Royal Tunbridge Wells

Royal Tunbridge Wells is a spa town southeast of London, about 30 miles from the capital, set across several hills in the High Weald. The town center is built around the wide pedestrian avenue of Mount Pleasant, while the Pantiles with their colonnades sit in a lower valley near the spring.

Lord North discovered an iron-rich spring in 1606, which drew aristocratic visitors from London and established the place as a fashionable spa. King Edward VII granted the royal title in 1909, one year before his death.

The town's name preserves the spelling of nearby Tonbridge Castle, with the leading ‚T' keeping the older form. Visitors can walk under the colonnades along the Pantiles and see the old dipper's well where people once drank the iron-rich spring water.

Trains from London's Charing Cross station reach the town in about 50 minutes and stop at the main station near the center. The pedestrian area and the Pantiles are both walkable, though you should expect some slopes and steps between the different levels of the town.

Only two other towns in England hold the prefix Royal in their names. The spring water still flows today and can be tasted from a tap near the original well on the Pantiles.