Maidstone. [online] Available at: [Accessed 1 September 2020].

Kent Online. 2020. Ten Fascinating Historical Facts About Maidstone. [online] Available at: [Accessed 2 September 2020].

Maidstone Museum. 2020. Maidstone Museums | Kent Museum. [online] Available at: [Accessed 2 September 2020].

Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust. 2020. About Us - Maidstone And Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust. [online] Available at: [Accessed 2 September 2020].

Find and compare schools in England. 2020. All Schools And Colleges In Maidstone And The Weald - GOV.UK - Find And Compare Schools In England. [online] Available at: [Accessed 2 September 2020].