Kent Life
Kent Life (formerly the Museum of Kent Life) is an English open-air museum located at Sandling, next to Allington Locks, on the east bank of the River Medway. History Sir Garrard Tyrwhitt-Drake bequeathed the Cobtree Manor Estate to Maidstone Borough Council in 1966. A part of the estate was Sandling Farm, on the banks of the Medway. In 1984 a decision was made to restore the derelict farm as part of a rural life museum. The museum opened to the public on July 6, 1985. Farming At the museum, various aspects of farming are recreated. There are two small hop gardens, growing Fuggles and Goldings hops. Apple and plum orchards, a herb garden, a soft fruit garden and various livestock. Buildings The museum has a variety of buildings, most of which have been dismantled and re-erected at the museum. Barn A five bay barn dating from the eighteenth century and originally at Vale Farm, Calcott, near Sturry. The barn has an oak frame and a thatched roof. It was dismantled in 1984 and re-erected at the museum in 1989. Chapel The chapel is a timber-framed building clad in corrugated iron (a tin tabernacle). It was originally built in 1897 in