Not a very inspiring, if apt, description of Sandwich which, in the 1081 Domesday survey ranked fourth in size and importance after London, Norwich and Ipswich.

The ancient medieval town's central street-plan has remained much the same to this day, and contains sufficient interest to the visitor to call for several days in Sandwich, to explore and to savour the discoveries, bringing to life again, a cavalcade of England's history is in motion through the old Cinque Port ‚ a recommendation by Richard Church in his book 'Kent'.

A walk along the well sign-posted Town Trail from the Guildhall, pausing to read a series of historical boards en route, provides an excellent start to discovering Sandwich and viewing its many attractive buildings.

The parish church of St Clement's boasts one of the finest original Norman towers in the country; St Peter's, its tower surmounted by a cupola and from which the evening curfew is rung every weekday at 8pm, was the spiritual home of 'The Strangers' from Flanders; St Mary the Virgin, now revitalised as the prime venue of current Festival events; St Bartholomew's, amidst a cluster of traditional 'Hospital' homes for elderly people, and the United Reformed Church, one of the earliest free chapels in Britain and displaying two pillars, once the masts of the ships which brought French Hugenot refugees to Sandwich.

Other historical highlights include the Fisher Gate, Old Customs House, Barbican, Pilgrims and Weavers, King's Lodging, Manwood Court, Whitefriars and Dutch House. Nearby lies the delightful Gazen Salts Nature Reserve and the Roman ruins and Museum of Richborough Castle which can be reached by the Stour River Bus 'Rutupiae I' from the Toll Bridge, or by road. Pfizer Monks Wall Nature Reserve is also situated just over the Toll Bridge.

A place of places, Sandwich town gathers the extraordinary diversity of environments it contains within a very small space. Sandwich really is a place of celebrations: of history, of geography and their human intersection in the town with its walkways, waterways, the nearby sea, the medieval streets, the bustle of market day, the ghosts of former glory. In Sandwich the past lives in the present and the present looks to the future; we have always been closer to Europe than London. By the time you leave Sandwich you will surely echo the words of S P B Mais in his book 'The Land of the Cinque Ports' ‚ "I find it hard to restrain my language about Sandwich .. I fell completely in love with the town".