Westbere

Westbere is a small village in Kent, England, situated some four miles north east of Canterbury city centre along the A28 route to the Isle of Thanet. The parish comprises a preservation area that overlooks Westbere lakes (created by gravel extraction) that teem with birds and wildlife. The village spreads along a steep wooded bank north of the Great Stour between the A28 and the Ashford to Ramsgate railway. With fewer than 130 properties, it is a peaceful rural village with a variety of dwellings including several hall houses built in the 1400s; some historic cottages and barns; a few properties built later for more distinguished residents and some modern houses and bungalows. Because it was for so long a poor farming community, it was not targeted for development in Victorian times and the central part of Westbere, in particular, remains quaint and rural.