Westgate Gardens and Tower House, Canterbury (must see)

The Westgate Gardens are an ideal place for a gentle stroll along the river banks and they contain many archaeological remains like vestiges of a Roman wall. It features colorful planting, flower beds, neatly trimmed lawns and a curious oriental plane tree with an enormous trunk said to be one of the largest in Britain. There is a superb old Medieval archway that probably led to St. Augustine's Abbey in the 19th century.

The present Tower House is an early Victorian structure, supposedly built in the middle of the 19th cent., but the exact date is uncertain. It sits at the south end of the Westgate Gardens, a splendid small area along the banks of the River Stour starting at the city’s West Gate. This castle-like house was the residence of Catherine Williamson, Canterbury’s first female mayor from 1939 to 1941. After her death, the house and the 11 acres of surrounding gardens were donated to the city. Today it is the Mayor's administrative headquarters.